Deck 1: How Patterns of Thinking Can Obstruct Justice

Question 1

Current policies and practice of criminal justice focus almost entirely on the lawbreaker, legal guilt, and punishment. This is because of:

A) Crime victims' demands.
B) Innovations in solving crimes.
C) A pattern of thinking that shapes our view of crime and justice.
D) It's every culture's primary approach.

Answer 1

A pattern of thinking that shapes our view of crime and justice.

Question 2

The legal systems that form the foundation of Western law viewed crime primarily as:

A) A breach of the common welfare.
B) An offense against the persons harmed and their families.
C) A wrong for which the person who committed the crime should make restitution.
D) All of the above.

Answer 2

All of the above.

Question 3

Henry I's legal claim that the king's peace was breached when someone committed a crime meant:

A) That he could require the Church to reimburse him.
B) That he was also a victim of that crime.
C) That it was time to install public prosecutors.
D) That prison sentences were too short.

Answer 3

That he was also a victim of that crime.

Question 4

Prisons were adopted in the eighteenth century as a punishment for crime primarily in order to:

A) Remove people who committed crimes from their negative environments and put them in a prison for rehabilitation.
B) Allow people harmed by crime to see that their suffering was taken seriously.
C) Put people who committed crimes into places of suffering so that they would not commit crimes again.
D) Make an example of those who committed crimes so that others would be deterred.

Question 5

According to the text, restitution means:

A) Those who commit crimes should be made better so that they become law-abiding.
B) Persons harmed should be compensated for the harm they suffered.
C) Those who commit crimes should not be punished.
D) Persons harmed should sue their offenders in civil court.

Question 6

Copernicus developed the idea of "patterns of thinking."

Question 7

Throughout history, most approaches to crime and justice have valued impartiality and impersonality above all else.

Question 8

Private prosecution was an innovation promoted in the eighteenth century as a means of giving persons harmed a role in the justice system.

Question 9

Prior to 1790, prisons were used almost exclusively to hold persons who had been accused of crimes until they were tried or sentenced, or to enforce labor orders.

Question 10

During what Michael Tonry called the Indeterminate Sentencing period in US policy, the predominant sentencing value was rehabilitation.

Question 11

Indigenous justice processes are what existed before the imposition of Western concepts of justice by colonial powers.

Question 12

The idea of personal responsibility rules out expecting a person who committed a crime to pay restitution to the person they harmed.

Question 13

Eight hundred years ago, the ideal juror was not someone who was ignorant of the facts or a stranger to the parties. They were selected because they knew the parties and knew of the dispute.

Question 14

A significant consequence of the government's reliance on a criminal justice policy based on incarceration is that many more people are deterred from committing crimes.

Question 15

Throughout history, most approaches to crime and justice have valued impartiality and impersonality above all else.