Deck 11: Punishment and Sentencing

Question 1

What is the main reason that criminal justice professionals are beginning to use more rehabilitative strategies as a philosophy of punishment?

A) Rehabilitative strategies are more cost-effective.
B) Rehabilitative strategies put more people in prison.
C) Rehabilitative strategies have dramatically increased public support for punishment.
D) Rehabilitative strategies have decreased community involvement.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Legislatively determined guidelines that judges are required to follow are called:

A) statutorial guidelines
B) legislative guidelines
C) sentencing guidelines
D) determinate guidelines

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Some judges are mandated by statute to focus on the actual behavior or ______________of the defendant,regardless of the conviction.

A) original offense
B) real offense
C) first count
D) original jurisdiction

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Judicial sentencing authority has done which of the following in the last twenty years?

A) increased
B) decreased
C) stayed the same
D) is unable to be measured

Question 5

According to your book, for which type of offense does an offender typically spend less than half of the sentenced time in prison?

A) assault
B) robbery
C) rape
D) drug trafficking

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT an element present when sentencing disparity occurs?

A) Criminals receive similar sentences for different crimes of unequal seriousness.
B) Criminals receive different sentences for similar crimes.
C) Mitigating or aggravating circumstances have a disproportionate effect on sentences.
D) Criminals of different races receive different sentences.

Question 7

Retribution, the philosophy that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime, relies on which of the following principles?

A) therapy
B) rehabilitation
C) just deserts
D) incapacitation

Question 8

Laws that require an inmate to serve a certain percentage of their sentence are called:

A) determinate sentencing laws
B) indeterminate sentencing laws
C) truth-in sentencing laws
D) good time laws

Question 9

Who decides whether or not a defendant, if convicted, will be eligible for the death penalty?

A) judge
B) prosecutor
C) jury
D) warden

Question 10

A stipulation that allows a judge to adjust his or her sentencing decision based on the
Special circumstances of a particular case is called a __________.

A) disparity
B) affidavit
C) departure
D) reversal

Question 11

Which case approved the new bifurcated death penalty sentencing process thus setting the standard for other states to follow?

A) Montgomery v. Alabama
B) Furman. v. Georgia
C) Ring v. Arizona
D) Atkins v. Virginia

Question 12

For the better part of the past three decades, the American criminal justice system has mostly rejected many of the principles of rehabilitation as a philosophical reason for punishment in favor of other, more __________, strategies.

A) community based
B) restorative
C) regulatory
D) punitive

Question 13

While examining sentencing disparities and discrimination, Spohn and Holleran found that the rate of imprisonment rose significantly for which of the following populations?

A) young and unemployed
B) middle age and unemployed
C) elderly and unemployed
D) young and employed

Question 14

"Three-strikes laws" are specifically geared to target which offending population?

A) juvenile offenders
B) habitual offenders
C) minor offenders
D) misdemeanor offenders

Question 15

The assumption that a judge should be given ample leeway in determining punishmentsthat fit both the crime and the criminal is called:

A) judicial discretion
B) judicial prerogative
C) judicial authority
D) judicial power

Question 16

Which type of deterrence focuses on punishing one person, in the hopes that others will be dissuaded from committing a similar crime?

A) specific deterrence
B) general deterrence
C) overall deterrence
D) circumstantial deterrence

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT one of the four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing criminals?

A) restorative justice
B) retribution
C) incapacitation
D) deterrence

Question 18

A period of incarceration that is fixed by a sentencing authority is called:

A) a determinate sentence
B) an indeterminate sentence
C) truth-in sentencing
D) good time sentence

Question 19

Circumstances surrounding a crime that allow for a lighter sentence to be handed down are known as:

A) aggravating circumstances
B) relevant circumstances
C) mitigating circumstances
D) meaningful circumstances

Question 20

A third party facilitator between the victim and the offender is called a __________.

A) mediator
B) prosecutor
C) probation officer
D) public defender

Question 21

What U.S. Supreme Court case held that cruel and unusual punishment is defined by the changing norms of society and is not based on historical interpretations?

A) Furman v. Georgia
B) Weems v. United States
C) Roper v. Simmons
D) Gregg v. Georgia

Question 22

Capital punishment is a sentencing option in fifty states and in the federal government.

Question 23

Restitution and community service are seen as reparations to the injured party or to the community, whereas fines are payable to the government.

Question 24

What U.S. Supreme Court case held that juveniles who committed their crime before the age of 18 were no longer able to be executed?

A) Furman v. Georgia
B) Weems v. United States
C) Roper v. Simmons
D) Gregg v. Georgia

Question 25

Juries must be involved in both stages of the bifurcated process.

Question 26

Sentencing discrimination is a situation in which the length of a sentence appears to be influenced by the defendant's race or another factor not directly related to the crime he or she committed.

Question 27

Deterrence is the strategy of preventing crime through the threat of punishment.

Question 28

An term of incarceration in which a judge determines the minimum and maximum terms of imprisonment is called __________.

Question 29

Mandatory sentencing guidelines are statutorily determined punishments that must be applied to those who are convicted of specific crimes.

Question 30

Approximately how many states in the United States employ the death penalty?

A) 22
B) 28
C) 34
D) 50

Question 31

Any circumstances accompanying the commission of a crime that may justify a harsher sentence is called a(n) __________.

Question 32

__________ is the philosophy that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime.

Question 33

_______________ is an approach to punishment designed to repair the harm done to the victim and the community by the offender's criminal act.

Question 34

The Gregg v. Georgia (1972) decision put a moratorium on the use of the death penalty as the U.S. Supreme Court felt its use was too arbitrary.

Question 35

The main method of execution in the United States is:

A) gas chamber
B) hanging
C) electric chair
D) lethal injection

Question 36

Mentally handicapped individuals are subject to the death penalty in the United States.

Question 37

A period of incarceration that is fixed by a legislative body and cannot be reduced by judges or other corrections officials is called __________.

Question 38

A statement to the sentencing body (judge, jury, or parole board) in which a person is given the opportunity to describe how the crime has affected her or him is called a(n):

A) victim impact statement
B) victim report
C) contested sentence
D) appeal

Question 39

When public opinion moves toward more severe strategies of punishment, legislatures have responded by asserting their power over determining sentencing guidelines.

Question 40

In Baze v. Rees the Supreme Court ruled that the mere possibility of pain "does not establish harm that qualifies as cruel and unusual" punishment.

Question 41

Explain the concept of "good time" and truth in sentencing.

Question 42

Explain the difference between sentencing disparity and sentencing discrimination.

Question 43

A(n) __________ is an investigative report on an offender's background that assists a judge in determining the proper sentence.

Question 44

Outline at least two Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment that have impacted the bifurcated process for death penalty sentencing.

Question 45

__________ is a situation in which those convicted of similar crimes do not receive similar sentences due to race.

Question 46

Capital offenses are another name for crimes whose punishment results in
_______________.

Question 47

A __________ is a stipulation that allows a judge to adjust his or her sentencing decision
based on the special circumstances of a particular case.

Question 48

Explain what the presentence investigative report is and why it is important.

Question 49

Explain the concept of restorative justice.

Question 50

States use a two-stage, __________, procedure for the trying and sentencing of capital cases.