Chapter 3: The Measurement of Juvenile Crime

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. ______ on juvenile delinquency include data collected from government agencies that handle delinquency cases, such as law enforcement agencies, juvenile courts, and correctional institutions.

A. Official data

B. Self-report data

C. Systemic data

D. Victim data

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Official Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which of the following is the best way to find an answer to the question, “are children getting more violent and dangerous today?”

A. collect data from several different offenders

B. focus on arrest statistics

C. use multiple sources of data

D. craft a rigorous experimental design

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. A longitudinal survey is conducted ______.

A. by oversampling of minority groups

B. at one point in time

C. from a representative sample

D. over an extended period of time

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The Uniform Crime Reporting program is managed by the ______.

A. Department of Justice

B. U.S. Secret Service

C. Marshals Service

D. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Today, the Uniform Crime Reporting program includes ______ subprograms.

A. two

B. three

C. four

D. five

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The traditional ______ is the only program that attempts to collect census data on all offenses known to law enforcement and persons arrested.

A. Summary Reporting System

B. National Crime Victimization Survey

C. National Youth Survey

D. Offender Survey

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The Summary Reporting System ______ the number of actual offending.

A. reliably estimates

B. overestimates

C. underestimates

D. cannot estimate

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The offense definitions used in the NIBRS program are based on ______.

A. state statutory definitions

B. common-law definitions

C. federal law definitions

D. case law definitions

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which of the following data collection sources can shed light on the “dark figure of crime?”

A. juvenile court data

B. National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

C. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

D. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The Monitoring the Future (MTF) project ______.

A. does not survey students about their use of legal drugs

B. measures participation in a wide variety of delinquent behaviors

C. surveys both middle and high school students

D. is only conducted in public schools

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Monitoring the Future

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The National Crime Victimization Survey is sponsored by the ______.

A. Bureau of Justice Statistics

B. Bureau of Labor Statistics

C. Federal Bureau of Investigation

D. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Which of the following is true of the National Crime Victimization Survey?

A. It is a small-scale data collection effort.

B. It includes very little incident-specific data.

C. It is a representative household survey.

D. It provides no insight into unreported crime and delinquency.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. Which of the following is a reason the National Crime Victimization Survey was created?

A. to collect census data of the U.S. population

B. to collected data on crimes reported to law enforcement

C. to limit year-to-year comparisons of crime

D. to provide uniform measures of selected types of crimes

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. The ______ began publishing Juvenile Court Statistics reports in 1926.

A. Children’s Bureau

B. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

C. Juvenile Court Office

D. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Juvenile Court Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The National Crime Victimization Survey has limited use when it comes to examining delinquency offending because ______.

A. it does not include enough types of crime and delinquency

B. the sample is too small

C. victims find it overly complicated to complete the survey

D. victims may not know the age of their attacker

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. The “telescoping” effect on surveys such as the National Crime Victimization Survey refers to the tendency to ______.

A. clump multiple crimes together

B. ignore particular crime types and highlight others

C. incorrectly perceive the timeline of past events

D. highlight particular types of offenders and ignore others

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. The National Crime Victimization Survey is limited with respect to victimization among juveniles because children under age ______ are excluded from the survey.

A. 10

B. 12

C. 14

D. 16

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. If you were a researcher attempting to explain the etiology of delinquency, which one of the following would be your best choice of data?

A. official data

B. self-report data

C. systemic data

D. victim data

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Self-Report Data

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. In 2013, girls made up approximately ______ of the delinquency cases handled by the juvenile courts.

A. one-fourth

B. one-third

C. one-half

D. three-fourths

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Court Data--Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth is sponsored by the ______.

A. Bureau of Justice Statistics

B. Bureau of Labor Statistics

C. Federal Bureau of Investigation

D. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. The ______ refers to the number of crime and acts of delinquency that do not come to the attention of law enforcement.

A. unknown figure of crime

B. dark figure of crime

C. undiscovered figure of crime

D. mysterious figure of crime

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Cross-sectional data are collected from a group ______.

A. at a single point in time

B. more than once over an extended time period

C. composed of both men and women

D. drawn from a representative sample of participants

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Juvenile justice policy is now shifting away from a ______ approach.

A. crime control

B. restorative justice

C. noninterference

D. tough on crime

Learning Objective: 3-5: Understand the differences among type of crimes, including how some young people are both more at risk and disproportionately involved in the juvenile justice system.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Juvenile Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. The National Juvenile Court Data Archive was established by the ______.

A. Children’s Bureau

B. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

C. Juvenile Court Office

D. Federal Bureau of Investigation

Learning Objective: 3.-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Juvenile Court Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. The Monitoring the Future project focuses primarily on which of the following?

A. drug use and attitudes

B. violent offenses and rationalizations

C. health risk behaviors

D. sexual habits and attitudes

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Monitoring the Future

Difficulty Level: Easy

26. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System primarily tracks which of the following?

A. drug use and attitudes

B. violent offenses and rationalizations

C. health risk behaviors

D. sexual habits and attitudes

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. One of the most significant limitations of early self-report surveys has been ______.

A. their focus on minor delinquency and status offenses

B. their focus on serious forms of delinquency

C. their focus on drug use and attitudes

D. their focus on sexual habits and attitudes

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. Which of the following is true of arrest rates for those under the age of 18?

A. They are at historic lows.

B. They have been stable since 1990.

C. They have been steadily increasing since 1990.

D. They are at historic highs.

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Arrest Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Which of the following collection methods can be called the nearest data source to actual delinquent behavior?

A. court data

B. victim data

C. official data

D. self-report data

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, its strengths as well as its limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Self-Report Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. ______ is a significant predictor of detention placement and incarceration outcomes, though it is not fully understood why.

A. Age

B. School performance

C. Gender

D. Race

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Race and Gender Issues

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. ______ is an example of a status offense.

A. Curfew violation

B. Larceny

C. Arson

D. Trespassing

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Court Data--Status Offenses (Public Order)

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. Which of the following is true of adolescent females involved with the juvenile courts?

A. Their numbers have decreased over the past two decades.

B. Their numbers have remained stable over the past two decades.

C. Their numbers have increased over the past two decades.

D. Their numbers have reached historic highs.

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Arrest Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Which of the following is an example of a victimless crime?

A. truancy

B. running away

C. being ungovernable

D. prostitution

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Summary Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Easy

34. Which of the following offense types would the NIBRS categorize in Group A?

A. trespass of real property

B. shoplifting

C. disorderly conduct

D. driving under the influence

Learning Objective: 3-2: Investigate national data collection sources and understand how the law enforcement agencies and juvenile courts are responsible for accurate data collection outcomes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Hard

35. The term ______ was used in the 1996 presidential campaign to describe a generation of children that was perceived to be more violent and dangerous than in previous generations.

A. super-delinquent

B. super-offender

C. super-predator

D. ultra-violent

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

36. Which of the following limitations affects the Summary Reporting System (often referred to as the UCR)?

A. Youth who are absent from school cannot be surveyed.

B. Set response categories (i.e., never, once or twice, several times, and often) mask high rates of delinquency.

C. Law enforcement agencies may misreport information, either intentionally or by mistake.

D. Homeless and institutionalized individuals are not surveyed.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Summary Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. ______ refers to the cause, or set of causes, for a certain outcome.

A. Epidemiology

B. Culpability

C. Pathology

D. Etiology

Learning Objective: 3-4: Explain how delinquency is measured, its sources, and what limitations there are in the reporting process.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Self-Report Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

38. The ______ has amassed almost nine decades worth of U.S. crime data.

A. Summary Reporting System

B. National Incident-Based Reporting System

C. National Crime Victimization Survey

D. Monitoring the Future project

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Summary Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. The best way to find an answer to the question, “are children getting more violent and dangerous today?” is to refer to more than one type of data source to complement each other’s limitations.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. When there is a news report on an increase or decrease in the crime rate in the United States, it is most likely based on victim data.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Official Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. A weakness of the Uniform Crime Reporting program is that it does not provide a uniform definition for the offenses on which it collects data.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Uniform Crime Reports

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The Summary Reporting System is older than the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. The Summary Reporting System is a significant improvement over the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. The data amassed as part of the National Juvenile Court Data Archive allow researchers to track data trends.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The National Crime Victimization Survey does not collect data on crimes and delinquency reported to law enforcement.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. There are concerns that the survey questions in the National Crime Victimization Survey may not consistently measure what they are supposed to measure.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. One weakness of the National Crime Victimization Survey is that respondents may not answer honestly, especially on sensitive victimization questions.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: National Crime Victimization Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Longitudinal surveys of delinquency that follow the same juveniles and collect data more than once from them over an extended period are rare because of the difficulty in collecting such data.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Despites its limitations, the self-report survey is considered more accurate in its estimates of delinquency than official data sources.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methodological Strengths and Limitations

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Since 2005, the number of juvenile arrests has decreased by 50%.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Arrest Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Since the mid-1990s, the use of detention centers has broadened to include the holding of more nonviolent offenders.

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Arrest Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Exact figures on youthful offender transfers to adult court are not available because a majority of states do not report the information and because of the multitude of ways that adolescents are transferred through various state laws.

Learning Objective: 3-4: Explain how delinquency is measured, its sources, and what limitations there are in the reporting process.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Arrest Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Over the past generations, the belief that children were becoming more violent and dangerous than the children in the previous generations has resulted in policies that have increasingly treated juveniles like adult offenders.

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Identify and explain the difference between the three different types of data researchers use to study juvenile crime. Be sure to include examples of data collection efforts in each type of data.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Official Data | National Crime Victimization Survey | Self-Report Data

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Discuss the Monitoring the Future project. When and where did the project start? Who does it sample? On what types of behavior and/or attitudes does it collect?

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Monitoring the Future

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Explain the following statement: “Some young people are both more at risk and disproportionately involved in the juvenile justice system.”

Learning Objective: 3-5: Understand the differences among type of crimes, including how some young people are both more at risk and disproportionately involved in the juvenile justice system.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Court Data--Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Discuss the Uniform Crime Reports. From whom does the project collect data? Be sure to discuss the differences between the Summary Reporting System and the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Learning Objective: 3-1: Describe how the data on juvenile crime and victimization are collected, as well as its strengths and limitations in discerning an accurate profile of youthful offending.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Summary Reporting System | National Incident-Based Reporting System

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. What is the current state of juvenile delinquency in the United States? Has juvenile crime been increasing or decreasing in recent years? Are there differences across crime types?

Learning Objective: 3-3: Identify and summarize the current epidemiology of juvenile crime, status offenses, and offending victimizations across the United States.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Juvenile Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Hard