Deck 8: Justice American Style

Question 1

The "republican code movement" had an impact on the early American criminal justice system by:

A) Placing a greater emphasis on the use of legislatures in making laws
B) Requiring judges to be appointed by political leaders rather than elected
C) Requiring the death penalty for even minor offenses
D) Eliminating all liberal criminal laws

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A focus on process rather than outcome is characteristic of what has been called:

A) A civil law perspective
B) Bureaucratic justice
C) The ends justify the means
D) Vigilante justice

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to the text, The United States' founding fathers did everything they could to make the justice system as speedy and efficient as possible.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to the text, the system of checks and balances upon which our government is based:

A) Guarantees speedy justice
B) Makes the government less speedy and efficient
C) Was designed by criminals for the benefit of criminals
D) Was never intended to be applied to the operation of the criminal justice system

Question 5

At what stage in the criminal justice process does a defendant stand before a judge and is told of the charges against him/her, and asked to enter a plea?

A) Nolle prosequi
B) Deliberations
C) Arraignment
D) Pretrial motions

Question 6

Jury nullification is when:

A) Someone is excluded from serving on a jury
B) A jury cannot reach a unanimous decision
C) A jury refuses to convict a defendant who is obviously guilty
D) A jury overrides the decision of a judge

Question 7

Formal profiling of criminals began in the:

A) 1950s, regarding communist spies in America
B) 1960s, regarding hijackers taking airplanes to Cuba
C) 1970s and early 1980s, regarding serial killers
D) 1980s, regarding drug courier profiles

Question 8

According to the text, which of the following profiling efforts has been proven to be successful?

A) Profiling hijackers taking planes to Cuba
B) Profiling serial killers
C) Profiling drug couriers
D) None of these

Question 9

A number of studies of highway profiling suggest that:

A) Minorities are more likely than whites to be stopped
B) Of those motorists who are stopped, minorities are more likely than whites to be searched
C) Of those motorists who are stopped and searched, blacks and whites are equally likely to have evidence found in their vehicle
D) All of these

Question 10

According to the text, police who stop people walking on the street are more likely to stop blacks, and are more likely to find weapons on:

A) Blacks
B) Hispanics
C) Whites
D) Asians

Question 11

According to information presented in the text, having experienced racial profiling themselves, how did blacks generally respond to the idea of profiling Arab Americans after 911?

A) They joined Arab Americans in a lawsuit to stop such profiling.
B) Blacks were more likely than whites to support profiling Arab Americans.
C) They set up committees of volunteers to monitor police behavior in an effort to stop profiling.
D) They threatened to boycott stores in communities where the profiling of Arabs took place.

Question 12

Though no one knows for certain, according to the text, the best estimate is that about _____ wrongful convictions occur each year in the United States.

A) 200
B) 1,500
C) 10,000
D) 1,500,000

Question 13

According to the text, Governor George Ryan of Illinois declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois and then commuted the sentences of death row inmates because he thought the death penalty was morally wrong.

Question 14

Eyewitness error is one of the most common reasons why wrongful convictions occur.

Question 15

There are cases in which individuals confess to killing someone but in reality no crime has occurred.