Deck 1: The Discovery of White Collar Crime

Question 1

The primary victims as well as the context in which a crime occurs are criteria in which stage of Friedrichs' multistage approach to defining white collar crime?

A) Situational
B) Polemical
C) Operational
D) Typological

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Occupational crime offenders are:

A) often middle class, but sometimes lower-class
B) always middle class
C) never middle class
D) mostly upper-class

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following is not an attribute of white collar crimes?

A) Offenders typically occupy a position involving some element of trust.
B) Offenders engage in direct forms of violence.
C) Offenders have been a relatively low priority of the justice system.
D) Offenders typically have a respectable status in society.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The single factor most likely to lead to heavy media coverage of a crime is:

A) the involvement of "respectable" people
B) the loss of substantial sums of money
C) sensational details
D) a large number of victims

Question 5

Businessmen who committed exploitative acts were labeled _____ by E.A.Ross in Sin and Society.

A) criminaloids
B) robber barons
C) muckrakers
D) white collar criminals

Question 6

Which of the following is not linked with white collar crime?

A) Technocrime
B) Enterprise Crime
C) Public Order Crime
D) Contrepreneurial Crime

Question 7

Perrow referred to the inevitable mishaps which occur in a complex, modern technological society as:

A) normal accidents
B) tragic accidents
C) willful accidents
D) unavoidable accidents

Question 8

Garfinkel called the circumstances under which people are stripped of status and respectability:

A) confirmation ceremonies
B) ordination ceremonies
C) degradation ceremonies
D) condemnation ceremonies

Question 9

Which of the following does not pertain to the concept of social harm, broadly defined?

A) Many of the worst forms of harm have not been criminalized.
B) Governments, corporations, small businesses, and professionals cause a great amount of social harm.
C) More recently, criminal law has begun to account for social harm
D) Criminologists have called for a shift away from focusing upon crime to focusing upon harm.

Question 10

The concept of_____ refers to the practice of facilitating risky behavior on the part of parties who do not fully appreciate the risks.

A) everyday risk
B) moral risk
C) risk assessment
D) specific risk

Question 11

Sutherland's general theory of crime is known as:

A) anomie theory
B) rational choice theory
C) differential opportunity theory
D) differential association theory

Question 12

According to Katz, the "social movement" against white collar crime originated in:

A) the 1930s
B) the 1950s
C) the 1970s
D) the 1990s

Question 13

White collar crime offenders are:

A) mostly older women
B) more likely to be middle-aged or older
C) primarily juveniles
D) mostly young men

Question 14

Friedrich's multistage approach to defining white collar crime consists of the following stages:

A) polemical, typological, and operational
B) polemical and typological
C) polemical, typological, and situational
D) polemical and operational

Question 15

The individual credited with having first coined the term "white collar crime" is:

A) Karl Marx
B) E. A. Ross
C) E. H. Sutherland
D) Adam Smith

Question 16

Holding a legitimate position or occupation is most closely associated with a _____ meaning of respectability.

A) normative
B) status-related
C) symptomatic
D) absolutist

Question 17

Factors contributing to the social movement against white collar crime in the 1970s included all but which of the following?

A) Disillusionment over Vietnam and Watergate
B) Consumer and environmental groups
C) Corporate public information campaigns
D) Investigative reporters

Question 18

Which of the following is not an example of white collar crime, broadly defined?

A) A physician defrauding Medicaid.
B) A corporation that knowingly markets defective automobiles.
C) A lawyer who commits a hold-up at a bank.
D) A bank clerk who embezzles money from the bank.

Question 19

The book White Collar Crime by Sutherland focused on the crimes of:

A) professionals
B) employees
C) corporations
D) small businessmen

Question 20

The following term is not generally used to refer to white collar crime:

A) economic crime
B) business crime
C) conventional crime
D) occupational crime

Question 21

The emergence of a public interest movement in the late 1970s has been attributed to all but which of the following?

A) Relative prosperity during the late 1960s
B) Campus activism
C) Major corporate initiatives
D) An escalating rate of inflation

Question 22

The individual associated more than anyone else with the contemporary consumer movement is:

A) Anthony Comstock
B) Ralph Nader
C) Lee Iacocca
D) John Gardiner

Question 23

A cartoonist who would not be included on a list of prominent political cartoonists is:

A) Thomas Nast
B) Charles Schultz
C) Herblock
D) G. B. Trudeau

Question 24

Which of the following does not create constraints on investigative reporting?

A) An expanding government concern with secrecy.
B) A fear of libel suits.
C) The increasing complexity of large corporations
D) The increasing number of small businesses.

Question 25

Which of the following films did not feature a whistleblower as hero?

A) Serpico
B) The Godfather
C) Silkwood
D) The Insider

Question 26

One of the most famous documentary filmmakers exposing wrongdoing in high places is:

A) Robert Redford
B) Oliver Stone
C) Robert Greenwald
D) Michael Moore

Question 27

Historically, the least typical response to whistleblowers has been:

A) blacklisting
B) promotion
C) dismissal
D) harassment

Question 28

In June 2005, "Deep Throat," the celebrated whistle-blower in the Watergate Affair, was identified as:

A) a high-ranking former FBI official
B) the former mayor of Washington, DC
C) a retired private investigator
D) the former head of the CIA

Question 29

Investigative journalism is likely to be:

A) without danger and prestigious if done right
B) frustrating, sometimes hazardous, and often controversial
C) not difficult, inexpensive, and extremely rewarding
D) time-consuming but met with lots of cooperation by those investigated

Question 30

The contemporary era of investigative journalism was primarily inspired by:

A) the Cuban Missile Crisis
B) the AIDS plague
C) the Watergate Affair
D) Abscam

Question 31

Crucial evidence in white collar crime cases is most likely to come from:

A) DNA analysis
B) fingerprints
C) police
D) informers

Question 32

Which of the following does not have a reputation as a progressive or liberal publication promoting investigative journalism?

A) Mother Jones
B) Multinational Monitor
C) USA Today
D) The Nation

Question 33

Unsafe at Any Speed was a landmark expose of unsafe production practices in the _____ industry.

A) airline
B) racing car
C) boating
D) automobile

Question 34

Which of the following would be least likely to accuse a company of willful misconduct or gross negligence?

A) Common Cause
B) Nader's Raiders
C) Better Business Bureau
D) The Environmental Movement

Question 35

Which of the following statements about contemporary investigative journalism is not true?

A) Very few newspaper reporters in the U.S. can be described as investigative journalists.
B) Investigative journalism tends to focus more on corruption in politics than in business.
C) Investigative journalism has been strongly supported by newspaper owners.
D) Investigative journalism has been undertaken mainly by a few major newspapers, such as The Washington Post.

Question 36

Which of the books listed below was not an early 20ᵗʰ-century exposé of political or business corruption?

A) Steffens' The Shame of the Cities
B) Tarbell's The History of the Standard Oil Company
C) Sinclair's The Jungle
D) Woodward and Bernstein's All The President's Men

Question 37

Factors deterring people from becoming whistleblowers are likely to include all but which of the following?

A) Fear of social ostracism
B) Loyalty to one's associates
C) Qualms about one's personal integrity
D) Denial that one knows enough

Question 38

Which of the following pieces of legislation encouraged whistleblowing?

A) RICO
B) The Mann Act
C) The False Claims Amendment Act
D) The Federal Witness Protection Act

Question 39

Which of the following conditions does not promote whistleblowing?

A) Access to good information.
B) Relative autonomy from direct supervision.
C) Norms supporting professional expertise on technological matters.
D) Norms emphasizing organizational loyalty.

Question 40

Early 20th century journalists who exposed corruption in high places were known as:

A) investigative reporters
B) muckrakers
C) yellow journalists
D) white collar crime stalkers

Question 41

Recognition of the risk of being victimized by white collar crime appears to be
diminishing.

Question 42

Sutherland's definition of white collar crime emphasized the respectability and
relatively high status of those who commit it.

Question 43

African Americans are under-represented among low-level white collar crime
offenders guilty of embezzlement and fraud.

Question 44

As women have become better represented in elite corporate, occupational, and political positions, they have been less involved in white collar crime.

Question 45

The probability or risk of being prosecuted for any given white collar crime has
traditionally been regarded as low.

Question 46

The most recent Congressional investigative hearings have been concerned with:

A) the Credit Mobilier Affair
B) the sub-prime mortgage crisis
C) the S & L Thrifts failures
D) the Watergate Affair

Question 47

The terms "white collar crime" and "elite deviance" have been used to refer to the
same thing.

Question 48

According to Sutherland, businessmen were often contemptuous of the laws
governing their business activities, and did not suffer a loss of status if convicted of
business-related offenses.

Question 49

Corporate cost-benefit analysis with regard to risks is uniformly seen as an
activity that benefits workers and consumers.

Question 50

The publication of Sutherland's White Collar Crime in 1949 led very quickly to a
large upsurge of research on such crime.

Question 51

Sutherland found that corporations were typically one-time offenders, rather than
repeat offenders.

Question 52

Nobody before E.H.Sutherland had recognized that the rich and the affluent
commit serious crimes in connection with their business activity.

Question 53

Corporations have been accused of putting more emphasis on profit than on the
safety of workers, customers, and citizens, in their analysis of risk.

Question 54

African Americans are more likely to commit the type of low-level white collar crimes that are more likely to be reported, processed and recorded in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

Question 55

The violation of trust is not necessarily exclusive to white collar crimes.

Question 56

The field of criminology historically has focused on conventional forms of harm, such as homicide, rape, assault, burglary, robbery, theft and the like.

Question 57

The general public is least likely to be aware of the role of _____ in exposing white collar crime.

A) investigative reporters
B) whistleblowers
C) criminologists
D) Congressional committees

Question 58

Corporations are more likely to reduce risks involving immediate worker safety
than potential long-term harm to the health of workers.

Question 59

A general consensus has been reached on the definition of white collar crime.

Question 60

Corporations tend to accept higher levels of risk to the general public than to
employees.

Question 61

Traditionally, federal agencies and the courts have done little to intervene on
behalf of whistleblowers.

Question 62

Political cartoons are a means of exposing or criticizing corruption in high places
that emerged in the twentieth century.

Question 63

The growing recognition of the harmful and illegal actions of governments and
corporations may be considered a manifestation of the contemporary crisis of confidence.

Question 64

When members of the upper class are portrayed as criminals in the media, the
activity is more likely to be murder than corporate misdeeds.

Question 65

Resources directed at all forms of white collar crime increased exponentially in
the 1980s.

Question 66

Fellow workers typically support whistleblowers even when their jobs may be
jeopardized by the whistleblowing.

Question 67

Michael Moore is one of the few documentary filmmakers who exposes
wrongdoing in high places.

Question 68

There is clear evidence that the public is demanding more coverage of
white collar crime, and less coverage of conventional crime.

Question 69

Informers are often involved in white collar crimes themselves, but
whistleblowers are not.

Question 70

Local TV stations typically conduct a large amount of investigative reporting,
focusing on municipal corruption and consumer fraud.

Question 71

Historically, whistleblowers have often elicited negative reactions.

Question 72

Ralph Nader first came to public attention when he produced evidence of the
superior safety of General Motors automobiles.

Question 73

Owners of media outlets have traditionally been reluctant to highlight white collar
crimes.

Question 74

White collar crime, as a rule, is more visible than conventional crime.

Question 75

Whistleblowers tend to be conservative people, dedicated to their work.

Question 76

The increasingly dramatic media representation of crimes committed by
businessmen is clearly correlated with an increasing fear of businessmen relative
to conventional offenders.

Question 77

It is more difficult to report white collar crimes effectively on television than
conventional crimes.

Question 78

The in-depth coverage of white collar crime by the media has been a regular
daily occurrence since the early 1970s.

Question 79

The nature of much white collar crime lends itself better to newspaper than to TV
reporting.

Question 80

Federal agencies have a track record of being uncooperative with investigative
shows like 60 Minutes.