Contesting Crime Atkinson Chapter 9 Complete Test Bank

Test Bank

Chapter 9: Contesting Crime

Multiple Choice

1. Identify the different types of norms in order of how harshly people are negatively sanctioned for breaking them, from the least severe sanctions to the most severe sanctions.

a. folkways, mores, taboos

b. taboos, mores, folkways

c. mores, taboos, folkways

d. folkways, taboos, mores

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What type of negative sanction may occur as a punishment for breaking a taboo?

a. being verbally corrected

b. expulsion from society

c. being fired from your job

d. having someone cuss you out

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. What are the features that differentiate folkways, mores, and taboos?

a. Violating a taboo is the same as committing a crime, while folkways and mores are not criminal.

b. Folkways are informal, while mores and taboos are formal.

c. Each norm has a different level of negative sanctions that may result from norm breaking.

d. Breaking a folkway is considered to be unethical, while breaking mores and taboos are considered criminal.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What statement describes similarities between deviance and crime?

a. both are forms of sanctions

b. both rule the ethics and morals within a society

c. both involve formal norms

d. both involve a norm violation

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What is a key difference between deviance and crime?

a. All norm violations are deviant, but an act of deviance is only a crime if the act is prohibited in law.

b. All deviance is criminal, but not all crime is deviant.

c. Committing crime generates negative sanctions, but acts of deviance do not.

d. Deviance is a more serious norm violation that crime.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime? Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Brett had too much to drink at a dorm party. He exposed himself to one of the young women who also lived in the dorm, and thrust himself in her face when she tried to get away. Which statement best describes Brett’s behavior?

a. Brett violated a folkway norm, because Brett broke an informal rule.

b. Brett’s actions violated mores, because mores are norms that regulate moral and ethical behavior.

c. Brett’s actions were taboo, and taboos are extreme norm violations on par with incest and cannibalism.

d. Brett’s behavior did not violate norms.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Which of the following acts would illustrate the breaking of a folkway norm?

a. Corey accepted a bribe.

b. Rob physically assaulted his ex-wives.

c. Kellyanne didn’t wash her hands after going to the restroom.

d. Mike engaged in incest.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. Which scenario describes a violation of mores?

a. Betsy promised to go to her friend’s birthday party, but decided not to show up instead.

b. William told white lies at a job interview to make himself sound more professional.

c. Steve constantly interrupts his subordinates.

d. DJ cheated on his wife.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Which scenario describes a taboo?

a. Brad has a crush on a girl in his neighborhood; sometimes, after dark, he sneaks up to her window and spies on her.

b. Michelle never uses her turn signal when changing lanes.

c. After being stranded for months in snow without food or water, George agrees to eat the flesh of one of the dead settlers.

d. Jason cheated on his final exam.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. The function performed by ______ is to emphasize and enforce norms that have been formalized, or codified.

a. sanctions

b. laws

c. taboos

d. crime

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. A study by the sentencing project compared news reports and official arrest records. They found that, when compared to the real number of incidents, black males are overrepresented as perpetrators, but underrepresented as victims in television news stories. Which statement describes a likely outcome resulting from the way that black males are represented on the news?

a. This may cause more white men to commit crimes.

b. This can contribute to implicit bias in members of the community, as well as among members of the police force.

c. The way this group is represented might cause news departments to compete with rival stations in covering crimes.

d. This can contribute to the dark figure of crime.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Media

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Homicide, rape, burglary, and arson are crimes that are categorized as ______ in the Uniform Crime Report.

a. white-collar crimes

b. violent crimes

c. Part I crimes

d. Part II crimes

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The Uniform Crime Report tracks arrest data for 21 Part II crimes, including ______.

a. drunkenness

b. robbery

c. arson

d. human trafficking

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. The Uniform Crime Report reported 16,214 homicides in the United States in 2018. If based on this data, I was to make the claim: “…there were 16,214 murders in the United States in 2018”, why would it be inaccurate?

a. The UCR is known to be full of clerical errors sent in by local police with sloppy records.

b. This number does not include the “dark figure of crime.”

c. Some of the perpetrators of those homicides may be acquitted once they go to trial, so it would be inaccurate to refer to those crimes as murder.

d. Not all perpetrators of homicide will be arrested, and some may escape justice.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Which of the statements is true when comparing and contrasting the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)?

a. The UCR surveys households, while the NCVS collects self-reported crime statistics from police departments.

b. The UCR does not track public order offenses (e.g., public drunkenness), but the NCVS does.

c. The NCVS captures crimes that were not reported to the police, so it is better to examine the dark figure of crime.

d. The UCR is the most accurate because it comes from official police reports instead of self-reported surveys.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. The ______ is an annual survey of a nationally-representative sample of American households.

a. National Perpetrator Survey (NPS)

b. Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

c. General Social Survey (GSS)

d. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which source of data on crime would provide more accurate statistics about the prevalence of sexual assault?

a. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

b. Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

c. Annual Crime Survey (ACS)

d. General Social Survey (GSS)

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The victim’s rights movement and battered women’s movement began in response to the publication of which study?

a. Annual Crime Survey (ACS)

b. National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

c. Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

d. General Social Survey (GSS)

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Which statement is true regarding the use of statistics to engage in claims-making about social problems?

a. There is no way to find out if statistics used by others are accurate.

b. Statistics can be trusted when they are used as evidence to back up an argument.

c. Data was used successfully by the battered women’s movement to get others to recognize that domestic violence was a social problem.

d. UCR statistical crime data is exceptionally accurate.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Why are the number of violent crimes reported in the NCVS higher than the number of violent crimes reported in the UCR?

a. The NCVS has a much larger sample size.

b. The NCVS is less scientifically rigorous than the UCR.

c. The NCVS is less valid than the UCR because it involves self-reports by victims.

d. The NCVS allows victims to report a crime to the researcher, without being required to report a crime to the police.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Which theoretical perspective examines the ways in which social structures create barriers for less-powerful individuals in a society?

a. critical theory

b. intersectionality

c. social disorganization theory

d. strain theory

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. ______ refers to the recognition that life chances are different for different people because of the interaction between race, gender, and class.

a. collusion

b. intersectionality

c. interactionism

d. converging

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. What is the purpose of critical theory?

a. To critique other theoretical perspectives.

b. To utilize critical thinking skills when examining crime.

c. To identify unequal social structures as social problems that must be changed to achieve equality.

d. To integrate different social structures in order to restore social order.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. In 1939, Edwin Sutherland became the first to define a long-overlooked type of crime as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation.” What crime was he defining?

a. street crime

b. high-class crime

c. bourgeoisie crime

d. white-collar crime

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. What category of crimes is responsible for the greatest loss of life every year?

a. white-collar crime

b. street crime

c. gang crime

d. terrorism

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Which theoretical perspective is consistent with the view that powerful corporations escape justice and maintain their power because their malfeasance is ignored by society, while at the same time street crimes are emphasized?

a. criminological theory

b. critical theory

c. functionalism

d. interactionism

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Hard

27. According to critical theorists, why are the wealthy less likely to be searched, arrested, convicted, and incarcerated than the poor?

a. The wealthy are more trustworthy when compared to the poor.

b. Wealthy individuals are less likely to feel financial strain, so they are less likely to commit crimes.

c. The criminal justice system criminalizes the poor in order to allow the wealthy to maintain their dominant position in society.

d. The poor commit more crimes because they are more likely to lack education, leaving them with few legitimate employment options.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. Which criminological theory suggests that crime is a rational decision made by rational individuals seeking to maximize pleasure and minimize pain?

a. social disorganization theory

b. strain theory

c. critical theory

d. classical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Mae has lived in her home for nearly 70 years. It seems that every few years, people move into the community, and move out, and Mae never seems to have time to get to know them. In contrast to the transient population, a few things have remained constant: Her neighborhood’s high crime rate and high poverty rate. What theory can help us understand why crime rates remain the same in Mae’s neighborhood, even though the entire population has changed?

a. social disorganization theory

b. strain theory

c. critical theory

d. classical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Hard

30. Preston has always wanted a fancy sports car, but has never been able to afford to buy one. One day, he walks by his dream car, unlocked with the keys inside. Preston considers stealing the car, but ultimately decides that the risk of ending up in jail is not worth it. What term describes Preston’s thought process as he considered stealing the car?

a. anomic imbalance

b. hedonistic calculus

c. risk/reward decision-making

d. desire principle

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Hard

31. Why would a classical criminologist be opposed to keeping a convicted criminal’s sentence secret from the public?

a. Without transparency, the public may lose faith in the government’s ability to keep them safe.

b. The public needs to know that retribution has been achieved and justice has been served.

c. People need to know what punishment to expect if they commit a crime so that they can weigh the costs and benefits of engaging in criminality.

d. If the sentence is kept secret, people may believe the punishment is too harsh, and will lose trust in the government.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. Why did researchers Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay decide to look for structural causes of criminality in Chicago neighborhoods as opposed to studying individual-level causes?

a. Because the correlation between individual-level causes of criminality had been disproven by the social scientific community.

b. Criminology had yet to develop scientifically sound research methods to study individual-level causes of criminality.

c. The population was too wary of researchers to consent to being research subjects.

d. Crime rates appeared to be tied to location, not people, because crime rates remained constant even when the entire population moved out and new groups of people moved in.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Policies that offered greater financial support for education and a pathway to gainful employment in order to cause a reduction in crime would be consistent with which theory?

a. strain theory

b. social disorganization theory

c. classical theory

d. critical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. Which theory suggests that the solution to crime is to ensure that punishments are certain, swift, and harsh enough to discourage people from choosing to engage in criminality?

a. strain theory

b. social disorganization theory

c. classical theory

d. critical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Richard used to dream of owning a nice house in the suburbs, but after 15 years in a dead-end job, he’s given up. Every morning, Richard leaves his small rented apartment, makes the long commute to work, and clocks in promptly at 8 a.m. to a job he hates. Which typology describes Richard’s mode of adaptation to anomic imbalance?

a. retreatist

b. ritualist

c. innovator

d. conformist

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard

36. Donald felt like he was not making enough money at his job to live a successful life. After following the rules for a while, he eventually became impatient and started embezzling money from the company. Which typology describes Donald’s mode of adaptation to anomic imbalance?

a. retreatist

b. ritualist

c. innovator

d. conformist

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard

37. Barb has always been ambitious. Although sometimes she feels like she’s spinning her wheels, the dream that someday she’ll be able to afford her own home keeps her motivated to work hard. Which typology describes Barb’s mode of adaptation to anomic imbalance?

a. retreatist

b. ritualist

c. innovator

d. conformist

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard

38. Eric failed at everything he ever tried. He failed at school, got in trouble, and joined the military. He began to feel trapped, working hard but getting nowhere. After a messy divorce and a dishonorable discharge from the military, he finally gave up and self-medicated until he developed an opioid addiction. Which typology describes Eric’s mode of adaptation to anomic imbalance?

a. retreatist

b. ritualist

c. innovator

d. conformist

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard

39. A non-profit moved into a low-income, high-crime neighborhood and began working on several programs for the community with the intention of connecting people and helping them restore pride in their community. They assisted people in avoiding getting evicted, set up a neighborhood watch program, and implemented an afterschool tutoring program. What criminological theory would be consistent with this type of solution?

a. strain theory

b. social disorganization theory

c. classical theory

d. critical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Hard

40. Which theory contends that bad neighborhoods where people lack connections are problematic because they cause crime?

a. strain theory

b. social disorganization theory

c. classical theory

d. critical theory

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Violating a folkway will result in the harshest negative sanctions of all types of social norms.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime? Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Taboos are the most serious of all rules, so the breaking of a taboo is also considered illegal behavior.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Mores are norms that are closely related to a society’s ethics and morals.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. If you violate a formal norm known as a law, you are committing a crime.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime? Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The function of laws is to enforce norms within a society.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Case of Murder

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. The most powerful groups in society determine what is—and is not—considered criminal.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Case of Murder

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Deviance becomes criminal when societies create formal sanctions via laws.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. The Thomas Theorem states that “If [people] define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Mistakes in Claim Construction

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Immigrants’ disproportionality commits more crimes than their native-born counterparts.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Mistakes in Claim Construction

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Strain theory refers to the media-facilitated fascination Americans have with violent crime.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The more local news people consume, the greater their fear of becoming a victim of crime.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Research suggests that implicit biases results in police using deadly force against unarmed black individuals at higher rates than whites.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The Uniform Crime Report involves official data released annually that accurately measures all crimes committed in the United States.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) details crimes reported by police departments across the United States

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The dark figure of crime refers to the actual amount of crimes committed, which is higher than the number of crimes reported.

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Social constructionism is a perspective that examines how social structures control the types of opportunities available to individuals, creating inequality.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Intersectionality is a concept that suggests those social structures, and the way in which they intersect to determine our life chances.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. Critical theorists believe that the powerful groups in society maintain their power by criminalizing any groups that could challenge their supremacy.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Discriminatory police tactics are the primary explanation for why there are a disproportionate number of people of color in prisons.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. Although more people die from the effects of white-collar crime, our society tends to pay more attention to street crime.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Criminologists and sociologists who study criminology seek to explain crime by examining root causes.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Problems That Cause Crime

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Strain theorists believe that crime occurs because criminals make rational decisions to engage in deviant behavior.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Classical theorists believe that criminals decide to engage in crime after engaging in hedonistic calculus.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Problems With the Criminal Justice System

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Cesare Beccaria blamed neighborhood disorganization as the underlying cause of crime.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. Social disorganization theory suggests that crime is primarily caused by macro-level factors such as poverty and population transience.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Neighborhood Problems

Difficulty Level: Easy

26. According to Merton, anomic imbalance exists in the United States because most people expect to achieve the American Dream of financial success, but it is very difficult for most people to achieve that dream using the institutionalized means.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. According to Merton, people will experience strain whenever they cannot achieve the culturally approved goals of society while following the institutionalized means.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. Ritualists are people who adapt to strain by accepting the goals of financial success and the institutionalized means of achieving those goals.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Merton claimed that individuals who fall in the “retreatist” typology were often addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Easy

30. Conformists accept both society’s cultural goals, as well as the institutionalized means of achieving those goals.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Name and describe the three types of norms in the order of how harshly an individual would be sanctioned for violating them.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What must happen for a deviant act to be considered criminal?

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. What are the two main sources of statistical crime rates in the United States, and how do they collect their data?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What is the “dark figure of crime”?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What is the difference between Part I crimes and Part II crimes in the Uniform Crime Report?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. How are critical class theory, critical race theory, and critical gender theory connected?

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. What are “cultural goals” and “institutionalized means,” according to Merton’s Strain theory?

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Briefly define classical theory, social disorganization theory, and strain theory. Identify what social problem each theory suggests is the cause of crime.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Problems That Cause Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Norms are shared ideas about what kind of behavior is appropriate and desirable. When someone violates a norm, they are likely to face negative sanctions. However, not all norm violations are punished equally. Define and describe the three types of norms categorized based on how strictly they are enforced with sanctions. Give an example for each norm, and suggest a negative sanction that would be likely to result from violating each norm.

Learning Objective: 9.1: What is the relationship between deviance and crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Distinguishing Deviance and Crime

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is the Thomas Theorem, and how is it relevant to media portrayals of crime?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Mistakes in Claim Construction

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. What is “wound culture”? How is “wound culture” detrimental to individuals in society?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Media

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. How is the “dark figure of crime” relevant to both the Uniform Crime Report and the National Crime Victimization Survey?

Learning Objective: 9.2: How can information about crime be misrepresented, and what are the effects of misrepresentation?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Claims-Making With Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Compare and contrast street crime to white-collar crime, and explain the differences utilizing the critical criminological approach.

Learning Objective: 9.3: What is the relationship among poverty, race, gender, and crime? How can crimes be socially constructed?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Class, Race, Gender, and Critical Criminology

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Define and describe the basic tenants of Merton’s Strain Theory. Examine the different typologies of adaptation and give examples for each.

Learning Objective: 9.4: What social problems cause crime?

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Economic Structures

Difficulty Level: Hard