Complete Test Bank Ch9 The Law And Social Control

CHAPTER 9

THE LAW AND SOCIAL CONTROL

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Social control

a) requires that members of the society be conscious of its purpose.

b) is restricted to supervision and restraint.

c) is any action influencing conduct toward conformity regardless of whether or not the person being influenced is aware of the process.

d) is maintained exclusively and most powerfully by the law.

2. The most comprehensive definition of the function of social control is

a) it maintains law and order and defines the social hierarchy.

b) it renders social life peaceful and predictable.

c) it facilitates social unity.

d) it minimizes non-conformity and deviance.

3. Direct social control is usually

a) coercive and sometimes repressive.

b) persuasive and voluntary.

c) accomplished by the use of force.

d) accomplished by the person’s own conscience.

4. Indirect social control is usually

a) coercive and sometimes repressive.

b) persuasive and voluntary.

c) accomplished by the use of force.

d) accomplished by the indirect threat of punishment.

5. Informal social control is usually accomplished through

a) stigma.

b) conscience.

c) the snub, frown, or cold shoulder.

d) all of the above.

e) a and c only.

6. Donald Black’s position on the relationship between formal and informal social control is that

a) as law breaks down, social control is exercised by informal means.

b) as informal social control breaks down, it is replaced by law.

c) there is no relationship between the two.

d) formal law is indirect, and informal law is direct.

7. The point of the discussion about Hester Prynne’s trial and punishment was to

a) illustrate the intolerance of the seventeenth century.

b) show that social control was direct and informal in the seventeenth century.

c) show that informal and indirect social control is more effective than direct and formal social control.

d) show that there is often significant overlap between the direct/indirect and formal/informal dichotomies.

8. The term general deterrence refers to

a) the rehabilitative effect on the individual being punished.

b) the preventative effect (fear of further punishment) on the person who has been punished.

c) the preventative effect on those who witness but do not experience another’s punishment.

d) the deterrent effect of conscience and stigma.

9. Black’s four legal “styles” of social control include all those listed below except

a) penal.

b) procedural.

c) therapeutic.

d) compensatory.

e) conciliatory.

10. Compared with other Western industrialized nations, the United States

a) has far tougher sentences.

b) is soft on crime.

c) incarcerates more of its citizens per 100,000.

d) incarcerates fewer of its citizens per 100,000.

11. In Bordenkircher v. Hayes, the Supreme Court ruled that

a) threatening to charge a defendant with a more serious crime if he or she refuses to accept a plea is unconstitutional.

b) threatening to charge a defendant with a more serious crime if he or she refuses to accept a plea is constitutionally permissible.

c) habitual offender statutes cannot be imposed on defendants who plea bargain.

d) both a and c.

12. By engaging in a plea bargain, the offender loses

a) Sixth Amendment rights to trial.

b) Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

c) Eighth Amendment rights against right to bail.

d) all of the above.

e) a and b only.

13. According to Amnesty International, the United States

a) executes more people than any other nation.

b) executes more people than any other democracy.

c) executes fewer people than Japan.

d) all of the above.

14. The USA Patriot Act was passed in response to

a) Shays’ Rebellion.

b) the Civil War.

c) the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

d) World War I peace agitators.

15. Which Supreme Court case suspended the death penalty in 1972?

a) Furman v. Georgia

b) Coker v. Georgia

c) Woodson v. North Carolina

d) Stanford v. Kentucky

16. Which political party in the United States was the first to have a number of its members prosecuted for political dissent?

a) Communist Party

b) Republican Party

c) Socialist Party

d) Democratic Party

17. In which case did the Supreme Court rule that it is permissible to curtail First Amendment rights to free speech under the “clear and present danger” test?

a) Gitlow v. New York

b) Dennis v. United States

c) Schenck v. United States

d) Scales v. United States

18. According to various studies, about what percentage of defendants referred to psychiatrists/psychologists receive a label indicative of some form of mental illness?

a) 50 percent

b) 100 percent

c) 25 percent

d) 75 percent

19. In what case did the Supreme Court rule that sex offenders can be held in involuntary confinement after completing their prison sentences?

a) Holman v. Gaston

b) Missouri v. Jenkins

c) Hemmens v. Walsh

d) Kansas v. Hendricks

20. In what case did the Supreme Court rule that it is permissible to double property taxes to build “magnet schools” to attract white students back to the city?

a) Holman v. Gaston

b) Missouri v. Jenkins

c) Hemmens v. Walsh

d) Kansas v. Hendricks

21. In the United States burglars serve an average of ____ months in prison compared with 6.8 months in Britain and 5.3 months in Canada.

a) 24.4

b) 32.6

c) 16.2

d) 10.5

22. The characteristic of being remedial is shared by the ______ styles of social control.

a) penal/therapeutic

b) penal/compensatory

c) therapeutic/conciliatory

d) compensatory/conciliatory

23. Which is not an argument that informed proponents of capital punishment would use?

a) It is cheaper than life imprisonment.

b) It may not deter, but it is justice.

c) We don’t know if it deters, but if it does and we don’t use it, we bear some guilt for future victims.

d) Execution is not state murder; it is state justice.

24. The most desirable form of social control is

a) direct/formal.

b) direct/informal.

c) indirect/formal.

d) indirect/informal.

25. The song lyric, “When you ain’t got nothin’, you ain’t got nothin’ to lose,” illustrates what concept relating to punishment?

a) general deterrence

b) specific deterrence

c) contrast effect

d) recidivist effect

26. The point of Plato’s allegory about the ring of Gyges is that

a) specific deterrence doesn’t work.

b) most of us would commit crimes if guaranteed we would never be discovered.

c) indirect/informal social control is best.

d) very few of us would commit crimes even if guaranteed we would never be discovered.

27. Regarding the death penalty,

a) all religious denominations in America are against it.

b) Catholics are for it, and most Protestants against it.

c) most denominations are against it.

d) only Jews have a majority favoring abolition.

28. The method most often used by Republicans and Democrats to destroy the appeal of threatening third parties today is

a) pass laws against their activities.

b) employ “dirty tricks” to discredit them.

c) use the Supreme Court to declare them illegal.

d) co-opt the most appealing portions of their platforms.

29. _________ were constructed in Kanas City to combat segregation caused by “white flight” to the suburbs

a) Charter schools.

b) Magnet schools

c) Special schools

d) Online schools

30. A document ordering a public official to do his or her duty is known as a

a) writ of habeas corpus.

b) writ of res judicata.

c) writ of mandamus.

d) writ of compellation.