Deck 7: Sentencing

Question 1

Prison populations in this nation began to increase dramatically, despite the fact that crime rates were relatively stable, in the

A) mid-1970s.
B) mid-1980s.
C) mid-1990s.
D) mid-2000s.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which single group of offenders have accounted for most of the growth in both the state and federal prison systems?

A) Violent offenders
B) Property offenders
C) Public order offenders
D) Drug law offenders

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The idea of removing the highest-risk offenders from contact with the general population is called selective

A) removal.
B) imprisonment.
C) incapacitation.
D) diversion.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which form of sentencing dominating the legal scene in the United States until the abandonment of rehabilitation and the advent of the new penology and mass imprisonment?

A) Determinate sentencing
B) Hard-time sentencing
C) Indeterminate sentencing
D) Due process sentencing

Question 5

In California, an offense often linked to "Three-Strikes" prosecutions that can be filed as either a misdemeanor or a felony is called

A) deciders.
B) crackers.
C) wobblers.
D) felony-misdemeanor.

Question 6

Which of the following represents a problem with the use of determinate sentencing?

A) There are very limited incentives for inmates to participate in rehabilitation programs.
B) It is strongly tied to the notion of individualized justice.
C) The sentences are not fixed.
D) It gives too much power to the probation officer.

Question 7

What is one of the problems with mandatory minimum sentences?

A) They target and punish minor offenses in an effort to deter more serious crimes.
B) They are most commonly associated with local crime problems.
C) Prosecutorial discretion with their application can lead to unjust outcomes.
D) Too few serious crimes have a mandatory sanction.

Question 8

Who has the ultimate decision over whether to prosecute a case or not?

A) The judge
B) The grand Jury
C) The prosecutor
D) The probation officers

Question 9

The main two parties involved in the plea-bargaining process are the

A) judge and the prosecutor.
B) probation officer and the prosecutor.
C) probation officer and the defense attorney.
D) defense attorney and the prosecutor.

Question 10

The net effect of sentencing guidelines is that they

A) gave judges more discretion in sentencing.
B) limit judges' discretion.
C) decrease the disparity based on an offender's demographic characteristics.
D) encouraged judges to consider mitigating factors.

Question 11

The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate.

Question 12

The incarceration rate for the United States, when compared to other "First World" nations, is four to five times higher.

Question 13

After subtracting all of the drug offenders behind bars, our incarceration rate would be about equal to that of England.

Question 14

It is estimated that almost 60 percent of African-American males will be arrested by their twenty-third birthday, while 45 percent of white males will have been arrested by that age.

Question 15

The imprisonment of women has decreased significantly over the past several decades.

Question 16

A presentencing report based largely on extralegal factors is likely to discriminate against offenders with little prior work experience and poor educational histories.

Question 17

The prosecuting attorney as perhaps the most powerful individual in the criminal justice system.

Question 18

The United States locks up more people per capita than any other first-world nation. Yet, with the exception of homicide, most industrialized nations have property and violent crime rates very similar to America.

Question 19

When courts within one's state hand out harsher punishments to persons from another state, researchers call these outcomes justice by geography.

Question 20

High imprisonment rates are a result of a complex interplay of our fear of crime and punitive values that are moderated by American political processes.