Chapter 6: Processing Women and Girls in the Criminal Legal System

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Responses by criminal legal system officials regarding the handling of alleged suspects, defendants, offenders, and victims are referred to as _______.

A. crime processing

B. crime labeling

C. crime rating

D. crime staging

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Charging an individual with an offense is an example of _______.

A. crime staging

B. crime labeling

C. crime processing

D. crime rating

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Which of the following is an example of a legal characteristic?

A. race and ethnicity

B. sexuality

C. religion

D. severity of offense

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Which of the following is an example of an extralegal characteristic?

A. race and ethnicity

B. accurate evidence

C. prior criminal history

D. severity of the offense

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. What type of variables are considered to be essential elements of judicial decision making and sentencing that have been neglected by both policy and research?

A. demographic

B. cultural

C. legal

D. extralegal

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Court-applied cultural factors that enhance the sentencing outcome to make it more severe/punitive are referred to as _______.

A. aggravating factors

B. mitigating factors

C. moderating factors

D. alleviating factors

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. What type of factors reduces the outcome to one that is less severe/punitive?

A. aggravating

B. consequential

C. disconcerting

D. mitigating

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which hypothesis states that there is no gender discrimination in the crime process?

A. equal treatment

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. chivalry

D. evil woman

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Which hypothesis posits that there is gender discrimination in the criminal legal system against men’s/boys and that they are treated more harshly than women/girls?

A. chivalry

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. equal treatment

D. evil woman

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The _______ hypothesis purports gender discrimination whereby women/girls are treated more harshly than men/boys more by the criminal legal system.

A. chivalry

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. equal treatment

D. evil woman

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which hypotheses would likely be used to explain that a man and woman who committed the same offense were charged the same by the police?

A. equal treatment

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. chivalry

D. evil woman

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Which hypotheses would likely explain that underage girls who drink alcohol are treated less severely than underage drinking boys?

A. equal treatment

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. chivalry

D. evil woman

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. Which hypothesis is consistent with hostile sexism?

A. equal treatment

B. evil woman

C. women’s liberation/emancipation

D. chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Which two hypotheses are considered to be corollaries?

A. chivalry and equal treatment

B. equal treatment and women’s liberation/emancipation

C. women’s liberation/emancipation and evil woman

D. evil woman and chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Mothers receiving worse sentences for the identical child abuse as fathers is an example of _______ decision making.

A. evil woman

B. chivalry

C. women’s liberation/emancipation

D. equal treatment

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. Which corollary to the chivalry hypothesis proposes that women are treated with chivalry in criminal processing, but only when their charges are consistent with stereotypes of female offenders?

A. differential discretion

B. typicality

C. selectivity

D. selective chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. The _______ hypotheses states that criminal legal system chivalrous treatment is racist and disproportionately given to White women/girls.

A. differential discretion

B. typicality

C. selectivity

D. selective chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Comprehensions

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Which corollary of the chivalry hypothesis suggests that chivalrous decision making is more likely in informal decision making, such as charge reduction decisions?

A. differential discretion

B. typicality

C. selectivity

D. selective chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. _______ as a reason for chivalry is the assumption that women are more dependent than men on their spouses, and children are more dependent on their mothers than their fathers, therefore, women are less likely to recidivate than men.

A. Blameworthiness

B. Risk

C. Practical constraint

D. Consequences

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Benevolent sexism and hostile sexism are related to which concept?

A. evil woman

B. transinstitutionalization

C. women’s liberation/emancipation

D. bargaining with the patriarchy

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Which of the following protects and rewards women/girls for traditionally feminine and gender appropriate appearance and behaviors?

A. hostile sexism

B. benevolent sexism

C. ambivalent sexism

D. religious sexism

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Hard

22. Sexism that punishes women/girls deemed as assuming masculine roles, agency, and power is referred to as ______.

A. hostile sexism

B. benevolent sexism

C. ambivalent sexism

D. religious sexism

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. Research shows that ______ women are more likely to be incarcerated in their lifetimes than the others.

A. Latinx

B. White

C. Black

D. Indigenous

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Legacy of Racism and Confounding Measures of Race/Ethnicity

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Race/ethnicity is mismeasured in which of the following ways?

A. Official data measure African American as an ethnicity and separate from race.

B. Criminologists overrepresent Indigenous children and adults in their research.

C. Asian Americans are rarely included in studies on offending and victimization.

D. Victims’ and defendants’ race/ethnicity is not regularly recorded by officials.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Legacy of Racism and Confounding Measures of Race/Ethnicity

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. The history of raising victim age in statutory rape law in the late 1800s and early 1900s is an example of which form of gender discrimination in criminal law?

A. implementing and applying gender-specific laws

B. applying gender-neutral laws differently to women/girls than men/boys

C. applying gender-neutral laws in a manner that values one gender’s victimization more seriously than others

D. implementing and applying some gender-specific and some gender-neutral laws

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Hard

26. The statutory rape laws were disproportionately applied to ______ men and boys.

A. Latinx

B. African American

C. White

D. Indigenous

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. The second form of gender discrimination in criminal laws is best illustrated by ______.

A. sex work laws

B. statutory rape laws

C. third strike laws

D. death penalty laws

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. The White female effect is in part due to which of the following?

A. religious bias

B. media bias

C. political bias

D. cultural bias

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. A recent study found that deathworthiness was mostly attributed to a victim’s ______.

A. gender

B. age

C. race

D. class

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Easy

30. The history of _______ is an example of benevolent sexism.

A. mandatory sentencing

B. determinate sentencing

C. split sentence sentencing

D. indeterminate sentencing

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Muncy Act and Legacy in Indeterminate Criminal Sentencing Laws

Difficulty Level: Hard

31. In State v. Chambers (1973), the New Jersey State Supreme Court struck down indeterminate sentencing on the grounds that such decision making violated the equal protection of which amendment?

A. Sixth

B. Eighth

C. Fourteenth

D. Nineteenth

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Muncy Act and Legacy in Indeterminate Criminal Sentencing Laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. Behaviors that are only offenses if committed by youth are referred to as _______.

A. infractions

B. felonies

C. status offenses

D. misdemeanors

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Reforms in the Processing of Youthful Defendants as Status Offenders

Difficulty Level: Easy

33. Skipping school is an example of a(n) _______.

A. status offense

B. infraction

C. felonies

D. misdemeanors

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Reforms in the Processing of Youthful Defendants as Status Offenders

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. The stages of the criminal legal system are typically assumed to start with ______.

A. parents

B. police

C. schools

D. peers

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Non-Status Offense Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Which of the following was identified as a pseudo-stage of the criminal legal system?

A. parents

B. police

C. church

D. peers

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Non-Status Offense Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Hard

36. Research consistently finds that girls are at greater risk of having their parents/guardians turn them in primarily for committing ______.

A. status offenses

B. infractions

C. misdemeanors

D. felonies

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Non-Status Offense Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Easy

37. In their study, Tracy and colleagues (2009) found that while court referrals steadily increased from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s for both genders, girls’ referrals stabilized while boys’ markedly decreased then stabilized. This finding supports which hypothesis?

A. women’s liberation/emancipation

B. evil woman

C. chivalry

D. equal treatment

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Delinquency Studies that Account for Gender but Not Gender–Race Intersections

Difficulty Level: Medium

38. Which of the following marked the move from rehabilitation to further criminalization of youth since the 1980s?

A. after care

B. blended sentencing

C. transfer waiver

D. diversion program

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Transferring Youths to Adult Court

Difficulty Level: Hard

39. Which of the following statements pertaining to transferring youth to adult court is true?

A. Youth waivers to adult/criminal court are highly gendered.

B. Juvenile waivers are common.

C. Waivers are reserved and only used for the very serious cases.

D. Youth who are transferred and convicted receive similar stances that situated adults.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Transferring Youths to Adult Court

Difficulty Level: Hard

40. Which administration characterized African American boys as “superpredators?”

A. Carter

B. Bush

C. Clinton

D. Regan

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Transferring Youths to Adult Court

Difficulty Level: Easy

41. Research on gender bias regarding the decision to incarcerate overwhelmingly supports which hypothesis?

A. equal treatment

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. evil woman

D. chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Trial and Posttrial Decisions

Difficulty Level: Medium

42. Which hypothesis is also applicable to factors such as sexual minority and immigration status?

A. differential discretion

B. typicality

C. selectivity

D. chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Chivalry Remains Complicated

Difficulty Level: Hard

43. Research indicates that men’s sentencing is more likely than women’s to be impacted by what type of variables?

A. prior record and offense seriousness

B. race and ethnicity

C. marital status

D. socioeconomic status

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Chivalry Remains Complicated

Difficulty Level: Medium

44. Which stereotype is used to justify harsher punishments for African American women/girl?

A. virile

B. amenable

C. cooperate

D. docile

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race/Ethnicity

Difficulty Level: Medium

45. According to the author, an overwhelming amount of research supports the ______ hypothesis.

A. differential discretion

B. typicality

C. selectivity

D. selective chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Race/Ethnicity

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. The finding that courts stereotype mental illness as diminishing women’s capacity and enhancing men’s future dangerousness likelihood is consistent with which reason for criminal legal system chivalry?

A. consequences

B. practical constraints

C. blameworthiness

D. risk

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Class, Age, Mental Health, and Employment Status

Difficulty Level: Hard

47. Selective chivalry typically focuses on ______.

A. age

B. race

C. gender

D. class

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Class, Age, Mental Health, and Employment Status

Difficulty Level: Medium

48. The disproportionately harsh actions taken against sexual minority status girls/women are consistent with which hypothesis?

A. equal treatment

B. women’s liberation/emancipation

C. evil woman

D. chivalry

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Sexual Minority Status (SMS)

Difficulty Level: Medium

49. Some research found that ______ was a protective factor regarding recidivism.

A. marital status

B. familied status

C. sexual minority status

D. mental health status

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marital Status

Difficulty Level: Easy

50. Some criminal legal system decision-making research found that being ______ helped women, but not men defendants.

A. single

B. divorced

C. separated

D. married

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marital Status

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Most people agree that extralegal characteristics should impact the decisions of criminal legal system officials.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Mitigating factors are those that reduce the outcome to less server/punitive.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. The equal treatment hypothesis states that there is no gender discrimination in crime processing.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The typicality hypothesis states that CLS chivalrous treatment is racist and disproportionately given to White women/girls.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hypotheses of Gender Discrimination in the CLS

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. The three reasons offered for chivalry by Jeffries and Bond (2013) are blameworthiness, risk, and practical constraints and consequences.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Hostile sexism protects and rewards women/girls for traditionally feminine and gender-“appropriate” appearance and behaviors.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Feminists argue that benevolent sexism is not benign.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Chivalry Is Complicated

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Gender-neutral laws are written so that no differentiation is made regarding the applicability to women/girls versus men/boys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Criminal Laws and Gender Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Historically, most laws have been gender-specific.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Criminal Laws and Gender Discrimination

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Deathworthiness is most attributed to victims’ race than gender.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Three Means of Gender Discrimination in Criminal Laws

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The 1813 Muncy Act of Pennsylvania is likely the most famous example of gender discrimination in sentencing.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Muncy Act and Legacy in Indeterminate Criminal Sentencing Laws

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. The disproportionate treatment of girls for status offenses by the juvenile courts is strongly linked to a double standard for girls and boys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Reforms in the Processing of Youthful Defendants as Status Offenders

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Youth face one often-ignored pseudo-stage of the criminal legal system before the police: school.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Non-Status Offense Delinquency

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. A primary change marking the move from rehabilitating to further criminalizing youth since the 1980s was the youth waiver policies.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Transferring Youths to Adult Court

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Regardless of race, transfer cases are far more punitive for youth of color, particularly African American youth.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Transferring Youths to Adult Court

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Sentencing departures allow judges under certain situations to decrease or increase the sentence prescribed in the determinate sentencing guideline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sentencing Guideline Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Defendants with family responsibilities, particularly children, are more likely to benefit from sentencing departures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sentencing Guideline Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Homicide research typically supports evil woman hypothesis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Homicide

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Research found that being married helped both men and women defendants.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Marital Status

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. Laws criminalizing pregnancy have been almost exclusively directed at poor women of color.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Familied Status

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Explain the difference between aggravating factors and mitigating factors.

2. Discuss the factors that need to be considered in order to determine whether gender bias occurs in crime process.

3. Explain the differences between gender-neutral and gender-specific laws?

4. Explain penal coloniality.

5. Identify some of the ways in which race/ethnicity is mismeasured.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Legacy of Racism and Confounding Measures of Race/Ethnicity

Difficulty Level: Medium