Deck 3: Measuring Delinquency

Question 1

The Gluecks compared offenders and non-offenders by matching 500 delinquent boys with a control group of 500 non-delinquent boys.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Which research method was used by Elijah Anderson to explore youth violence in the inner city?

A) Ecological analysis
B) Ethnography
C) Survey research
D) Unobtrusive research

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which research method did Shaw and McKay use to study the geographic distribution of (officially defined) delinquents across the city of Chicago?

A) Ecological analysis
B) Ethnography
C) Survey analysis
D) Experiments

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The great strength of Shaw and McKay's work is that it focused attention on what type of previously neglected factors in predicting delinquency?

A) Family
B) Educational
C) Community-level
D) Religious

Question 5

Which of the following is a basic assumption of ecological analysis?

A) Crime rates are a function primarily of policing activities in communities.
B) Social systems, such as neighborhoods, have qualities that exist apart from the characteristics of individuals who constitute those social systems.
C) Social psychological factors are key predictors of crime rates.
D) All of the above.

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT a Part I offense in the Uniform Crime Reports?

A) Forcible rape
B) Arson
C) Motor vehicle theft
D) Forgery

Question 7

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program includes primarily four types of information. Which of the following is NOT one of these types of information?

A) Persons arrested
B) Persons convicted
C) Crimes cleared
D) Offenses known to the police

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a strength of the UCR program?

A) It provides uniform nationwide data about crime and delinquency.
B) It offers information about the demographic characteristics of offenders.
C) It provides extensive information about victims.
D) It allows researchers to explore trends in crime over long periods of time.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a weakness of the UCR?

A) A vast number of offenses are not included in official statistics.
B) Discrimination distorts official data.
C) Law enforcement agencies may manipulate crime data for political purposes.
D) It offers no information about the characteristics of offenders.

Question 10

Juvenile Court Statistics is a publication that reports data regarding:

A) dispositions ordered in juvenile cases.
B) demographic characteristics of juvenile offenders (age, gender, race).
C) juvenile offenses charged.
D) all of the above.

Question 11

The National Crime Victimization Survey conducts interviews about personal crime victimizations with people who are age __________ or older.

A) 12
B) 11
C) 10
D) 9

Question 12

Which of the following is a weakness of victimization surveys?

A) They are not conducted on a national scale.
B) They do not provide information that can be used to determine the risks of victimization.
C) They underestimate juvenile victimizations.
D) All of the above.

Question 13

Which type of survey provides the most information about the social backgrounds of juvenile offenders?

A) Official data surveys
B) Self-report surveys
C) Victimization surveys
D) None of the above provide information about social backgrounds.

Question 14

A __________ survey gathers information from the same individuals at more than one point in time.

A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) disproportionate
D) validated

Question 15

Which of the following is a weakness of self-report surveys?

A) They offer very limited information about the social backgrounds of respondents (e.g. family factors, peer influences).
B) They tend to focus only on serious offenses.
C) They are often given in schools, so individuals not attending school (e.g. truants, dropouts) are excluded.
D) All of the above.

Question 16

In survey research, _____________ is the extent to which repeated measurements of a variable produce the same or similar responses over time.

A) validity
B) reliability
C) operationalization
D) correlation

Question 17

The National Crime Victimization Survey indicates that the number of crimes in America is __________ the number reported in the Uniform Crime Reports.

A) greater than
B) less than
C) the same as

Question 18

Which research method allows researchers, through their direct participation in particular settings or situations, to understand more fully how those settings motivate individual behavior?

A) Experiments
B) Survey research
C) Ethnography
D) Unobtrusive research

Question 19

Ethnography is a form of _____________ that involves direct, systematic observation.

A) experiment
B) field study
C) survey research
D) unobtrusive research

Question 20

In their book Unraveling of Juvenile Delinquency, the Gluecks argued that family life was the most important factor distinguishing delinquents from non-delinquents.

Question 21

Ethnography involves describing cultural life based on direct, systematic observation.

Question 22

The major drawback to ethnographic research is that everything the ethnographer describes is viewed through the lens of his or her perceptions.

Question 23

Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay used ecological analysis to study the geographic distribution of delinquency in Chicago.

Question 24

Uniform Crime Report Part II offenses include the violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

Question 25

All juvenile delinquency cases are referred to juvenile court.

Question 26

The National Crime Victimization Survey was developed to overcome problems with data included in official reports of crime and delinquency.

Question 27

Cross-sectional surveys gather information from the same individuals at more than one point in time.

Question 28

A criticism of self-report surveys is that they have tended to focus on relatively minor offenses.

Question 29

Research has shown that self-report survey items tend to be unreliable.

Question 30

All three data sources (UCR, NCVS, and self-report surveys) reveal similar patterns in the demographic characteristics of those who commit serious crimes.

Question 31

In their study of the causes of delinquency, published in Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency,
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck:

A) matched 500 delinquent boys with a control group of 500 non-delinquent boys.
B) compared the offending of delinquent boys to that of delinquent girls.
C) conducted ecological analysis.
D) used participant observation.

Question 32

In Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck's comparison of delinquents and non-delinquents, they found that __________ was the most important factor distinguishing the two groups.

A) school performance
B) peer relationships
C) body structure
D) family life

Question 33

In their study of the causes of delinquency, published in Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency,
Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck matched 500 delinquent boys with 500 non-delinquent boys based on which of the following characteristics?

A) National origin
B) Age
C) IQ score
D) All of the above.

Question 34

The selection of a sample that is truly representative of the population of interest is crucial in which research method?

A) Ecological analysis
B) Experiments
C) Unobtrusive research
D) Survey research

Question 35

What is the most common strategy for collecting data in the study of delinquency?

A) Experiments
B) Survey research
C) Field studies
D) Unobtrusive research

Question 36

The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates suggest that the actual amount of crime is roughly __________ times higher than official statistics indicate.

A) two
B) two to three
C) two to four
D) two to five