Ch.6 Test Questions & Answers Youth Deviance Media Limits

CHAPTER 6

Youth Deviance and the Media: Mapping Knowledge and the Limits to Certainty

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The case of Archie Billard is significant because it ________.
   1. showed how youth can get away with murder
   2. led to recommendations for changing the YCJA
   3. illustrates the complex causes of violent youth crime
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
2. Knowledge about youth crime and justice is produced through ________.
   1. media
   2. official statistics
   3. unofficial data
   4. All of the above
   5. Both b and c
3. Official statistics ________.
   1. highlight emotional and violent extremes of crime
   2. record in detail what is known and reported to the police
   3. are the main source of crime news information for the public
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
4. Unofficial data ________.
   1. highlights emotional and violent extremes of crime.
   2. records in detail what is unknown and unreported to the police.
   3. is used to fill out incidents not reported to the police.
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
5. ________ coined the term moral panic to describe exaggerated fears about youth deviance that was generated by the media.
   1. John Muncie
   2. Stanley Cohen
   3. Chris McCormick
   4. Bernard Schissel
   5. Jane Sprott
6. What term is used to describe any group that is unjustifiably perceived to pose a threat to the traditional values and institutions of society?
   1. Deviant
   2. Outcast
   3. Folk devils
   4. Gang-involved
   5. Rebel group
7. The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) has collected information on crime every year since ________.
   1. 1962
   2. 1967
   3. 1984
   4. 1989
   5. 1991
8. According to the author of Chapter 6, our understanding of youth crime is ________.
   1. policing-sensitive
   2. court-sensitive
   3. corrections-sensitive
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and b
9. The media’s role in the distortion of crime knowledge is illustrated in how news of crimes committed in public by strangers against innocent victims ________.
   1. encourages the perception that crime is random
   2. sensitizes the public to fear crime
   3. can lead to police enforcement or legislative changes
   4. All of the above
   5. Both a and c
10. News about crime and deviance, as illustrated in news accounts of the disappearance of sex-workers, can encourage public ________.
    1. hostility
    2. fear
    3. apathy and disinterest
    4. action
    5. co-operation
11. Social scientists have frequently argued that the media coverage of crime and deviance ________.
    1. over reports the level of property crime
    2. can be blamed for misinforming the public
    3. exaggerates the level of corporate crime
    4. All of the above
    5. Both b and c
12. Data show that Canadians rely on ________ as a primary source for information about the Canadian youth justice system.
    1. newspapers or magazines
    2. TV or radio news
    3. the Internet
    4. academic sources
    5. personal experience
13. Data show that approximately ________ of Canadians learn about the Canadian youth justice system primarily from the media.
    1. 30 per cent
    2. 40 per cent
    3. 60 per cent
    4. 80 per cent
    5. 90 per cent
14. In her study of articles on youth crime that appeared in Toronto newspapers, Sprott (1996) found that approximately ________ focused on violent crime.
    1. 60 per cent
    2. 70 per cent
    3. 80 per cent
    4. 90 per cent
    5. 95 per cent
15. According to the author of Chapter 6, context analysis is ________.
    1. a method of comparing official statistics and unofficial data
    2. based on the premise that the reality constructed by the news media might not reflect other images of reality
    3. a new method of analyzing media reports of youth crime
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
16. Research completed by Baron and Hartnagel (1996) on public views about the Canadian youth justice system concluded that public views were ________.
    1. quite punitive
    2. often based on personal experiences of victimization
    3. often based on conservative social values
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and c
17. A study on the reporting of juvenile homicide cases in Chicago newspapers found that ________.
    1. as juvenile homicide rates declined, media coverage increased
    2. news articles did a good job of covering youth crime
    3. a homicide received more media coverage if it was committed by a white youth
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and c
18. Portraying a young offender as both a villain and a victim is an example of ________.
    1. moral panic
    2. reverse psychology
    3. moral uncertainty
    4. ideological flexibility
    5. media manipulation
19. According to the author of Chapter 6, like official statistics and unofficial data, media knowledge is ________.
    1. a window on the world
    2. complementary
    3. limited
    4. All of the above
    5. Both b and c
20. Frame analysis and critical discourse analysis allow us to ________.
    1. analyze in more detail the role of the media in the public sphere
    2. view the media as a forum for debate
    3. appreciate how hegemony is accomplished through discourse
    4. All of the above
    5. Both a and b
21. The group Crime Responsibility and Youth was formed ________.
    1. after a stabbing incident in a so-called random street attack
    2. by a group of young people coming together to advocate for youth
    3. after the victimization in Toronto of a young male
    4. by parents and other citizens looking for vigilante justice
    5. as a result of Anthony Doob’s letter to the editor suggesting the toughening of rules
22. The purpose of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) is to ________.
    1. reflect the total amount of crime in society
    2. measure police work
    3. be used to compare crime across jurisdictions
    4. justify the use of police resources
    5. Both c and d
23. Surveys of high school students show that ________ of youth have experienced online bullying.
    1. 15 per cent
    2. 25 per cent
    3. 35 per cent
    4. 45 per cent
    5. 55 per cent
24. ________ is the process of analyzing media content to see how crime and criminals are depicted.
    1. Content analysis
    2. Critical discourse analysis
    3. Frame analysis
    4. Meta-analysis
    5. Micro analysis
25. Statistics Canada reports that approximately ________ youths were charged with criminal offences in Canada in 2017.
    1. 30,000
    2. 59,000
    3. 89,000
    4. 109,000
    5. 139,000

True or False Questions

• • • 1. Official statistics record in detail what is known and reported to the police, while self-report and victimization studies are used to fill out those incidents not reported to the police.
      2. The Uniform Crime Report survey (UCR) is the official source that represents crimes substantiated through police investigation.
      3. The argument that our understanding of youth crime is policing-sensitive means that the level of police enforcement determines whether the crime is counted.
      4. The argument that crime is media-sensitive means that, if crimes are publicized, a feedback loop can change the public’s perceptions and their willingness to report.
      5. Increasing police efficiency can also increase crime rates.
      6. In Canada, cannabis possession went from 2,300 cases in 1968 to 44,000 cases in 2006 due primarily to increased law enforcement.
      7. The national news almost consistently reports only on violent assaults committed by youths.
      8. Compared with other hot-button social panic issues, there is not much research on media coverage of youth crime.
      9. The hypothesis that the media inundates the public with ideas about crime is referred to as the moral panic hypothesis.
      10. A study on the reporting of juvenile homicide cases in Chicago newspapers found that news articles do a good job of covering youth crime but also tend to focus on atypical cases.
      11. Social constructionism is a theory that views youth crime as an important source of social change.
      12. Social constructionist researchers have advanced the view the media trades in on the ambiguous culpability of youth as both victimizer and victimized.
      13. Ideological flexibility refers to the portrayal of persons as being politically biased.
      14. In general, constructionist analysis states that violent youth crime is underrepresented in the media.
      15. Media knowledge cannot provide a window on the world because it is simply too biased.
      16. Critical discourse analysis links discourse to culture.
      17. The valorization of victims is a tactic typically used by politicians to justify tougher measures aimed at punishing young offenders.
      18. The articles about youth crime that appeared in the National Post in 1999 were almost all about murders.
      19. News articles often serve as a venue for giving voice to the claim that youth crime is out of control.
      20. For most people, the reality the media creates about youth crime is their reality.
      21. In Sprott’s findings, those who believed that sentences were too lenient were also more likely to underestimate the amount of violent youth crime and thought it had decreased.
      22. A moral panic is an exaggerated fear about social problems, including youth deviance, partly generated by the media
      23. According to the Centre for Disease Control, LGBTQ students are more likely to experience online social media bullying

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Archie Billard? Why is his case significant?
2. How is media-generated knowledge of youth crime and justice different from knowledge generated through official statistics and unofficial data?
3. What is one of the key criticisms of the “official version” of youth crime?
4. What is one of the difficulties common to both official statistics and unofficial data?
5. What has been the traditional approach taken by social scientists to the study of crime and the media?
6. What is context analysis and how can it be used to study the media coverage of youth crime stories?
7. What is social constructionism? What does it look at?
8. What are the main themes of social constructionist analysis?
9. What were the major findings of Spencer’s (2005) media research on youth violence in the United States in 1994?
10. According to the author of Chapter 6, what is wrong with the argument made by critics who focus only on showing how the media’s coverage of crime is distorted and sensationalized in comparison to other sources?
11. According to the author of Chapter 6, what is the value of frame analysis?
12. According to the author of Chapter 6, “there seems to be no ready reason for why the media should mirror what is known by the police any more than police statistics should mirror juvenile self-reports.” What are the basic grounds for this argument?
13. What does Spencer (2005) mean by the term ideological flexibility?
14. According to the author of Chapter 6, rather than providing antagonistic knowledge, the media provides complementary knowledge about youth crime and deviance. Do you agree with this argument? Why?
15. What is critical discourse analysis? How has this approach been applied to the study of youth crime and youth criminal justice in Canada?
16. To what does the term valorization of victims refer? Provide examples that illustrate the meaning of this term.
17. How are the stories of victims typically used by politicians who want to bring about changes in youth justice legislation?
18. Discuss one example of how political and academic debates over issues relating to youth justice are reported in the media.
19. How do news articles provide a platform for “the vilification of young offenders”?
20. What are the five key themes that characterize the newspaper articles on youth crime that were analyzed by the author of Chapter 6?
21. What factors influence the quality of raw material about crime? Name three of the five factors and explain.

Essay Questions

1. In this chapter, the author argues that “the study of youth crime and deviance is [about] more than just count­ing.” Do you agree with this statement? Why?
2. In this chapter, the author argues that “to know about youth crime from official crime statistics is like trying to dine out using restaurant reviews—entertaining but ultimately unfulfilling.” What are the author’s grounds for making this argument? Do you agree with this view? Why?
3. How do law enforcement, legal definitions, and media practices affect our understanding of youth crime and the youth justice system?
4. How do media practices contribute to knowledge about youth crime and the youth justice system?
5. How were young offenders and the youth criminal justice system viewed by the Canadian media in the period from 1995 to 2003? What effect did this have on public attitudes and arguments for reforming Canadian youth justice legislation?
6. What are the implications of the patterns of media coverage in youth crime?