Deck 8: Social Class and the Law

Question 1

There are serious scholars who argue that the criminal justice system is actually designed to _______________.

A) Control those in the upper-class
B) Control the poor
C) Focus on corporate crime
D) Ignore acts of street crime

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In which stage of the criminal justice system is there bias against the poor?

A) Policing
B) Courts
C) Corrections
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following would not be an example of harmful behaviors committed by the powerful?

A) Conducting unnecessary surgery
B) Maintaining unsafe workplaces
C) Engaging in robbery
D) Producing environmental pollution

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is true regarding the label of crime, according to Reiman and Leighton (2013)?

A) It concentrates primarily on the predatory acts of those who are well off.
B) It is reserved primarily for the dangerous actions of the poor.
C) It tends to exclude or deemphasize the more dangerous predatory acts of the poor.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 5

Sheldon (2007) claimed that the criminal justice system is a tool used to control poor, young minorities, which he termed ____________.

A) Ruling classes
B) Social classes
C) Dangerous classes
D) Criminal classes

Question 6

Sheldon (2007) suggested that social class helps determine:

A) Who is to be defined as "criminal"
B) How far into the criminal justice system a particular case is processed
C) The final sentence of a criminal case
D) All of the above

Question 7

The major bias against the poor comes from ___________.

A) Criminal law
B) Policing
C) Sentencing
D) Corrections

Question 8

The recent economic recession of 2008 was identified as a _________ by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

A) Crime
B) Banking crisis
C) Collateral consequence
D) None of the above

Question 9

The ___________ perspective argues that the criminal law (and thus its enforcement) serves the interests of the powerful over the people.

A) Conflict
B) Positivist
C) Classical
D) Consensus

Question 10

Which amendment grants the protections that make up part of what we refer to as due process?

A) First Amendment
B) Fifth Amendment
C) Sixth Amendment
D) Eighth Amendment

Question 11

The first major Constitutional challenge for the right to obtain counsel was ____________, which extended the necessity for counsel in capital cases.

A) Gideon v. Wainwright
B) Argersinger v. Hamlin
C) Powell v. Alabama
D) Nichols v. United States

Question 12

In ___________, the Supreme Court held that, even in felony cases in state courts, the Sixth Amendment requires that a defendant enjoy the right of assistance to counsel.

A) Gideon v. Wainwright
B) Argersinger v. Hamlin
C) Powell v. Alabama
D) Nichols v. United States

Question 13

In ___________, the Supreme Court held that any and all crimes that carry the possibility of imprisonment qualify an indigent defendant for an attorney.

A) Gideon v. Wainwright
B) Argersinger v. Hamlin
C) Powell v. Alabama
D) Nichols v. United States

Question 14

The ability of police officers, prosecutors, and judges to exercise discretion for specific crimes has been eliminated due to ___________ policies.

A) Zero-tolerance policing
B) No-drop prosecution
C) Community policing
D) Three-strikes

Question 15

Which of the following can be considered a type of collateral consequence?

A) Sex offender registries
B) Felony disenfranchisement
C) Sentencing enhancements
D) All of the above

Question 16

______________ refer(s) to a prior conviction resulting in a drastic increase in punishment for any subsequent conviction.

A) Felony disenfranchisement
B) Collateral consequences
C) Sentencing enhancements
D) Deportation

Question 17

Prohibiting persons who would otherwise be eligible to vote if not for their criminal conviction is referred to as what?

A) Felony disenfranchisement
B) Collateral consequences
C) Sentencing enhancements
D) Deportation

Question 18

Which states do not restrict anyone's voting rights?

A) Maine and Vermont
B) Maine and Massachusetts
C) New York and Rhode Island
D) Virginia and Massachusetts

Question 19

The legal challenge in the case of Richardson v. Ramirez was focused on the _____________.

A) Fifth Amendment
B) Sixth Amendment
C) Eighth Amendment
D) Fourteenth Amendment

Question 20

Which of the following can be considered collateral consequences of the incarceration binge?

A) Rising rates of single-parent families
B) Rising unemployment
C) Record levels of urban poverty
D) All of the above

Question 21

The practices of sending inmates off to work in quarries and mines was known as what?

A) Slave labor
B) Convict leasing
C) Convict labor
D) None of the above

Question 22

Which of the following allowed states to prevent the importation of prison goods?

A) Hawes-Cooper Act
B) Ashurst-Sumners Act
C) Walsh-Healy Act
D) None of the above

Question 23

Which of the following would contradict the argument that building prisons creates jobs in small towns and that inmates who work while incarcerated leave prison with marketable job skills?

A) A single prison does not provide noticeable job growth when comparing towns where prisons are built to towns without prisons.
B) Limited prison budgets result in not increasing the number of correctional officers even as prison populations grow.
C) The stigma of a criminal conviction results in former inmates being one-half to one-third as likely as non-offenders to be considered by employers.
D) All of the above

Question 24

The _______________ created a number of programs including unemployment compensation and Aid to Dependent Children, which was aimed at preventing family disruption due to poverty.

A) Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act
B) Social Security Act
C) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act
D) None of the above

Question 25

Which Supreme Court case ruled that subjecting welfare recipients to drug testing without reasonable suspicion was unconstitutional?

A) Powell v. Alabama
B) Nichols v. United States
C) Marchwinski v. Howard
D) Richardson v. Ramirez

Question 26

____________ are those crimes committed disproportionately by the poor.

Question 27

____________ is understood to mean the median level of wealth and income in the U.S.

Question 28

Eight in ten criminal defendants are ___________, meaning too poor to be able to afford a private attorney.

Question 29

_________________ refer to all of the civil restrictions that follow from a criminal conviction.

Question 30

Blacks are _______ times more likely to lose their voting rights.

Question 31

What arguments are made by Shelden (2007) that the criminal justice system can be seen as a system used to maintain status quo arrangements in society based on social class?

Question 32

What evidence is there that, as court fees increase to help defer the costs of adjudication, it is the poor who pay the most?

Question 33

Briefly discuss the three pieces of legislation that made up the New Deal Legislation of the 1930s.