Deck 10: Crime and Criminal Justice

Question 1

This term refers to the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs about race that help create and perpetuate feelings and opinions about nonwhites in U.S. culture.

A) Unconscious racism
B) Racial profiling
C) Racial panic
D) Racial hoax

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In regards to racial inequality in the criminal justice system, which sociological theoretical perspective primarily argues that beliefs, perspectives, and stereotypes about people of color are pervasive in our culture and help to legitimize forms of racism?

A) functional theory
B) black racial frame
C) white racial frame
D) all of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In explaining racial inequality in the criminal justice system, which theoretical perspective primarily argues that the law is used to maintain dominant group power in society and is a form of social control of subordinate groups?

A) conflict theory
B) critical race theory
C) white racial frame
D) functional theory

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In regards to racial inequality in the criminal justice system, which sociological theory primarily argues that legal reasoning and constitutional law reflect a white view of the world?

A) conflict theory
B) critical race theory
C) white racial frame
D) all of the above

Question 5

When a person comes under police attention primarily due to their race this is known as:

A) unconscious racism
B) racial profiling
C) racial panic
D) racial hoax

Question 6

In many ways, poverty breeds crime. Sociologists describe a social condition that contributes to the perpetuation of deviance as:

A) poverty condition
B) classist crime activity
C) pretextual condition
D) criminogenic condition

Question 7

Conflict theorists discovered that lower-class African Americans and Hispanics tend to commit more street crimes and middle and upper-middle class white individuals tend to commit more white-collar crime. Which explanation describes this race-crime link best?

A) racial/ethnic minorities are underrepresented in corporate America
B) poverty
C) law enforcement is better trained to apprehend street criminals rather than white-collar criminals
D) all of the above

Question 8

An example of racial profiling that has developed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 is the perception of Arabs and Arab Americans as threats. Sociologists call this:

A) moral panic
B) Arab terror profiling
C) racial reactions
D) all of the above

Question 9

When police use minor traffic violations as reasons to stop a minority to search for drugs, it is known as:

A) pretextual traffic stops
B) racial hoaxing
C) crime prevention fusion
D) assumption of guilt

Question 10

The 1999 killing of Amidou Diallo by four New York police officers after he reached for his wallet, not a weapon, is an example of:

A) excessive force
B) police brutality
C) racial profiling
D) all of the above

Question 11

Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto (1990) coined the term social dominance orientation, which is the belief that:

A) your group is dominant and this dominance is unfair.
B) your group is subordinate and this subordination is illegitimate.
C) your group is the dominant group and this dominance is legitimate.
D) none of the above

Question 12

Research still finds that _____________, rather than the severity of the crime, remains the greatest predictor of who gets the death penalty.

A) racial makeup of the jury
B) race of the victim
C) race of the defendant
D) all of the above

Question 13

This act has passed the House twice, but has yet to pass the Senate. It would provide defendants with the opportunity to use statistical evidence of racial discrimination for their states use of the death penalty.

A) Racial Justice Act
B) Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act
C) Savings, Accountability and Full Enforcement for California Act
D) Fair Sentencing Act

Question 14

Disparate treatment of minority youth offenders and white offenders takes place in many areas of the juvenile justice system including

A) greater number of minority youth incarcerations
B) harsher treatment of minority juvenile offenders
C) perceptions of minority youth as more dangerous
D) all of the above

Question 15

Whites experience all of the following with the criminal justice system except:

A) presumption of innocence
B) higher incarceration rates than minorities
C) more likely to be victimized by crime
D) less likely to be stopped and searched

Question 16

Which of the following is true about mass incarceration in the U.S.?

A) Prisoners reenter society with greater social adaptability than when they went in
B) Incarceration decreases crime rates and is thereby effective
C) Incarceration rates are so high that it is a defining feature of entire communities
D) Mass imprisonment is an old and effective crime prevention technique dating back to the Civil War

Question 17

Prisons in the US have racialized origins. In the post-Civil War era, southern states established_____________, which made a long list of behaviors illegal, including begging, loitering, panhandling, and looking for work.

A) chain gangs
B) vagabond laws
C) convict leasing
D) prison slave round ups

Question 18

In the post-Civil Rights era, the political use of the "law and order" theme implies:

A) that protest tactics of civil disobedience were a threat to law and order
B) civil rights for minorities were being threatened
C) white voters must be sympathetic to black activism to maintain order
D) all of the above

Question 19

This term is the best to describe the interconnectedness of politicians, government, and private industry and the incentives associated with a commitment to increasing spending on the prison industry, even as crimes decrease.

A) prison privatization
B) prison industrial complex
C) convict leasing programs
D) hyper-incarceration

Question 20

Which of the following is the greatest factor contributing to the growing prison population in the United States:

A) increase in violent crime
B) "law and order" political movement
C) 2008 economic recession/depression
D) "war on drugs" political movement

Question 21

A drug-related crime refers to violent behaviors engaged in while under the influence of drugs, or to robberies committed in order to get money to buy drugs. Which of the following is true regarding drug-related crimes:

A) Testing positive for drugs means essentially the drugs caused the crime
B) Most violent crimes are the acts of desperate individuals seeking money for drugs
C) A disproportionate number of racial minorities are incarcerated for drug-related crimes
D) Over 50% of people incarcerated claim they committed their offences in order to obtain money for drugs

Question 22

Some have compared the costs associated with mass incarceration to a __________ imposed on poor and minority families.

A) free vacation
B) rite of passage
C) economic opportunity
D) hidden tax

Question 23

A felony conviction can be a major hurdle when a person is released from prison because:

A) it makes a person unqualified for a wide variety of jobs
B) means employers and government agencies can legally discriminate even though the person has served their time
C) makes a person unqualified for government assistance
D) all of the above

Question 24

Political disenfranchisement occurs for felons and ex-convicts primarily in this way:

A) lack of healthcare
B) hidden taxes
C) social stigmas
D) voting restriction

Question 25

Steffensmeier and Demuth (2006) found in their research exploring the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender, that:

A) race influences the sentencing of male defendants, but not female defendants
B) female defendants receive harsher sentences than males
C) gender is not a factor in sentencing in the US criminal justice system
D) none of the above

Question 26

Despite Constitutional guarantees and federal legislation, incarcerated Native Americans face discrimination related to:

A) gender inequalities
B) voting rights
C) religious freedoms
D) false accusations

Question 27

This term refers to the physiological and psychological symptoms such as tension headaches, elevated heartbeat, extreme fatigue, ulcers, hypervigilance, anger, and inability to sleep associated with the constant exposure to racial slights, indignities, irritations, unfair treatment, and both subtle and overt racial hostilities.

A) racial battle fatigue
B) racial anxiety
C) discrimination disease
D) none of the above

Question 28

When Hurricane Katrina broke open the levees in 2005, new coverage of the destruction revealed race and class inequalities. What ideas did media images and reports repeatedly support:

A) black lawlessness
B) police brutality
C) white lawlessness
D) the government's actions as unfair

Question 29

In 1994, Susan Smith, a young white woman and mother of two boys, claimed that a black man had carjacked and kidnapped her children-and it became a national headline--only to finally confess to killing her children nine days later. This is an example of:

A) moral panic
B) street crime
C) racial profiling
D) a racial hoax

Question 30

This system emerged after the Civil War as a way to force blacks to continue providing free labor after emancipation. Through these programs, black men cleared swamps, worked cotton fields, paved roads, and essentially rebuilt the South without being compensated for their labor.

A) Social capital
B) Lynch mobs
C) Convict leasing programs
D) Supermax prisons

Question 31

Per capita death rates of citizens at the hands of police are highest for which racial/ethnic minority group?

A) African Americans
B) Native Americans
C) Latinos
D) African Americans and Native Americans are roughly equal on this measure

Question 32

Black men are perceived as criminals and dangerous, despite the fact that whites are responsible for most of the crime committed in American society.

Question 33

When a white woman locks her car doors at an intersection because a young black male is heading down the street, she is operating out of what is known in sociology as the white racial frame.

Question 34

In the U.S., African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are imprisoned at higher rates than are whites, despite the fact that whites make up the bulk of arrests.

Question 35

The majority of people incarcerated in American prisons committed violent crimes in order to buy drugs.

Question 36

The United States incarcerates more women than any nation in the world.

Question 37

Homicide is the leading cause of death among black and Hispanic males and females ages 15-24.

Question 38

Racial minorities are much less likely to be victimized by crime than whites.

Question 39

First generation immigrants commit more crime than second-generation immigrants or native-born residents.

Question 40

Race is the most significant variable in whether or not a defendant is sentenced to death.

Question 41

Crimes committed by Native people on reservations are treated as federal crimes, which result in harsher convictions.

Question 42

Research finds support for a "war on cops" today.

Question 43

The problem of police violence against racial/ethnic minority groups has a long history in the United States.

Question 44

While most people killed by police in the past year were armed and white, African Americans make up 40 percent of unarmed people killed by police in 2018.

Question 45

One could argue that with the expansion of prison labor, that some Americans are indeed still enslaved.

Question 46

The "war on drugs" has resulted in a dramatic decrease in crime and violence in some of the poorest parts of the world.

Question 47

Sexual minority and gender nonconforming people of color face disproportionate rates of violence.

Question 48

Poverty is often the primary structural explanation for high levels of crime. Explain the relationship between racial/ethnic inequality, poverty, and crime. How does this effect minority, juvenile criminals?

Question 49

Describe the main arguments of the three primary theoretical perspectives on racial inequality in the criminal justice system: conflict theory, critical race theory, and white racial frame.

Question 50

Describe in detail three ways the death penalty is racialized in the U.S. criminal justice system. How does the U.S. compare to other industrialized nations in regards to the death penalty?

Question 51

Describe the emergence, historical explanation for, and political implications of hyperincarceration in the United States.

Question 52

Describe the economic effect of mass imprisonment and its impact on minority families and communities.

Question 53

Critically analyze the linking of race and crime in the public consciousness. What roles do the media play in this link? Provide a current event in recent U.S. history that exemplifies the link.

Question 54

Describe the "war on drugs" including its racial impact, effect on female offenders, and the crime rate in general.

Question 55

Describe religious discrimination in prisons. Provide examples of the impact of this discrimination for Native Americans and Muslims.

Question 56

Explain the myth of the immigrant criminal. Describe how racial profiling, moral panic, and police brutality contribute to this myth and ethnic discrimination in general.

Question 57

Approximately how many people are currently incarcerated in the U.S.? Identify and explain three reasons for the post-1970s "prison boom" in the U.S.

Question 58

Describe legal and political efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex. How has the legalization of marijuana put the "war on drugs" into question, yet also perpetuated racial discrimination?