Chapter 1: History of Gangs in the United States

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is the name of the first New York City area gang with a clear leadership structure?

a. The Kerryonians

b. Rosanna Peers

c. Forty Thieves

d. Bowery Boys

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which of the following is NOT an example of an illicit economy, such as that which emerged in the Robert Taylor Homes (RTH) in the 1970s?

a. babysitting

b. drug dealing

c. resale of stolen electronics

d. prostitution

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. ______ describes the political process that was formalized by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and mandated that Mexicans living in the Southwest become naturalized U.S. citizens.

a. Secession

b. Immigration

c. Annexation

d. Colonization

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The intensive bonding to “barrios” among Latin Americans is distinctive to the ______ region of the United States.

a. northeastern

b. southern

c. western

d. midwestern

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. The Zoot Suit Riots reflect the ______ of Blacks and Latinos in the 1940s.

a. liberation

b. employment

c. imprisonment

d. stigmatization

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Which of the following is NOT an example of institutional inequality that was experienced by Blacks moving to Los Angeles from the South in the 1920s?

a. dilapidated housing

b. low wages

c. restrictive housing covenants

d. access to health insurance

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. According to the authors, which of the following experiences was a leading factor in the formation and growth of gangs among Blacks in Los Angeles in both the 1940s and 1970s?

a. residential segregation

b. police brutality

c. racially based violence

d. unemployment

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. In Los Angeles, ______ gangs have seemed to attract the most attention among Asian gangs for their unique structure and activity.

a. Cambodian

b. Vietnamese

c. Filipino

d. Chinese

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The ______ was responsible for most drastically increasing the number and diversity of new immigrants entering the United States since the 19th century.

a. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

b. Second World War

c. National Quota System

d. Immigration and Nationality Act

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Another Wave of Immigrant Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Which of the following is NOT an example of “defensive localism?”

a. patrols of neighborhoods

b. the organization of a Saturday afternoon baseball game

c. gang initiation

d. issuing loans to residents

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. All of the following are examples of stages in the “cycle of violence” that typifies much gang behavior EXCEPT ______.

a. members having loose bonds to the gang

b. the recognition of threat from someone within the gang

c. the occurrence of a mobilizing event

d. the gang becoming more alert and cohesive

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. ______ implies that gang members have different standards of conduct than non-gang members, which are often displayed during “cycles of violence.”

a. Mutual acceptance

b. Assimilation

c. The Zoot Suit Riots

d. The code of the streets

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Of the 19% of inmates classified as gang members in a 2009 Directors of Security survey, the proportion of inmates who were part of a gang before coming to prison was ______ the proportion of those who joined gangs after entering prison.

a. 50% less than

b. 25% more than

c. 25 % less than

d. equal to

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Which of the following is NOT an example of a “threat to law enforcement” as delineated by the Texas Fusion Center’s assessment matrix of prison gang threat?

a. impersonating an officer

b. fleeing from arrest

c. violence toward officers

d. resisting arrest

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Prison gang prevalence is greater in states with higher levels of ______.

a. street gang activity

b. law enforcement

c. democratic state representatives

d. poverty

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Which of the following is NOT an example of a “macrostructural” process that contributed to the formation of gangs in the West and Midwest?

a. permissive immigration policies

b. racism

c. public housing

d. barrio living

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Concluding Observations

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. In what time period was the prevalence of gangs the highest?

a. 1860s

b. 1920s

c. 1970s

d. 1990s

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Concluding Observations

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The current relationship between street gangs and prison gangs is ______ than at prior points in history.

a. much weaker

b. a little weaker

c. the same

d. stronger

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

Multiple Response

1. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following were true of Thrasher’s “interstitial areas” in Chicago?

a. They were located in commercial zones.

b. They were characterized by social disorganization.

c. They were located outside residential zones.

d. They were populated mostly by Blacks.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following historical events are examples of the racial unrest between Blacks and Whites that in part led to development and expansion of Black gangs?

a. the Great Migration

b. the Civil War

c. the Sleepy Lagoon murder

d. the zoot suit riots

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following regions does not experience a pronounced presence of transnational gangs?

a. Northeast

b. South

c. West

d. Midwest

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region | The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. In what Southern cities did gang-related homicides make up 20% of all homicides between 1996 and 2009?

a. New Orleans

b. Houston

c. Atlanta

d. San Antonio

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the South

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. The following are examples of policies or programs that have contributed to the proliferation of prison gangs in the United States:

a. anti-gambling legislation

b. Mayor Daley’s 1969 Gang War

c. Three Strikes and You’re Out Law

d. indeterminate sentencing

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. ______ is a name for the “organizational networks both inside and outside of prison that linked inmates with others in jails and on the streets in illegal enterprises.”

a. webs

b. gang dyads

c. supergangs

d. gang nations

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Examples of “macrohistorical” processes that contributed to the formation of Black and Mexican-American gangs include ______.

a. slavery

b. immigration

c. acculturation

d. restrictive real estate covenants

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Concluding Observations

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. The largest minority group in New York City in the late 1990s was Latinos.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. New York City is the epicenter of gang activity in the United States today.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Thrasher found gangs in Chicago developed outside of “interstitial areas.”

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the Midwest

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Since the mid-1990s, the West is home to the highest proportion of “chronic” gang problem cities.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The Mexican community’s reaction to the Sleepy Lagoon Murder of 1942 reflected acceptance of the suspects’ conviction and sentencing outcomes.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Black gangs in Los Angeles emerged due to historical events like the War on Poverty and the Vietnam War.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The diffusion of the Bloods’ and Crips’ gang culture extends beyond the Western region.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Designated as an “early warning” location for gang violence in California, San Francisco, is more likely than other cities to lead the development and dissemination of gang-related law enforcement intelligence.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the West Region

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Gangs first developed in the South more than a half a century later than they did in the Midwest.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the South

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. A given racial/ethnic group’s degree of success in assimilating into American culture is inversely related to that group’s level of gang activity over time.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

11. Treating gang members as family members in Mexican American gang members is an example of extending barrio boundaries.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Why were gangs slowest to develop in the southern region of the United States, relative to other regions?

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Street Gang Emergence in the South

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is the difference between a prison gang and a Security-Threat Group (STG)?

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Institutionalization of Street Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. How did immigration policies and patterns affect the formation and expansion of gangs in each of the country’s four regions? Compare and contrast the implications of these distinct immigration patterns on the modern landscape of gang activity today.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Throughout chapter; see especially Street Gang Emergence in the Northeast, Midwest, West Region, and South; Another Wave of Immigrant Groups

Difficulty Level: Hard