Deck 13: Victims in the Twenty-First Century: Alternative Directions Glossary References Name Index Subject Index

Question 1

Victimology has grown as a field with the inclusion of victimism.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Both criminologists and victimologists place a great emphasis on following the proper ways of gathering and interpreting data.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Stockholm Syndrome refers to a situation in which the victims of crimes such as kidnapping and hostage-taking develop a pathological attachment to the perpetrators.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Individuals who commit crimes may be victims themselves.

Question 5

There are instances in which it may not be clear who is the victim and who is the offender.

Question 6

Victims of highly publicized crimes are often outraged by the way news media portray them.

Question 7

Criminologists and victimologists use methods quite different from those of other social scientists to collect and analyze data.

Question 8

If people study victimology and learn how and why criminals operate, they will never become crime victims themselves.

Question 9

Indirect victims are those who experience the criminal act and its consequences firsthand.

Question 10

It is possible for people engaged in illegal activities to be genuine victims deserving of protection and redress through the courts.

Question 11

Examining the range and reactions of persons under attack sometimes provides an opportunity to see people at their very best.

Question 12

All deceitful acts are forbidden by law.

Question 13

A subjective approach to the plight of crime victims is more common when people feel sympathy for the offender.

Question 14

The difference between historical and anthropological orientations to victim issues is that historians examine long-ago events, whereas anthropologists examine recent or current events.

Question 15

The subjective approach to the plight of crime victims can view issues from the perspective of ethics, morality, and philosophy.

Question 16

In ancient cultures, the concept of victim was connected to the practice of religious sacrifice.

Question 17

Offenders can morph into victims even while in custody of the criminal justice system.

Question 18

Victimology encompasses the scientific study of illegal activities, offenders, their victims, criminal law, and the justice system.

Question 19

Victims and offenders can be pictured as overlapping categories.

Question 20

A research study used in victimology that asks research questions beginning with "who, where, when, and how" is classified as an exploratory study.

Question 21

Which of the following is true of street crime?

A) It is classified as the most financially damaging category among crimes.
B) It is of less interest to politicians than organized and white-collar crimes.
C) It has sharply increased in recent years and become much more violent.
D) It scares the public, attracts media and politicians, and keeps police busy.

Question 22

Victim-centered research focuses on which of the following?

A) The way victims are treated by the criminal justice system
B) How criminals identify and pursue likely potential victims
C) Why some people make "better" victims than other people
D) Why some people are "worthy" victims and others are not

Question 23

For research to be considered scientific, it must be which of the following?

A) Objective
B) Subjective
C) Qualitative
D) Quantitative

Question 24

Which of the following correctly describes the relationship between victimology and criminology?

A) Victimology encompasses several subdisciplines, including criminology.
B) Victimology can be considered an area of specialization within criminology.
C) Victimologists only study the victims of crimes; criminologists only study the offenders.
D) Although they address similar topics, their research and analytic methods markedly differ.

Question 25

Which term refers to the study of how some crime victims find their severely injurious experiences life-transforming, for the better, rather than for the worse?

A) Victimology
B) Psychology
C) Survivorology
D) Mastery

Question 26

Which of the following is defined as a coherent, integrated set of beliefs that shapes interpretations and guides political actions?

A) Philosophy
B) Ideology
C) Bias
D) Orientation

Question 27

Three types of biases that undermine the ability of social scientists to achieve objectivity and draw conclusions based on solid evidence are most completely described as deriving from which of the following sources?

A) Personal, political, and academic pressures upon the researchers
B) Influences exerted by victim advocates, politicians, and the media
C) Conservative and liberal extremists, academic pressures, and personal experiences
D) Personal experiences, the legacy of the discipline, and the mood of the times

Question 28

Which of the following have researchers found about people who routinely engage in lawbreaking?

A) They are less likely to be victimized than others.
B) They are more likely to be hurt than law-abiding counterparts.
C) They are typically only victimized if they are not in a gang.
D) They are protected because they know how to get around the law.

Question 29

Which of the following terms describes those who experience the criminal act and its consequences firsthand?

A) Distal victims
B) Primary victims
C) Secondary victims
D) Proximal victims

Question 30

Today, the term "victim" commonly refers to which of the following?

A) Individuals who have suffered injuries, losses, or hardships for any reason
B) Individuals who have suffered direct injury or loss as a result of a crime
C) Individuals who have been targets of crime whether or not injury, loss, or hardship has occurred
D) Individuals who have been overwhelmed by the challenges and hardships of life

Question 31

Victimology is best described as the scientific study of which of the following?

A) The psychological characteristics of victims, regardless of cause
B) The kinds of harm that people suffer because of illegal activities
C) The ways specific individuals and groups become crime targets
D) The complex relationships between criminals and their victims

Question 32

Which of the following is the major function of victimologists?

A) Investigating the victim's plight
B) Carrying out research on the public's reactions to victims' plights
C) Studying how victims are handled by officials and agencies in the criminal justice system
D) Investigating victim plights, researching public reactions, and studying the justice system

Question 33

Whenever different interpretations of the facts lead to sharply divergent conclusions about who is actually the guilty party and who really is the injured party, which of the following is most true?

A) The individual who has the least history of police contact is typically the victim.
B) It is most likely that both should be charged, allowing the courts to tease it out.
C) It is useless to try to pursue any sort of criminal justice-based resolution.
D) Knee-jerk pro-victim impulses provide no useful guidance for action.

Question 34

Which of the following must victimologists do?

A) Reserve judgment in their research
B) Refrain from jumping to any conclusions
C) Avoid being strictly "pro-victim"
D) All of these are correct

Question 35

Which of the following should a research do as an objective approach to the study of victims?

A) Integrate his or her own experiences into the content of the research
B) Explore the experiences of individuals whom the researcher knows
C) Be grounded in the applicable philosophical and religious traditions
D) Remain neutral and unbiased, not allowing personal feelings to enter

Question 36

Which of the following terms describes those who suffer emotionally or financially from a crime but are not immediately involved in or physically injured by it?

A) Distal victims
B) Primary victims
C) Secondary victims
D) Proximal victims

Question 37

Which of the following does the suffix "-ology" mean?

A) A body of known facts
B) Difficult to understand
C) The scientific study of
D) Prevention methods

Question 38

Which of the following does this chapter say about the intergenerational transmission of misusing force?

A) It can transform a victim into an offender.
B) It is based largely on biology, not behavior.
C) It is the main reason for much violent crime.
D) It can be traced to attitudes devaluing criminals.

Question 39

A study (cited in this chapter) that tracked the lives of boys and girls known to have been physically and sexually abused over a follow-up period of several decades concluded that being harmed at an early age substantially increased the odds of which of the following?

A) Future involvement in violent criminal activity
B) Only nonviolent delinquency and criminality
C) Future choice of a helping profession like social work
D) Development of an ideology based on victimism

Question 40

How does this chapter characterize the status of being a legitimate or bona fide victim worthy of support?

A) As being based in legal distinctions
B) As being a philosophical concept
C) As being of limited scientific importance
D) As being a socially constructed status

Question 41

Discuss the concept of offenders as victims.Should people engaged in illegal activities be considered genuine victims when they are on the receiving end of criminal acts? Explain.

Question 42

A researcher from a discipline other than victimology studies an issue that victimologists also study.This researcher asks a research question about when public attitudes toward a given crime changed, and why.To which discipline does this researcher most likely belong?

A) History
B) Psychology
C) Anthropology
D) Criminal Justice

Question 43

Among the steps for structuring a victimological investigation, in which facet of Step 3 would victimologists focus on which kinds of victims are most often injured by a given crime?

A) Policy implications of findings
B) Interactions with offenders
C) Working definitions
D) Needs assessments

Question 44

Which of the following is one similarity between criminologists and victimologists?

A) Both have existed for about the same amount of time.
B) Both share a retributive philosophy of punishment.
C) Both rely on research methods used by other social scientists.
D) Both focus primarily on the activities of the criminal justice system.

Question 45

Which of the following is used to discover what help is needed for crime victims to resolve problems and resume their lives as before the crime?

A) Victim profile
B) Phenomenological analysis
C) Needs assessment
D) Program evaluation

Question 46

Explain some good reasons for studying victimology, even if a student is not majoring in criminology or criminal justice.

Question 47

What is the principle of homogamy, and how has it been demonstrated in the study of road rage?

Question 48

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) might occur to victims after they have experienced the traumatic event of a crime.Identify an example in this chapter of a specific type of victimization that can lead to PTSD.What are some aspects of this problem that researchers seek to investigate?

Question 49

Of the types of research studies that victimologists can conduct, which type includes seeking to predict "What would happen if…"?

A) Explanatory studies
B) Exploratory studies
C) Descriptive studies
D) Evaluation studies

Question 50

Explain the similarities and differences between criminology and victimology.Provide three examples of each.