Deck 6: Feminism and Criminology

Question 1

Historically,which of the following groups have criminologists spent little time studying?

A)women as offenders,but not women as victims
B)women as both offenders and victims
C)neither women as offenders nor women as victims
D)women as victims,but not women as offenders

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following theories is designed to explain the sex difference in delinquency by drawing linkages between the variations in parental control and the delinquent behaviour of boys and girls?

A)social Darwinism
B)power-control theory
C)women's liberation thesis
D)sex role socialization theory

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT one of the grounds on which Heidensohn criticized early theories of female criminality?

A)They reflected widely held assumptions and circular reasoning about "women's nature."
B)They were almost entirely written by men.
C)They were sexist,classist,and racist.
D)They were based on old folktales about women and their behaviours.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to Lombroso and Ferrero,which of the following best described female criminals?

A)They were excessively vile and cruel in their crimes.
B)They possessed male qualities like rationality and decisiveness.
C)They had far too much maternal instinct.
D)They appeared to be ladylike on the surface.

Question 5

Which of the following best represents the focus of early theories of women's crime?

A)the structural features of their society
B)biological differences between men and women
C)power differentials between men and women
D)the gendered nature of the roles of men and women

Question 6

In the 1970s,which type of academic framework did theories of women's crime begin to shift towards?

A)psychological
B)biological
C)sociological
D)economical

Question 7

Which of the following approaches to the study of criminality assumes that differences in the nature and scope of offending between men and women are biologically based?

A)liberal
B)mainstream
C)conservative
D)feminist

Question 8

Which of these approaches views gender role socialization as the main factor for explaining female criminality?

A)conservative
B)feminist
C)liberal
D)medical

Question 9

In criticizing early theories of female criminality,what did Heidensohn suggest?

A)They lacked any basis in empirical research.
B)They failed to account for individual motives.
C)They lent intellectual respectability to folk tales about women and their behaviour.
D)They focused entirely on the psychological state of the offender.

Question 10

Which of the following best characterizes the principal focus of early feminist critiques of approaches to the study of crime?

A)the biological orientation of existing theories
B)the assumption of paternalism in existing theories
C)the invisibility of women in mainstream criminological theories
D)the focus of theories on explaining lower class male criminality

Question 11

Feminist criminologists suggest that female crime is most directly associated with which of the following?

A)the feminization of poverty
B)women's emancipation
C)genetically based sex differences
D)differential sex role socialization

Question 12

According to Otto Pollak,a woman's devious nature was rooted in what aspect of her physiology?

A)menopause
B)ability to get pregnant
C)ability to fake orgasm
D)menstruation

Question 13

Which of the following did Lombroso and Ferrero contend with their atavistic theory of female criminality?

A)Women were more advanced on the evolutionary continuum than men and showed more signs of being degenerate.
B)Women were not as advanced on the evolutionary continuum as men and showed more signs of being degenerate.
C)Women were more advanced on the evolutionary continuum than men and showed fewer signs of being degenerate.
D)Women were not as advanced on the evolutionary continuum as men and showed fewer signs of being degenerate.

Question 14

What term do feminist criminologists use to refer to women who commit crimes and who share many experiences with other women in society?

A)criminalized women
B)sexist victims
C)feminine offender
D)criminal women

Question 15

Adler's women's liberation thesis posits which of the following ideas?

A)As women attain higher levels of education,they will commit more white-collar crimes.
B)Violence against women will increase as the equality of women increases.
C)As women supplant men in political and economic spheres,there will be a decrease in criminality.
D)The increase in women's crime can be attributed to the influence of the women's movement.

Question 16

In Hagan and colleagues' power control theory,a patriarchal family is associated with which of the following?

A)a cult of patriarchy
B)a cult of sexism
C)a cult of domesticity
D)a cult of masculinity

Question 17

Which of the following statements is most closely associated with the view of feminist criminologists?

A)Framing explanations for women's criminality that isolate the source of the problem in women's bodies,ignores the cultural means and social contexts that are at play.
B)There are no biomedical tests for determining the existence of premenstrual syndrome.
C)The focus of theories needs to be shifted to biologically-based theories that show the subordinate role of women in a capitalist economy.
D)Labelling women with premenstrual syndrome is unfortunate but necessary as it enables women to gain access to medical treatments that can suppress criminal tendencies.

Question 18

Which of the following raises the issue of why women are less likely than men to be involved in crime?

A)the gender-ratio problem
B)the generalizability problem
C)the feminist approach
D)the women's liberation thesis

Question 19

In Hagan and colleagues' power control theory,an egalitarian family is associated with which of the following?

A)a cult of domesticity
B)a cult of equality
C)employment by both the husband and wife in authority positions outside the home
D)socialization of sons toward production activities and daughters for consumption

Question 20

Which of the following terms is used to denote whether mainstream theories of crime can be made to "fit" female criminality?

A)the gender-ratio problem
B)the women's liberation thesis
C)the feminist thesis
D)the generalizability problem

Question 21

Which of the following was a consequence of the 1993 zero tolerance policy of the Winnipeg Police Service regarding domestic violence?

A)a decrease in the overall number of women charged
B)a decrease in the number of charges that were dismissed or were stayed
C)a decrease in the overall number of men charged
D)an increase in "double charging," or charging of both spouses

Question 22

Which of the following is true of Aboriginal women offenders in Canada?

A)They are overrepresented in Canadian prisons compared to non-Aboriginal women.
B)They are less likely to be incarcerated for violent crimes than non-Aboriginal women.
C)They are less likely to have had alcohol involved in their offence than Aboriginal men.
D)They are less likely to have had alcohol involved in their offence than non-Aboriginal women.

Question 23

Under old English law,which of these situations would have been considered a "species of treason"?

A)a man beating his children
B)a woman killing her husband
C)a husband having sex with his wife against her wishes
D)a man beating his wife to death

Question 24

In 1991,section 276 of the Criminal Code (the so-called "rape shield" provision)was struck down by the Supreme Court.What was the rationale used by the court to rule that this provision was unconstitutional?

A)because it could deny the accused his right to a fair trial
B)because it effectively resulted in the victim being on trial
C)because a women's sexual past is key to the guilt or innocence of the accused
D)because the complainant's name may be released to the public at the time of the trial

Question 25

Pearson's 1997 book When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence makes a number of claims regarding violence by women.Which of the following is NOT one of those claims?

A)Not only are women violent too but this violence can be just as "nasty" as men's.
B)Violent women are the often the result of the "feminization of poverty."
C)Women's violence is more masked and underhanded than men's violence.
D)When their crimes are discovered,women are more likely to receive lenient treatment from a chivalrous criminal justice system.

Question 26

According to Snider,feminist criminologists emphasize that the "criminalized woman" should also be considered which of the following?

A)the equal of men
B)the violent woman
C)the double victim
D)the woman in trouble

Question 27

What proportion of women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives,according to a 1980 report by the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women?

A)1 in 5
B)1 in 10
C)1 in 150
D)1 in 1000

Question 28

The cultural construction of rape refers to which of the following?

A)the attitudes toward victims of rape adopted by the police and court workers
B)how myths about the nature of rape,rape victims,and offenders form widespread public beliefs
C)the rationales for rape used by specific rapists
D)the new ideas and conceptions concerning rape fostered by feminist scholars

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT a myth about rape as described in the textbook?

A)Men who commit rape are an "abnormal" group in society.
B)If a woman has had sexual relations in the past,she will be less credible when she says she didn't consent to sex.
C)The act of rape has long-term impact on the woman.
D)Women say no when they really mean yes.

Question 30

Research on intimate violence using the Conflict Tactics Scale has found which of the following?

A)Women have higher rates of minor violence than men.
B)Women have equal rates of minor and major violence as men.
C)Women have lower rates minor violence than men.
D)Women have higher rates of severe violence than men.

Question 31

As a result of the Supreme Court of Canada's O'Connor ruling (1995),which of the following materials are subject to being turned over to the courts in sexual assault cases?

A)neither records kept by therapists and rape crisis counselors nor personal diaries nor letters kept by the complainant
B)records kept by therapists and rape crisis counsellors but not records kept by therapists and rape crisis counsellors
C)personal diaries and letters kept by the complainant and records kept by therapists and rape crisis counsellors
D)personal diaries and letters kept by the accused but not records kept by therapists and rape crisis counsellors

Question 32

Which of the following does NOT characterize early theories of female criminality?

A)Women had not advanced as far along the evolutionary continuum as males.
B)Women's criminality was masked due to the devious ways in which it takes place.
C)Women's ability to conceal orgasm gave women practice at deception.
D)Research shows the connection between such victimization and subsequent criminal activity by women.

Question 33

Before 1983,which of the following was NOT true with respect to rape laws in Canada?

A)Husbands could not be charged for raping wives.
B)The woman's testimony was sufficient for police to lay charges.
C)The moral character of the woman was questioned in regard to whether she provided consent.
D)Husbands had the right to use (moderate)force against their wives.

Question 34

Which of the following terms refers to a perspective on a subject that is shaped by cultural assumptions rather than having a natural or objective basis?

A)patriarchy
B)conservative approach
C)cultural construction
D)liberal approach

Question 35

According to its critics,what is a drawback of the Conflict Tactics Scale?

A)It reads too much into the social context of violence.
B)It makes a clear distinction between the severities of different forms of violence.
C)It fails to take into consideration that males are more likely to underreport violence they have inflicted.
D)It includes "out of the blue" assaults that do not have much immediate context.

Question 36

According to 1992 amendments to Canada's sexual assault laws (Bill C-49),in which of the following circumstances is consent for sexual activities considered to have been obtained?

A)when the complainant is too drunk to be capable of consenting
B)when the complainant has engaged in sexual activity with the accused previously
C)when the accused shows he took reasonable steps to ascertain consent
D)when the complainant expresses lack of agreement in action but fails to express such feelings in words

Question 37

Which of the following was the intent of the rape shield provision of the 1983 legislation that modified Canada's sexual assault laws?

A)to allow the complainant to bring forth charges of sexual assault against an accused at any time
B)to prevent a complainant's identity from being released to the press as part of the pre-trial publicity
C)to prevent a woman's past sexual conduct from being used to discredit her testimony
D)to protect the complainant from having to face the offender in court

Question 38

Which of the following is the estimate of the number of women who had been physically abused as children or adults,according to research conducted in the 1990s for the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women?

A)the majority
B)almost all
C)about half
D)less than half

Question 39

According to the 1993 Violence Against Women Survey,about what percentage of Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since age 16?

A)one quarter
B)one half
C)one in ten
D)one third

Question 40

Which of the following describes "A system of male domination that includes both a structure and an ideology that privileges men over women"?

A)matriarchy
B)patriarchy
C)egalitarianism
D)concurrence

Question 41

One of the immediate effects of the 1995 O'Connor decision in the Supreme Court of Canada was an increase in women claiming to be victims of sexual assault.

Question 42

Research that supports the chivalry hypothesis indicates that when it does exist,chivalry benefits all women who come in contact with the law regardless of race or socio-economic status.

Question 43

Breaking the silence around male violence against women has meant questioning the ways in which societal and legal responses reinforce and reproduce the problem.

Question 44

The women's liberation thesis argues that the scope and nature of female violence will more closely resemble men's as differences between the sexes are diminished by women's biological evolution towards becoming physically strong as men.

Question 45

Women have largely been rendered invisible in much of criminology,except as victims of violence which has been the subject of considerable research by mainstream criminologists.

Question 46

According to Lombroso and Ferrero's early theory,women had not advanced as far along the evolutionary continuum as males.

Question 47

Canada's rape laws prior to 1983 granted husbands immunity from rape charges.

Question 48

W.I.Thomas's early work attributed prostitution to women's need for love.

Question 49

The liberal approach views differences between men and women as resulting from a more sociological analysis that examines gender roles and socialization patterns.

Question 50

Criminalized women tend to be young,poor,undereducated,and unskilled.

Question 51

Otto Pollak suggested that while women were very good at faking organisms they were not very good at committing crimes compared to men who could not fake organisms.

Question 52

A feminist approach ignores the collective experiences of all women in order to emphasize the importance of examining each female offender individually.

Question 53

The cultural construction of rape refers to the different ways rape is perpetrated in different cultures.

Question 54

Conservative theories on women and crime have largely focused on biological differences between men and women

Question 55

Conservative approaches to understanding women and crime were powerful because they dispelled many of the myths and folk tales about women.

Question 56

A feminist approach understands "difference" between men and women as rooted in the structure of society.

Question 57

One of the main critiques of conservative theories of women and crime is that they failed to consider how the structured features of society prescribe gendered roles for men and women.

Question 58

According to role theory,in the egalitarian family,girls are more at risk of being delinquent because both control efforts are more egalitarian so daughters are less controlled.

Question 59

The gender-ratio problem raises the issue of whether mainstream theories of crime can be made to "fit" women.

Question 60

Power-control theory is designed to explain the sex differences in delinquency by drawing linkages between variations in parental control and the delinquent behaviour of boys and girls.

Question 61

Research using the Conflict Tactics Scale indicates that women are just as violent as men with regard to abuse in intimate relationships.

Question 62

What is meant by the term the cultural construction of rape? List three myths that illustrate the cultural construction of rape.For each,explain the myth,noting how it reinforces the use of sexual assault by men.

Question 63

Describe the liberal approach to understanding the causes behind female criminality? What are the basic assumptions underlying this school of thought? Provide at least two examples of theories provided in your textbook that could be considered part of this liberal approach.

Question 64

Construct the biographical history of a fictitious person who illustrates what feminist criminologists refer to as "the criminalized woman."

Question 65

List the main arguments of a feminist approach to understanding women and crime.What are the main causes of female criminality according to this school of thought?

Question 66

Describe how some mainstream theories of criminality have been applied to women and crime.What are some of the critiques of attempts to apply mainstream theories to women and crime?

Question 67

Discuss what is meant by the generalizability problem for criminological theories dealing with women and crime and explain how criminologists have tended to respond to this problem.

Question 68

According to the textbook,in recent years it has become increasingly popular among feminist criminologists to distinguish clearly between women as offenders and women as victims.

Question 69

Describe the role of the law in condoning violence against women.

Question 70

Compare and contrast the conservative (biological)and the liberal (structuralist)approaches to understanding female crime.List some of the differing assumptions for each that make them so different in how they seek to understand women and crime.

Question 71

Describe what your textbook means by the "invisibility of women." What accounts for this invisibility within the realm of criminology? What are the implications (for criminology,crime prevention,and criminal justice)that results from the "invisibility of women"?

Question 72

State the main differences in rape laws before and after the 1983 legislative amendments.What are some of the limitations of the new sexual assault laws and their interpretation in Canadian courts?

Question 73

What did Otto Pollak mean when he referred to the "woman problem"? Describe the relationship between the "women problem" and criminality.Provide a critique of Pollak's controversial arguments.

Question 74

Describe what is meant by "pathways research" and its findings with respect for understanding the causes of female criminality.What are some of the implications for dealing with female offenders that have resulted from this research?

Question 75

List the main arguments of the women's liberation thesis.What are some of the main critiques of this thesis?

Question 76

Discuss what is meant by the gender-ratio problem and describe the research that sought to explain this problem.

Question 77

Criminologists have noted that the Conflict Tactics Scale is an incomplete measure of intimate violence because it does not capture the outcome of the violence.

Question 78

What is the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS)? How has the CTS changed our understanding of gendered violence? Note some of the major limitations of the CTS.

Question 79

Describe the conservative approach to understanding female criminality.What is the basic assumption that differentiates men from women in this school of thought? Provide at least two examples of theories provided in your textbook that could be considered part of this conservative approach.What are the main critiques of this conservative approach?

Question 80

Why are aboriginal women overrepresented among criminal offenders? What theories can be applied to better understand this overrepresentation?