Deck 2: Classical and Neoclassical Criminology

Question 1

Classical theory in criminology formally began in what year?

A) 1764
B) 1778
C) 1791
D) 1800

Answer 1

1764

Question 2

The classical model of human nature discusses all the following elements, except:

A) free will.
B) hedonism.
C) altruism.
D) rationality.

Answer 2

altruism.

Question 3

Which philosopher believed that the function of the criminal law should be social harm prevention rather than moral retribution?

A) Hobbes
B) Bentham
C) Beccaria
D) Voltaire

Answer 3

Beccaria

Question 4

First introduced by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, which of the following supports the sacrificing of some personal freedom to the government in order to receive protection to the benefit of the larger society.

A) Hedonism
B) Free will
C) Rational choice
D) Social contract

Question 5

Nineteenth-century positivism, which supplanted classical criminology, took issue primarily with which assumption of classical theory?

A) Free will
B) Hedonism
C) Altruism
D) Benevolence

Question 6

What was the main reason that classical theory re-emerged in the 1970s?

A) People saw that they had more choices to make in their personal decisions.
B) Politicians found it a springboard to political success.
C) Social engineering and rehabilitation came into vogue.
D) Scholars and criminal justice administrators lost faith in positivism.

Question 7

Which areas of research (in the 1970s) were the first to start showing deterrence-like correlations between punishments and crime rates?

A) Capital punishment, imprisonment, sentencing policies
B) Plea bargaining, discovery, incapacitation
C) Post-conviction, parole, and profiling
D) Penology, sociology of law, symbolic interactionism

Question 8

Approximately when did the positivist domination of criminology decline and the revival of interest in classical theory occur?

A) 1950s
B) 1960s
C) 1970s
D) 1980s

Question 9

Who published the influential article "Nothing Works"?

A) Cesare Beccaria
B) Thomas Hobbes
C) Jack Gibbs
D) Robert Martinson

Question 10

Theoretically, which of the following should lead to an increase in deterrence?

A) Recognizing that individual differences exist
B) Ratcheting up the costs of crime
C) Making time a negative incentive for crime
D) Maximizing the severity of punishment

Question 11

The process of deterrence is inherently psychological because it is based on what?

A) Fear of punitive consequences
B) An egoistic/altruistic juxtaposition
C) Perceptions having no basis in reality
D) Satiation of public sentiments

Question 12

Beccaria failed to recognize or expand upon the importance of what, regarding deterrence?

A) The distinctions between motivation and free will in the model of human nature
B) The critical role of perceptions as the subjective basis of deterrence
C) Reducing recidivism (specific deterrence) v. reducing crime rates (general deterrence)
D) Supportive empirical studies v. those which were ambiguous or inconclusive

Question 13

One of the main difficulties in subjecting deterrence theory to scientific testing is:

A) the theory is more a policy prescription than criminological theory.
B) scientific technique are not advanced enough to fully embrace the theory.
C) it is difficult to construct clearly defined (measurable) and concepts and fully specified (testable) hypotheses.
D) there are too many religious or supernatural ideas in deterrence theory.

Question 14

Which area of deterrence research has shown that offenders don't often think rationally, and has also provided insights into the phenomenology of evil?

A) Anecdotal
B) Correlational
C) Natural experiments
D) Public surveys

Question 15

In which area of deterrence research have some studies found evidence of a brutalization or facilitation effect from the application of deterrence policies?

A) Anecdotal
B) Correlational
C) Natural experiments
D) Public surveys

Question 16

Which area of deterrence research holds promise of being able to actually measure perceptions?

A) Anecdotal
B) Correlational
C) Natural experiments
D) Public surveys

Question 17

Which of the following statements is the best overall summary or assessment of deterrence theory?

A) It works well enough, but no better than competitive theories.
B) It works, but only at certain times a history.
C) It doesn't work but could be improved and made to work.
D) It doesn't work at all and should be abandoned.

Question 18

Punishing an offender for a DUI by sentencing him/her to 30 days in jail is trying to realize what goal?

A) General deterrence
B) Restorative justice
C) Specific deterrence
D) None of the above

Question 19

What is the philosophical goal of posting speed limit signs?

A) Specific deterrence
B) Retribution
C) Rehabilitation
D) General deterrence

Question 20

Which of the following perspectives assumes that events can be explained in causal rather than volitional terms?

A) Classical
B) Neo-classical
C) Impressionist
D) Positivism

Question 21

According to Bentham, individuals calculate the value of pleasure or pain based on which factor(s)?

A) Intensity
B) Duration
C) Certainty
D) Extent
E) All of the above

Question 22

Which movement corresponded with scientific advances in biology, botany, and other medical sciences?

A) Deterrence
B) Positivist
C) Marxist
D) Classical

Question 23

What was the conclusion drawn from Martinson's 1974 report?

A) Deterrence works
B) Rehabilitation works
C) Nothing works
D) Incapacitation works

Question 24

Which of the following concepts relates to recognizing environmental and biological restraints on decision-making?

A) Soft determinism
B) Bounded free will
C) Labeling
D) Hedonism

Question 25

All but which of the following are examples of deterrence-related field experiments?

A) DUI crackdowns
B) Mandatory arrest
C) Incarceration
D) All are examples of deterrence-based field experiments

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT an element of the deterrence framework?

A) Severity
B) Somatotyping
C) Swiftness
D) Certainty

Question 27

All else being equal, a punishment that is certain, swift, and severe should deter potential offenders from committing crime.

Question 28

Deterrence is based on a model of human nature that emphasizes the determining influences of free will.

Question 29

Classical theory forms the logical foundation for contemporary rational choice theory?

Question 30

Neo-classical theory is based on a post-modern rejection of causal determinism.

Question 31

Beccaria believed that maximizing certainty and swiftness is more important than increasing the severity of punishments because the latter may result in irrational brutality.

Question 32

Beccaria made extensive use of the distinction between specific and general deterrence.

Question 33

Anecdotal studies are those which rely upon interviews and the like.

Question 34

Most scholars agree that it is impossible to assign a simple "true" or "false" to the deterrence doctrine.

Question 35

Classical theory is NOT a viable and/or useful theory for explaining many crime patterns, and should certainly not be used to develop any crime control policies.

Question 36

The research on deterrence shows overwhelming support for the deterrent effect of punishments on individual behavior and crime rates.

Question 37

When punishing offenders has a discouraging effect on other would-be offenders, this is known as specific deterrence.

Question 38

The Classical School of thought asserts that crime is caused by biological, psychological, or social factors beyond a person's control?

Question 39

When the offender is inhibited from repeating criminal behavior by the unpleasant experience of being punished for the original misdeed, this is known as general deterrence.

Question 40

Deterrence is based on a model of human nature that emphasizes irrationality.

Question 41

Certainty is defined as the probability a punishment will be inflicted.

Question 42

_______________ ____________ believed that the function of the law should be social harm prevention rather than moral retribution.

Question 43

_______________ rejects the assumptions of free will and rational choice.

Question 44

_______________ refers to the swiftness with which a particular punishment follows a criminal act.

Question 45

_______________ deterrence focuses on reducing crime rates versus individual recidivism.

Question 46

The classical model assumes that individuals are inherently _______________ because they seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Question 47

The _______________ ____________ involves the sacrifice of some personal freedom in exchange for governmental protection for the masses.

Question 48

Cesare Beccaria identified _________ prevention not moral _________ as the legitimate function of criminal law.

Question 49

Classical theory derives from ideas and writings of early ________ philosophy.

Question 50

Beccaria highlighted features of a rational, enlightened justice system that would effectively deter crime and published these ideas in an anonymous document titled ______________.

Question 51

Jeremy Bentham's notion of hedonism proposes people seek ________ and avoid ________.

Question 52

Match the individual to their actions

-Thomas Hobbes

A) Developed the principle of utility
B) Is one of the figures Beccaria drew ideas from during the Enlightenment movement
C) Anonymously published a document that had a significant impact on the criminal justice system
D) Questioned the viability of positivist explanations for criminality

Question 53

Match the individual to their actions

-Robert Martinson

A) Developed the principle of utility
B) Is one of the figures Beccaria drew ideas from during the Enlightenment movement
C) Anonymously published a document that had a significant impact on the criminal justice system
D) Questioned the viability of positivist explanations for criminality

Question 54

Match the individual to their actions

-Jeremy Bentham

A) Developed the principle of utility
B) Is one of the figures Beccaria drew ideas from during the Enlightenment movement
C) Anonymously published a document that had a significant impact on the criminal justice system
D) Questioned the viability of positivist explanations for criminality

Question 55

Match the individual to their actions

-Cesare Beccaria

A) Developed the principle of utility
B) Is one of the figures Beccaria drew ideas from during the Enlightenment movement
C) Anonymously published a document that had a significant impact on the criminal justice system
D) Questioned the viability of positivist explanations for criminality

Question 56

Match the behavior to the appropriate deterrence effect

-An individual slows down on the highway when they see an officer issuing a ticket to another drive on the side of the road.

A) Specific Deterrence
B) General Deterrence

Question 57

Match the behavior to the appropriate deterrence effect

-A person does not reoffend due to their experience in prison for a prior offense

A) Specific Deterrence
B) General Deterrence

Question 58

Match the behavior to the appropriate deterrence effect

-An individual arranges a taxi service to pick him up from a bar after hearing on the news that law enforcement would be enforcing a "no refusal" policy for the weekend.

A) Specific Deterrence
B) General Deterrence

Question 59

Match the behavior to the appropriate deterrence effect

-A convicted DWI offender was required to place a bumper sticker on his car reading "I drank and I drove." He never drank alcohol again.

A) Specific Deterrence
B) General Deterrence

Question 60

Match the sociological ideas to its description.

-Neoclassical Theory

A) One of the oldest explanations of crime that continues to influence law and social control in society
B) People's sacrifice of some personal freedom in exchange for governmental protection
C) Revised version of classical theory that emphasizes deterrence and punishment
D) Prevention of a certain act or acts

Question 61

Match the sociological ideas to its description.

-Social Contract

A) One of the oldest explanations of crime that continues to influence law and social control in society
B) People's sacrifice of some personal freedom in exchange for governmental protection
C) Revised version of classical theory that emphasizes deterrence and punishment
D) Prevention of a certain act or acts

Question 62

Match the sociological ideas to its description.

-Classical Theory

A) One of the oldest explanations of crime that continues to influence law and social control in society
B) People's sacrifice of some personal freedom in exchange for governmental protection
C) Revised version of classical theory that emphasizes deterrence and punishment
D) Prevention of a certain act or acts

Question 63

Match the sociological ideas to its description.

-Deterrence Theory

A) One of the oldest explanations of crime that continues to influence law and social control in society
B) People's sacrifice of some personal freedom in exchange for governmental protection
C) Revised version of classical theory that emphasizes deterrence and punishment
D) Prevention of a certain act or acts

Question 64

How is it that classical theory constitutes one of the oldest yet also one of the most contemporary explanations for crime?

Question 65

Explain the idea of deterrence as Beccaria conceived of it, and what points you think make up the strengths/weaknesses of those ideas.

Question 66

In which ways has research been conducted to scientifically test classical theory, and what have been the main findings?

Question 67

Discuss the similarities and differences between general and specific deterrence and give examples of each.

Question 68

Identify and describe the three characteristics that determine the deterrent effectiveness of a punishment. Also, identify which of the characteristics, if any, hold more importance than the others.