Deck 2: The Nature and Extent of Crime

Question 1

Which type of crime is rarely discussed with consensus among Canadians?

A)youth crime
B)firearms crime
C)mass murder
D)sexual assault

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which piece of information does the UCR play a primary role in summarizing?

A)number of victims involved in a criminal incident
B)race of offenders and victims
C)number of criminal incidents in a jurisdiction
D)gender of offenders and victims

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which statement best summarizes the prediction made by criminologists such as Ouimet for future crime rates in Canada?

A)Crime rates will maintain their current rates for the next 5 to 8 years.
B)Crime rates will begin to increase as the 35- to 43-year-old population increases.
C)Crime rates will decrease quite dramatically over the next 5 years but this is expected to reverse equally a quickly soon after.
D)Crime rates will continue to decline until a new youth cohort similar to the baby boomers comes along.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What distinguishes the UCR from the PRVS?

A)The UCR is based on crimes dealt with by police, and the PRVS is based on crimes as experienced by victims.
B)The UCR reports the total number of people who did break the law, and the PRVS reports the total number of people who may break the law each year.
C)The UCR and the PRVS both report the incident rates each year, but the PRVS also focuses on the clearance rates of the crimes.
D)The UCR provides regional crime rate information, and the PRVS looks only at types of crimes committed each year as reported by victims.

Question 5

Which circumstance is correlated with increases in domestic assaults?

A)Daylight savings time.
B)Children leaving the home to go to post-secondary institutions.
C)Rising temperatures outside.
D)The death of a family pet.

Question 6

What is the term used to describe the notion that as we grow older and more mature we tend to be less likely to commit crime?

A)pseudomaturity
B)transitional movement
C)maturity hypothesis
D)desistence

Question 7

Cesare Lombroso put forward a theory known as the masculinity hypothesis. What did it suggest?

A)Female criminals are deficient in feminine qualities.
B)Female criminals wish to be treated like men.
C)Male criminals are overly masculine.
D)Male criminals are deficient in male qualities.

Question 8

During what months do the majority of murders and robberies occur?

A)December and January
B)May and June
C)July and August
D)September and October

Question 9

Which statement captures the nature of youth crime rates compared with adult crime rates?

A)The youth property crime rate is higher than the adult property crime rate, but violent crime rates are the same.
B)Overall, youth crime rates are two times lower than adult crime rates.
C)Youth and adult crime rates are gradually increasing at the same rate.
D)Overall, both adult and youth crime rates are declining.

Question 10

What do the majority of self-report studies focus on?

A)inmates convicted of violent crimes
B)juvenile delinquency and youth crime
C)victims of violent crime
D)data collected by Statistics Canada

Question 11

Which offence are males over 55 years of age most frequently charged with?

A)vagrancy
B)child pornography
C)impaired driving
D)prostitute solicitation

Question 12

Which statement would a critic of self-report studies be most likely to make?

A)Participants are not likely to be accurate in their recall of criminal events.
B)Self-report studies are not conducted frequently enough to be helpful.
C)Only offenders with the most extensive prior criminality are likely to be truthful.
D)Males are less likely than females to be participants in self-report surveys.

Question 13

Which factor would researchers such as Tittle say is most relevant to any discussion about a relationship between social class and crime?

A)the fact that the wealthy have little interest in engaging in criminal activity
B)the likelihood that poor, young people are biologically more likely to engage in criminal activity
C)the existence of biases toward those of the lower class held by those in the criminal justice system
D)that the wealthy are less likely to notice that they have been victims of crime

Question 14

Which factor is most commonly the cause of decreasing criminal activity as people age?

A)a decrease in testosterone levels
B)an increased tolerance for frustrating events
C)having a decreased ability to avoid detection by police
D)having more commitments and more to lose if caught

Question 15

Which variable has an inverse relationship with crime rates and is considered by criminologists to be one of the greatest influences on crime trends?

A)age
B)economy
C)opportunity
D)gangs

Question 16

Which resource is considered to be a valuable, comprehensive source of information about otherwise unknown crime data?

A)Statistics Canada
B)the Personal Risk and Victimization Survey (PRVS)
C)the Juristat report
D)the Uniform Crime Report

Question 17

If the Personal Risk and Victimization Surveys were Canada's only source of information about crime frequency, what would we conclude from the results?

A)Crime rates are high.
B)Property crime rates are lower than violent crime rates.
C)Crime rates are increasing.
D)Crime rates are low.

Question 18

As a general rule, what is the believed peak age for property crime?

A)14 years
B)23 years
C)18 years
D)16 years

Question 19

Women are more likely than men to be convicted of which offence?

A)Fraud
B)Possession of stolen property
C)Public drunkenness
D)Common assault

Question 20

Which is a true statement regarding the UCR and PRVS?

A)The results of the PRVS are more valid than those of the UCR.
B)The results of the UCR are more valid than those of the PRVS.
C)The results of the UCR and PRVS must be interpreted with caution.
D)The results of the UCR and PRVS accurately reflect crime in Canada.

Question 21

Which of the following statements best reflects crime data as they relate to the majority of offenders?

A)Offenders continue to commit crimes if not caught at an early age.
B)Offenders are likely to remain career criminals.
C)Offenders commit only a single criminal act.
D)Offenders often do not consider their actions to be criminal.

Question 22

Which response to chronic or repeat offending is most likely to lead to continued offending?

A)prevention programs aimed at teenage offenders
B)slow processing through the criminal justice system
C)earlier eligibility for parole
D)longer prison terms in more secure settings

Question 23

In general, self-report studies indicate that the number of people who break the law is far greater than the number projected by official statistics.

Question 24

Criminologists view change in the population age distribution as having the greatest influence on crime trends.

Question 25

Research has found that the more severe the sanctions a chronic offender receives the more likely the individual is to stop offending.

Question 26

The criminal justice system processes fewer people from the Aboriginal population than any other group in Canada.

Question 27

Nationwide studies of youths have found that female violent crime rates are rising.

Question 28

Canada has one of the most restrictive firearms control legislation in the world.

Question 29

The data reported by the Uniform Crime Report surveys is noted for its accuracy.

Question 30

The relationship between official crime and social class is largely a function of law enforcement practices.

Question 31

Traditional theories of criminal behaviour have generally distinguished between chronic and occasional offenders.

Question 32

A small group of criminal offenders accounts for a majority of all criminal offences.

Question 33

Which statement provides a sociological explanation for the correlation between crime and gender?

A)Females who commit crimes do so as a result of higher androgen levels.
B)Males who commit crimes do so as a result of higher androgen levels.
C)Females who commit crimes do so as a result of difficult upbringings.
D)Males who commit crimes do so as a result of mild levels of depression.

Question 34

What is the reason given by most Canadian police and correctional agencies for not collecting or publishing data that link racial characteristics to crime?

A)The financial burden of recording and analyzing an additional level of crime information.
B)The likelihood that social factors other than race are at play in higher crime rates among some groups.
C)The fear that identified racial groups will retaliate against police if they are identified as more criminal.
D)The concern that the self-fulfilling prophecy would arise if groups are identified.

Question 35

Self-report surveys reveal a clear relationship between social class and crime.

Question 36

In 1961, all police agencies in Canada began reporting crimes on a monthly basis using the Uniform Crime Report (UCR).

Question 37

Poverty alone can explain why a particular individual becomes a chronic violent offender.

Question 38

The Personal Risk and Victimization Survey (PRVS) contains the least accurate information about reported crime in Canada.

Question 39

On April 1, 2003, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) became law in Canada. What new model, used to deal with youth, did it introduce?

A)Youth cooperation model
B)Justice model
C)Alternative justice model
D)Youth accountability model

Question 40

Canadian studies of youth have found increases in youth crime rates since the implementation of the YCJA.

Question 41

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) was enacted on April l, 2003, in an effort to combat youth crime in Canada. Discuss the history in Canada of dealing with young offenders and the reasons for the recent changes. Discuss the pros and cons of the Act.

Question 42

Self-report data have been used extensively to test the class-crime relationship. Discuss what these data have taught us about this relationship.

Question 43

Discuss the methods used by the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) to express crime data.

Question 44

Each source of crime data discussed in your text has strengths and weaknesses. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses for two of these sources.

Question 45

Criminologists have identified a variety of social, economic, and demographic factors that influence crime rate trends. Discuss how age and the economy may influence crime rate trends.

Question 46

Discuss the social significance that race plays when studying factors related to the criminal justice system in Canada. Can the present system of surveys and research reports be accurate based on the present system? Why or why not?

Question 47

The Personal Risk and Victimization Survey (PRVS) is the current method of assessing victimization in Canada. The PRVS, however, may suffer from some methodological problems. Discuss these problems.

Question 48

Explain what the following statement means: The accuracy of the UCR has been suspect. The well-written answer should include examples from the text.

Question 49

Explain what the following statement means: There is general agreement that age is inversely related to criminality. Now, explain why aging out occurs.

Question 50

Discuss what your text tells us about the trends in both violent and property crime.