Chapter 6: Crime and Punishment

When asked why they felt America had a crime problem, more than _____ of survey respondents referred to stories they had seen in the media. Between 1990 and 1998, America's murder rate fell by _____, but during this time, the number of stories about murder airing on network newscasts increased by _____

75% 20% 600%

Which of the following is an example of the deterrent effect?

A person considers selling drugs to earn money, but chooses not to because of the possible penalty

In addition to America's history of racism, which is the best explanation for Americans' fears about crime in relationship to race?

Some media portrayals tap into a collective fear of blackness

It costs about ______ thousand per year to incarcerate a person. This means the United States spends over ______ billion per year on prisons and an additional ______ billion on policing, legal processing, court fees, and all other criminal justice expenses. At the individual level, being an ex-convict means that one's chances of getting a job are reduced by at least ______. Ex-convicts also earn approximately ______ less each year than people with the same job skills and education.

$30 $60 $50 50% 35%

Identify the true and false statements about violence against women.

-3 women are killed by their husbands or boyfriends every day -Approximately 50% of rape victims are assaulted below the age of 18 -25% of all rapes take place on college campuses

Racial conflict unfolded at a high school in Jena, Louisiana, with protests over the "Jena 6." Place the events in the order from first to last.

-A black student sat under the "white tree" -White students hung three nooses on the tree -A group of black students beat a white student unconscious -Black students were charged with attempted murder -Black students were charged with "aggravated battery" and the tennis shoes they wore were considered dangerous weapons

Men in the United States have different likelihoods of going to prison. Drag the demographic group to their corresponding lifetime likelihood of attending prison.

-All men: 1 in 9 -White men: 1 in 17 -Black men: 1 in 3 -Latino men: 1 in 6

Place the racial groups in order from lowest to highest drug usage rates.

-Asian Americans -Hispanics -Whites -Blacks -American Indians

Approximately 50% of ________ are beaten during their lifetimes. Compared with black women, ___________ have almost double the chance of being murdered by an intimate partner. The racial group that is abused the most of any group are _________________. When it comes to sentencing male sex offenders, men receive the lightest penalty when they rape ______________.

-Asian women -white women -Native American women -black women

From 1980 through the early 2000s, the prison population exploded. Identify the reasons for this dramatic increases.

-Drug offenses were given harsher penalties -People who used drugs were more likely to get arrested

Mass incarceration has many costs to society. Which of the following accurately depict these costs?

-Fewer marriages -Higher unemployment

While police have unjustly used deadly force against African Americans, the author cautions us from simply blaming "racist" police and demanding their resignation. Which argument(s) do the authors use to support their position?

-Focusing only on the officers obscures the complexity of these circumstances -Simply attacking the police as racists ignores our complicity in a system that facilitates racially motivated violence

In both politics and the media, Arab people and Americans are often portrayed in us-and-them terms. Identify the true and false statements about this dichotomy and its effects.

-It shows how racial identity can often trump national identity -Arabs are portrayed as freedom-hating and Americans as freedom-loving

Place the countries in order from lowest to highest incarceration rate.

-Norway -China -Russia -United States

Based on evidence in this chapter, we should conclude which of the following?

-People often respond emotionally about race and crime -Politicians sometimes manipulate knowledge about crime for personal gain -Facts often contradict conventional wisdom

Many studies have been conducted that evaluate Americans' perceptions of crime and violence. Which of the following illustrate the findings of these studies?

-Perceived racial composition of a neighborhood is a better predictor of one's fear of crime than the actual crime rate -As the percentage of blacks and Hispanics in a neighborhood increases, fear of crime in that neighborhood increases -Hispanics livings in predominately white areas perceive less crime than Hispanics living in more racially mixed neighborhoods

Which of the following factors help explain why blacks and whites are arrested at such different rates?

-Poor nonwhite neighborhoods have higher rates of violent crime -Cities with larger black populations have more police per resident -Stop and frisk policies target blacks

Between 1880 and 1930, lynch mobs murdered over 2,300 black men, women, and children whom we know of. What were the justifications given for the lynching of black men?

-Sexually assaulting a white woman -Being too uppity -Winking at a white woman

Which of the following help explain why immigrants commit so few crimes?

-The presence of professionals in immigrant neighborhoods -High marriage rates -A code of informal social control

Despite the fact that crime was not considered a major problem, the political focus on crime had many important social impacts. What were some of these effects?

-Voters became more concerned about crime -Federal spending on drug control increased by a factor of 9 -Poverty was essentially made a crime

For every 100,000 black male youth, approximately how many are murdered each year?

52

Between 1925 and 1975, the American prison population averaged around ______ people. By 2000, the prison population had reached ______ people. This represents approximately ______out of every 100,000 people.

150,000 1.4 million 686

Members of each racial group have different likelihoods of being a victim of homicide. In 2008, the victimization ratio for white adults was ____ out of every 100,000 people. For African American adults, the ratio was ____ per 100,000. When we focus on young people (ages 10-24), the victimization ratio for white boys was ____ for every 100,000 people. The comparable rates for Hispanic male youth was _____ and for African American male youth was _____.

4.5 27.8 3 13.5 52

According to a recent Gallup poll, ___ of Americans believe that immigrants make "the crime situation" in America worse. The data shows that as immigration increases, homicide rates _______.

45% decrease

In the 1970s, the prison population started to rise. At that time, experts in the field of criminal justice generally agreed that using the threat of incarceration would be an effective deterrent to crime.

False

Studies have shown that people are more likely to favor harsher punishments to black people convicted of white-collar crimes.

False

The #MeToo movement began in October 2017 as a way to draw attention to sexual harassment in Hollywood.

False

Consider these two scenarios: First, a corporate executive ignores environmental regulations and dumps chemicals near a city's water supply, which results in three deaths. The executive is fired but does not face a criminal trial. Second, a man robs a convenience store and, while trying to escape, he hits a car and kills three people. The man serves 20 years in jail. What doe these difference tell us about criminalization processes?

How we define crime is connected to systems of power

Immigrant women are especially vulnerable to abuse. Indicate why legal requirements exacerbate this problem.

Immigrant women have difficulty documenting partner abuse

Based on the current violence and increasing power of drug cartels in Mexico, what is likely to happen to future immigration into the United States?

Immigrants will continue seeking legitimate jobs in the US

Beginning in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, politicians began focusing on crime as the main problem plaguing America, even though most Americans did not view it as a major problem. Why did they do this?

Politicians wanted to take the energy out of the Civil Rights Movement

Which of the following provides a structural explanation for why a young black man might resort to violence in a ghetto community?

The community is a long distance from legitimate jobs and it is necessary to succeed in the underground economy

For the last 25 years, the United States has experience a drop in crime, which has coincided with the prison boom. Based on existing evidence, which of the following best explains this relationship?

The effect of mass incarceration on crime is weak

Compared with white youth, black youth who live outside predominantly black neighborhoods, have _________ of crime.

The same rates

Identify the true and false statements about racial profiling during traffic stops.

True -African Americans have grown so used to being pulled over by the police that many speak of being stopped on account of DWB: "driving while black" -Black and Hispanic drivers are more likely to be searched, fined, and arrested that are their white counterparts -Many police officers intentionally target blacks and Latinos False -A New Jersey based study found that while the majority or cars searched during traffic stops belonged to white drivers, white drivers were unlikely to be arrested

The American legal system is heavily biased against the poor and people of color. Identify the true and false statements about how this system disadvantages these groups.

True -They are more likely to rely on public defenders -Young black offenders are more likely to be viewed as inherently criminal by their parole officers False -Nonwhite juvenile offenders are less likely to be tried as adults -they are less likely to receive plea deals

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, immigration officials stopped making "voluntary returns," in which someone caught crossing the border illegally would be bussed back across without going through a formal deportation proceeding. What was the impact of this policy change?

Undocumented immigrants were now officially labeled criminals

In the first half of the 1900s, why did the use of convict labor dramatically decrease?

Unions protested it

In the months and years following September 11, non-Arab Americans' interpersonal racism toward Arab Americans ______, and today, the average American is ______ likely to harbor anti-Arab prejudices than in 2001. According to recent polls, _____ of Americans harbor "unfavorable" views of Muslim Americans; _____ believe that Arab Americans are "more sympathetic to terrorists"; and ______ confess to having less trust in Arab Americans after September 11.

grew more 25% 33% 44%

Abner Louima

police beat, tortured, and sodomized him with a broomstick

Amadou Diallo

police believed him to be hold a gun and shot him several times, but he was merely hanging onto his wallet

Sean Bell

police were investigating a strip club, where he was celebrating his last hours as a bachelor; when he walked out, police shot him, his car, and nearby houses