Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

Laws are created by

A) the police
B) the president
C) the people
D) legislatures

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A decreasing number of police recruits have college experience.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Justice is

A) fairness in the general sense of the term
B) the Greek notion that it is the kind of balance that exists when "each is given his or her due"
C) the allocation of resources and rights in a way that allows individuals to obtain what it is that they deserve, in a moral sense
D) all of the above

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The rule of cop means that on the street what police officers say goes.

Question 5

The text suggests that, unlike other groups, professionals solve problems in a collegial way.

Question 6

Nationally, police receive forty hours of ethics training in their police academy experience.

Question 7

The true meaning of the law on the streets is determined by

A) police officers
B) the media
C) Congress
D) the president

Question 8

Justice can be considered as "fairness" and/or balance.

Question 9

The definition of what counts as "good" in life is

A) absolute
B) highly divisive and highly individualized
C) the same for everyone
D) all of the above

Question 10

Individual police officers are always supervised as they make important, potentially life-changing decisions on the street.

Question 11

Historically, commonly held images of police officers included

A) significant respect for the police officer
B) viewing the police as a group of unintelligent, uneducated, and untrained incompetents
C) abject fear of the police officer
D) viewing the police as a group of highly educated, sophisticated individuals

Question 12

It is legally and ethically defensible for police

A) to treat people in different ways because of their race
B) to treat people in different ways because of their religion
C) to treat people in different ways because of their political views
D) none of the above

Question 13

Thomas Jefferson included the phrase "the pursuit of happiness" when he authored the United States Constitution.

Question 14

In the recent past, the public viewed police officers as a group of unintelligent, uneducated, and untrained incompetents.

Question 15

If an officer is corrupt, unfair, prejudiced, and/or driven by personal vendettas, they will apply the law fairly.

Question 16

When applying the law

A) the police have absolute discretion
B) police actions are always subject to administrative oversight
C) police must apply the law fairly, evenhandedly, and with a view to promote justice
D) all of the above

Question 17

A central theme of the book is that

A) a competent police officer has received extensive academy training
B) a competent police officer is an ethical police officer
C) a competent police officer must have a college or university degree
D) a competent police officer is born, not trained

Question 18

The sole purpose of our laws and the Constitution is to

A) create a society where everybody is free to pursue what he or she, individually, believes is the good in life
B) oppress the masses
C) empower the police over the public
D) maintain power for a few

Question 19

Police ethics must be considered separately from police competence.

Question 20

Ethics has become an important issue for new recruits and experienced police officers because

A) community oriented policing has given the street officer significantly more discretion
B) of legislative enactments
C) the chain of command requires it
D) everyone else is studying ethics, so police officers should too

Question 21

The authors suggest that the central, dominant theme of the book is that police competence is inexorably linked to police ethics. What do they mean by this? How is it that, according to the authors, the two cannot be divorced from each other?

Question 22

If police overlook certain types of crimes, they can effectively

A) arrest everyone
B) arrest no one
C) decriminalize an action that the legislature had criminalized
D) none of the above

Question 23

Our text spends just a moment considering what elements might be part of the "systematized body of knowledge" which the professional police officer understands. Construct your own list of the necessary skills, knowledge bases, and types of expertise that might be possessed by the modern professional officer. Be synoptic. That is, make the list as long and inclusive as you possibly can. Consider any and every type of knowledge necessary. See if you can come up with 50 such elements (at least).

Question 24

Professions are

A) self-regulating
B) self-disciplining
C) occupations that engage the practitioner with an academic experience of substantial sophistication
D) all of the above

Question 25

The Dirty Harry problem is defined as

A) noble cause corruption
B) watching too many police movies
C) being a Clint Eastwood addict
D) all of the above

Question 26

Ethical perspectives considered by the textbook include

A) ethical formalism
B) utilitarianism
C) an ethic to live by
D) all of the above

Question 27

Noble cause corruption is also known as

A) the Dirty Harry problem
B) the ABC Effect
C) the XYZ Effect
D) the Police Effect

Question 28

While today's police officers will usually cooperate with investigations into old-style corruption

A) they will also gladly assist in investigating noble cause corruption
B) there will often be subcultural reluctance to aid in investigating noble cause corruption
C) they are ignorant of noble cause corruption
D) they are always participants in noble cause corruption

Question 29

A critical factor in police competence is

A) physical strength
B) a thorough knowledge of legal history
C) ethical judgment
D) extensive training with weapons

Question 30

Traditionally, police ethics

A) was largely ignored during police academy training
B) was given by members of internal affairs
C) consisted of a list of things not to do
D) all of the above

Question 31

Ethical formalism is

A) a "deontological" perspective
B) a "teleological" perspective
C) an ethic to live by
D) all of the above

Question 32

If an officer is corrupt, unfair, prejudiced, and/or driven by personal vendettas, then

A) he is part of the norm
B) so is that officer's "law"
C) he is a genuine police officer
D) all of the above

Question 33

Historically, police officers have been particularly prone to think that

A) philosophy has nothing to do with real life on the street
B) the public is entirely trustworthy
C) the public completely supports the police
D) their job is easy

Question 34

Individual police officers often

A) make decisions without supervision
B) make decisions with no direction to follow other than their own judgment
C) are not monitored in real-time
D) all of the above

Question 35

State regulations require an average of _______ ethics training in the police academy.

A) twenty-four hours
B) three and one-half hours
C) eighty hours
D) forty hours

Question 36

The authors suggest that the police give meaning to the law and make it come to life in the daily lives of citizens because of how they (the police) apply it. How is this done? Discuss examples of how the police use their discretionary powers to "make law."

Question 37

College criminal justice programs

A) always offer criminal justice ethics classes
B) always require students who are pre-law enforcement to take a course in ethics
C) have a multitude of ethics courses
D) often neither offer nor require courses in ethics

Question 38

"Testilying" refers to

A) speaking while in a prone position
B) taking a false examination
C) lying on the witness stand in an effort to secure a conviction
D) none of the above

Question 39

This book attempts to deal with police ethics from a positivist approach. That is, the book spends little time talking about how police officers should avoid being guilty of misconduct and a lot of time talking about police officers having good character. Discuss the difference between "not making mistakes" and "doing the right thing."

Question 40

The law discriminates among people. It treats some people one way and others another. There is nothing wrong with this-in fact, it is the job of the law to do so. Discuss the difference between treating people differently because of their behavior and treating people differently because of their characteristics.