Criminology Midterm Study Guide Studyblue
Criminology Midterm Study Guide Studyblue
Criminology Midterm Study Guide Studyblue
-Status offenses: Things children do that, if you were to do them as an adult, would get you in trouble.
For example, if a child beat up another child at the playground during recess, they would probably get a timeout or a slap on
the wrist. If an adult were to beat up another adult, they are at risk for being charged with assault along with any other
charges that go along with it. crimes for children include: drinking, smoking, driving, using guns - all legal for adults
2. Which of the follow statements best explains the difference between crime and deviance?
-Deviance: Violation of social norms
-More general concept than crime
-Covers wide range of behaviors, ranging from standing too close to someone to murder
-Crime: Breaking written law
-are generally more strictly held social ideas
3. Underage drinking is criminal , but because it is socially tolerated on college campuses, it is *not* considered to be deviant.
4. Identify the example that does *not* illustrate a status offense.
-Status offenses: actions defined as illegal for some types of people but not others (children vs. adults)
-i.e. an adult drinking
-i.e. an adult buying cigarettes
5. What is the best example for crime as a social construction?
-Man called police because his subway sandwich wasnt made how he wanted it
-Use communications skills and power, crime negotiated between parties
6. Which of the following is a status offense?
-Status Offenses: Actions defined as illegal for some types of people but not others
-i.e. kids cant drink
7. Which of the following statements best describes the differences between a Crime and Deviance?
-Deviance: Violation of social norm
-Crime: Breaking written law
8. Which of these is *not* an approach to the definition of crime and deviance, according to the reading by Hagan?
a) Legal-consensus
b) Socio-legal
c) Cross-cultural
d) Statistical
e) Labeling definition
f) Utopian-anarchist
g) Human rights
9. According to Hagans article, which one of the seven different approaches to the definition of crime and deviation stresses that a
crime or a deviation is defined as such only when other members of cultural group recognize it as crime or deviation?
-Labeling approach
10. Which of the following is *not* part of Hagans definition of crime?
-What IS part is: Broad agreement about the wrongfulness, severe social response, and evaluation of being harmful.
11. Schwendingers argues that racism, sexism, and poverty can be considered crimes. This type of approach to crime is a human
rights approach.
12. What does it mean to say that a theory must not be tautological?
-Testability: Not Tautological, a good theory must be measurable. Theres no universal truth because a theory is not a
concrete statement , it must not involve circular reasoning
13. From whom are self-reported crime data usually collected? this question asks from WHOM does it collect from? didnt the aryan
brotherhood video say that inmates or serious criminals self-report the most? In our notes it says self-reported crime data is
collected in-person, through the mail, or by phone so Im assuming its a random sample of the population..I agree!
-Not candid about serious crimes/Forgets minor crimes/Exaggerate crimes/
-Few serious criminals in sample In our notes it includes this too, so serious criminals dont report the most
-does not take victims into account
14. Which of the following crimes is best identified by victimization surveys?
-Violent crime
A) Avoids police biases
B) Victims more likely to report than with police
C) Can learn about victim-offender relationship
A) Assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, rape, robbery
15. How do many victimization surveys, such as the National Crime Victimization Survey, collect data?
-National Crime Victimization survey
-100,000 people twice a year, by age of victim
-Assaulted, stolen from, etc
Victimization data are based on household surveys that question respondents about their experiences with crime and do not include
homicide. It includes questions about simple assaults.
16. Which of the following statistics illustrates the concept of a crime rate?
- a crime rate is something that happens over a long period of time, measure of a population
- google definition: the ratio of crimes in an area to the population of that area; expressed per 1000 population per year to assess the
effectiveness of crime control.
-Crime rates have generally been decreasing since the 1990s
-ratio of crime in area to population of the area
17. FBI surveys of law enforcement, including numbers of arrests, known crimes, and characteristics of criminals are examples of
what type of criminological data?
-Uniform Crime Report (UCR)
18. What is an advantage of using self-reported crime data to find accurate information about crimes?
A) Easy to generate data
B) Compare offenders & non-offenders
C) Many forms of criminal behavior
D) Lots of predictable variables
E) Rather accurate
19. Which of the following is *not* an advantage of the Uniform Crime Report?
DISADVANTAGES: -Police Bias -not accurate in lesser crimes -only known crime is reported (doesnt cover crime that
police dont know about), doesnt distinguish between number of criminals and number of crimes, doesnt take into account population
size, only counts the type of crimes they measure doesnt include unreported crimes
ADVANTAGES: show trends over time, compare places, cover many crimes, easy to use.
20. Advantages of using uniform-crime reports would *not* include:
The following ARE examples of advantages:
-Trends over time
-Compare places
-Accurate for serious, victim crimes
-Covers lots of crimes
-Easy to use
22. A survey of American adults finds that 20% of the randomly selected sample has shoplifted at least once. The survey has a margin
of error of 3%. What does this mean?
-Amount (usually small) that is allowed for in case of miscalculation or change of circumstances.
23. Ron Akers argues that the following could be used to evaluate theories:
-A theory may be evaluated, either on its own or by comparison with other theories, on the criteria of clarity and
logical consistency, scope and parsimony, testability, practical usefulness, policy implication, and empirical validity.
24. Which of the following theory criteria depends on finding observable evidence?
-Empirical Validity
(in book under this section: means that a theory has been supported by research evidence)
-Potentially know difference between qualitative(details) and quantitative(numbers) data.
25. According to Akers, which is the following is *not* part of the criteria for evaluating a criminological theory?
-The weakest reason for accepting a crime or rejecting a theory of crime is how well it conforms to ones own beliefs, ideologies, or
preferred policies. (Pg. 18 MAYBE???)
-These are part of Criteria:
a) Logical consistency, scope, and parsimony
b) Testability
c) Empirical validity
d) Empirical validity and the Concepts of Causality and Determinism
e) Usefulness and Policy Implications
26. According to Moshers article, The Mismeasure of Crime, what theory is survey methodology based on?
-Probability sampling theory
27. What did we conclude about racial discrimination in the criminal justice system in class?
-Against discrimination: much of imprisonment differences can be explained by differences in offending
-For discrimination: not all imprisonment differences can be explained away, discrimination most likely in situations where CJ system
has most discretion
-Everyone agrees disproportionate punishment
-Racism? No clear picture. If so, it still explains only a small fraction of disproportionate differences
28. Why do juvenile courts show more racial discrimination than adult courts?
-Judges have more discretion when trying minors
29. For female homicide victims, the most likely victim-offender relationship is:
-Intimate relationship
30. Which of the following is *not* true about the gender difference in crime?
True facts:
-Men imprisoned most
-Men more often victims of crime/commit more crime
-Prostitution, embezzlement, fraud and runaway high for females
31. Feminist gender ratio theories explaining why men commit more crime than women might consider:
How do we explain why men commit more crime than women? Several ideas:
Differential control (e.g., curfews)
Opportunity for crime
Socialization
Patriarchal dominance
(If every society, biology?)
32. Which of the following is the best example of feminist criminological research methodology?
Three main issues in feminist studies crime
1) Generalizability: Mainstream criminology theories have been developed by men about men, apply to women?
2) Gender ratio: Why do men commit more crimes than women? Its found in every society studied.
3) Differential treatment in CJ system: ChivalryWomen in need of protection, so treated differently
33. Feminists studying womens prisons would likely be LEAST concerned with the following (as described in your Criminological
Theory text):
The fact that prisons are designed for men. (stereotypical rehab programs, states only have one female prison so all
types of offenders get mixed together)
34. According to Tonry, politicians in the 1980s claimed to have followed the will of the people and enacted harsh crime control
policies to reduce high crime rates. According to Tonry, what is the problem with this defense?
-They used this as justification by false poll results, there is no basis for claiming that harsch crime control policies
achieve their objectives, politicians made the public believe that crime was increasing when it was actually decreasing
35. MZ twin studies of crime have generally found that:
-MZ twins (identical twins) more similar than fraternal twins (DZ twins) in criminal behavior
36. If biological theories of crime are true, then what is true about crime?
-Crime is more influenced by biology than social factors
- early potential for crime, early intervention, chances of getting into crime is passed by generations, hard to change
37. Generally speaking, which of the following statements is most true about the relationship between biological and social causes of
crime?
- biology can change social experiences, for example an antisocial-impulsive child would select different situations
for himself/ perceive those situations differently
38. The term Twinkie defense refers to:
-Murder trial: defense argued for insanity due to excessive consumption of twinkies
-Sugar, or more sugary products being consumed lead to more violent behavior
39. Studies on the relationships between adopted children and crime shows that adopted children tend to be similar to:
-Their own biological parents, not their adopted parents. NATURE v NURTURE
40. Hirschi and Gottfredson claim that the age-crime curve is invariable. By this they mean that:
- the age crime curve is never changing/consistent
- does not vary across time, place, people and crimes.
41. Since the 1990s, crime in the United States has declined steeply. Several theories have been proposed to explain this decline.
Which of following theory is *not* true?
- theories that are thought of:
- better economy, at least in 1990s and early 2000s
- more effective policing models
- more imprisonment
- declining drug trade especially crack becoming less popular
also, fewer teenagers raised in bad situations because of abortion being legal
42. When discussing the two age-crime curves, what patterns were found?
-Behavior peaks around age 2
-Legal punishment occurs around the ages of 16-18
43. Which of the following statements about age and crime is most true?
-Crime concentrated in adolescence
-Two age crime curves:
-Behavior...peaks at 2, then decreases
-Legal punishment...age 16-18
44. Which statement best summarizes Mednick et al's conclusions:
- there is a strong relationship between criminals and their biological parents vs. their adoptive parents.
- 11% of the adoptive parents were criminal and 31% of the biological parents were criminal.
45. Mednick et al the criminal records of adopted children and their birth parents. Which of the following is a weakness of this study?
- it is still unclear whether it is purely genetic or if environmental issues play a role as well
46. For Donald Black, which of these is *not* a factor that contributes to the official recognition of a crime?
- these ARE factors that contribute to the official recognition of a crime:
- seriousness of the crime
- complainant's preference, demeanor and status
- relational distance between the offender and the victim
-suspect status
- production of crime rates
47. According to Black, police officers are most likely to make an official report in which case?
- if it is a very serious crime or if it is very socially influenced.
- Felonies
48. Which of the following characteristics of crime is typical of life-course persistent crime, as defined by Moffitts theory of social
development?
- 5% of the population
- people who had childhood psychological problems to begin with (people who were from the start troubled)
- antisocial behaviors throughout life
(this is all similar to anti-social personality disorder)
49. Suppose that society wanted to reduce levels of adolescent-limited, alcohol-related crime. Which of the following would make
sense, as based on Moffitts theory?
Reasons why they are committing the crimes:
- adolescents copy the life course persistent to overcome their maturity gap
- they will stop the crime when they reach age 21 and gain their social rights like everyone else
- there is tension between biological and societal maturity
50. Which of the following do *not* fit to be a criterion for Antisocial Personality Disorder diagnosis?
- Anti-personality disorder symptoms include: failure to conform to social norms, deceitfulness, impulsivity,
aggressiveness, reckless disregard for others, consistent irresponsibility, lack of remorse
51. According Moffitt, what describes best the difference between life-course persistent and adolescence-limited?
-Main difference: life-course persistent shows continuity beyond adolescence while adolescence-limited stop
offending as they mature into young adulthood
-Life-course persistent manifests antisocial behaviors during childhood and show continuity in misconduct into and
beyond adolescence
-Adolescence-limit little or no antisocial behaviors during childhood but suddenly engage in a range of delinquent
acts during adolescence, only to stop offending as they mature into young adulthood
52. Which of the following is true about serial killers?
-True about serial killers
A) Male, white, young
B) History of legal trouble
C) Abusive childhood
D) Psychopathic- lack of empathy
E) Work alone
F) Sexual in nature
G) Victim is usually a stranger
H) Victim is perceived as vulnerable
-rarely equals in strength or intelligence
-often children and young women
53. A serial killer who targets a type of person that he considers to be evil is what type of killer?
- Mission-oriented. Want to rid world of evil or hear voices telling them to kill
54. Which two approaches (theories) of crime does Caspis article link?
- successfully links biology and social environments and predicts antisocial behavior
55. What do Fox and Levin suggest about mass murderers?
-Mass murders tend to know their victims or have some tie to them (Mass murder takes place in a short period of time)
Revenge. E.g., fired worker killing coworkers
Loyalty. E.g., depressed parent killing family to spare them suffering, bring to afterlife
Profit. E.g., eliminate witnesses from a crime
Terror. E.g., terrorism
First two expressive, second two instrumental
56. Which of the following is *not* the weakness of Rational Choice Theory related to the deterrence of crimes?
Rational choice and Deterrence WEAKNESSES
-does not apply well to impulse crimes
-small crimes with big consequences
-hard to falsify
-mental illness and rationality
-across person variation of costs
57. A key assumption of__________ is that the decisions that offenders make are purposive. That is, they are deliberate acts,
committed with the intention of benefiting the offender.
-Rational Choice Theory
58. Which punishment has the highest celerity?
-Celerity - how fast something happens, how fast you get cost or benefit
an example of a punishment with LOW celerity would be the death penalty - you have to wait a long time for it to happen
59. In the rational choice theory, what are the three stages a person goes through when becoming involved in crime?
1) certainty: how certain or sure. Are we sure its going to happen?
2) severity: how severe. Whether or not it happens, how bad is it?
3) celerity: how quickly. Such as how fast youll get the benefits from it.
also could be: involvement decisions can be divided into three stages- becoming involved for the first time (initiation), continued
involvement (habituation), and ceasing to offend (desistance) - pg 120
60. According to Baumer et al. (2003), which of the following characteristics is a *not* a feature of a U.S. states that supports
execution?
Where is capital punishment supported in the U.S.?
-Generally Midwest states, such as Texas
-areas with higher homicide rates
- areas with large proportion of African Americans
- areas that are more conservative politically
61. According to Clarke and Cornish, which of the following is *not* of the criticisms of rational choice theory
Criticisms of rational choice theory:
These are criticisms
- the defining characteristic of offenders is not rational, but irrational
- some crimes are rational and some are not
- rational choice perspective offers little that is new to criminology
- assumes everyone is equally motivated
62. How Rational Choice approach and the Perceptual Deterrence approach differ?
- Main difference is that rational choice approach is explaining why crime happens and perceptual deterrence is focused on preventing the crime
from happening.
Rational Choice: if its beneficial youll do it, if not you wont.
Commit crime when benefits > costs
-Free will
-Hedonism: to maximize pleasure
-Rational: to first think about it and then make decisions based on that.
Perceptual Deterrence: Rational choice theory used to prevent crime
-Formal deterrence:
-Prison, money
-Other punishments.
-Informal deterrence:
-Dirty looks, gossip, correction
- Shaming
-General deterrence
-Deters others
-Specific deterrence
-Prevents same person from doing crime again
63. Which of the following is *not* one Radelet and Hugos arguments that indeed innocents have been executed.
- arguments: close calls, calculation of the odds, the role of lady luck, dna evidence has freed many on death row. Accidental killings,
homicides in self defense, homicides by the mentally ill, noncapital murders. All ARE arguments.
64. Which of the following is a core assumption of social control theories?
Core assumption: everyone is motivated to commit a crime, but certain social ties hold people back
65. How do elements of social bonds influence crime?
-Strong social bonds with other help deter crime as people do not want to risk losing those bonds
66. Which element of social control theory did Sampson and Laub see as missing from Hirschis initial theoretical statement (of social
control theory)?
-all social children become social adults, but some antisocial children become social adults, due to increased social
ties
-criminal propensity affects social ties which affects criminal behavior
67. Which of the following is *not* a possible explanation for the correlation between drug use and criminal behavior?
These are all reasons FOR the correlation:
- crime promotes drug use: learn from, other criminals how to acquire, use and enjoy drugs; drug use and crime may have common
origins; like low self control
- drugs promote crime: economic need (steal money to support the habit)
- altered states cause lowered inhibitions
- broken social ties
- drug trade defined as illegal
68. Which of the following statement cannot explain how drugs promote crime?
-Explain how drugs promote crime
A)Economic needs to support habbits
B) Altered stateslower inhibitions
C) Broken social ties
D) Drug trade ( controversial)
69. According to Hirsch, what is the best way to describe the relationship between social bonds and self-control?
Increased social bonds causes an increase in self control, which limits criminal behavior
70. What do Sampson and Laub ultimately conclude in their article Crime and Deviance Over the Life Course?
The basic organizing principle derived from linking the life-course perspective with social control theory is that both continuity and
change are evident, and that trajectories of crime and deviance are systematically modified by social bonds to adult institutions of
informal social control. Adults with stronger social ties (i.e. job stability) commit less crime.
71. According to Sampson et al (1990), which of the following is *not* true?
These are all true:
- What goes on inside the family is influenced by structural background factors such as poverty, residential mobility, family size, etc.
Sampson et al also acknowledged that the individual differences in children - difficult temperaments, early conduct disorders and so on - also
influence those attempting to deliver social control.
- The most salient social control process is found in the family, an instrument for both direct and indirect controls.
- They agreed with Moffits theory of cumulative continuity (crime and reactions to it are in a cycle that embeds offenders in a trajectory
of offending).
- Meaningful social bonds established during adulthood can act as a turning point to lead offenders to conformity.
- Sampson et al stressed the importance of informal social ties and bonds to society at all ages across the life course.
72. According to Sampson and Laub, not all antisocial children become antisocial adults. What reforms them?
-Social ties like getting married or having a good job.
73. According to Sampson, which institutions have the most social control over children?
-Any social relationship (parents, school, work, country, teams, friends)
-Family, school, and peer groups
74. Which one of the following steps is *not* suggested by Howard S. Becker in his article Becoming a Marihuana User?
-suggested steps: must learn the proper smoking technique, learn to recognize the effects, learn to enjoy those effects
75. What did Becker learn about marijuana users?
-Social interaction plays a role in learning to use and enjoy the effects of a drug
76. According to Becker (1953), which of the following about marijuana use is *not* true?
- these are true:
being around criminals increases chances of learning how to use drugs (it is a socially learned experience)
people have to learn to use drugs