criminal justice quiz 2

What are the four reasons for why we should study crime?

1. understanding crime helps prevent it

2. crime explanations help criminologists understand their research findings

3. crime explanations guide criminal justice researchers who are testing specific theories

4. beliefs about the causes of crime influence individual behaviors in the criminal justice system

According to Cesare Beccaria, punishment must have what three qualities to deter criminal behavior? Which of the three is the most important?

certain, swift, and proportionate to deter criminal behavior, and the most important quality is certainty; meaning that the probability of being caught and punished for a crime must be high, regardless of the severity of the punishment

What are situational crime prevention strategies?

premised on the idea that crime prevention measures should be tailored to those factors that lead to or contribute to specific types of crime

views natural selection as producing aggression and points to the way that all animals are capable of being aggressive

evolutionary theory

centers on the impact of physical anomalies, prenatal health issues, and birth complications

obstetrics explanations

suggests that those with autonomic nervous system deficits who live in a disadvantaged environment are at the highest risk for antisocial behavior

biosocial arguments

is supported by research showing that individuals with frontal lobe cortex damage in their brains are more prone to be aggressive and impulsive

neurological theories

points to differences in hormonal levels and the influence of hormones on behavior

hormonal theory

what is life-course-persistent offender theory?

offenders offend throughout their adolescence and adulthood

What are Robert Sampson and Bryon Groves’ three dimensions of social disorganization theory that promote or inhibit crime?

low economic status, ethnic heterogeneity, and residential mobility

What is the middle-class measuring rod? how does being lower class relate to crime?

he standards and values of the middle class, which are used to evaluate individuals, particularly lower-class youth, by authority figures like teachers and employers

higher crime rates in lower-class communities due to economic deprivation, lack of resources, and limited opportunities

what is the code of the street? why do ‘decent’ families engage in crime?

a set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior, particularly violence, within disadvantaged communities

what is anomie? what does Robert Merton say about the link between conventional goals, legitimate means, and crime?

a condition in which the individual feels a disconnect from society due to the breakdown or absence of social norms

societal pressures, particularly when individuals lack access to legitimate means for achieving culturally valued goals, can lead to crime

under life course theory, what are trajectories and what are transitions?

trajectories- pathways or lines of development through life

transitions- short-term events embedded in trajectories which may include starting a new job, getting married, having a child, or being sentenced to prison

what is self-control theory?

Refers to a theory that asserts that individuals commit crime because of weak bonds to societal institutions

what is the stability hypothesis?

levels of self-control are stable throughout one’s life after early childhood

what are the original techniques of neutralizations described by Gresham Sykes and David Matza?

denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and appeal to higher loyalties

what are the four dimensions of Ronald Akers’ differential association-reinforcement theory?

differential association

definitions

differential reinforcement

imitation

under learning theory, what is primary deviance and secondary deviance?

primary deviance- refers to acts of deviance when no public labeling results from the deviance

secondary deviance- recognizes the effect that being labeled has on self-perceptions and refers to behavior that occurs because an individual has already been labeled as deviant

What is correlation

The relationship between two measurements or behaviors that tend to move in the same direction

what is causation

The relationship in which a change in one measurement of behavior creates a recognizable change in another measurement or behavior 

what type of theorists believe that crime is an expression of a person’s rational decision-making processes

choice theory

what is the belief that criminal behavior is determined by biological, psychological, and social forces and is beyond the control of the individual

Positivism

What is the “warrior gene” and in what ways can it increase the risk for violent behavior?

Males who possessed a mutant copy of the MAOA gene were abnormally aggressive

According to Jessica Reyes, what factor is responsible for half of the drop in violent crime in generations born since the late 1970s?

A reduction in childhood lead exposure 

According to Jeffrey Swanson and colleagues, gun violence would decrease by what percent once mental illness is eliminated? According to James Knoll and George Annas, what percent of all gun homicides in this country are committed by people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness?

4%

What is psychoanalytic theory? What are the three abstract systems that interact with the brain under this theory?

• Sigmund Freud’s theory that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives 

• The id, ego, and the superego

According to Shaw and McKay, what is a disorganized zone? What were the factors that led to high crime in these zones?

• A breakdown of the traditional institutions of social control such as family, school systems, and local businesses 

• High levels of high school dropouts, chronic unemployment, deteriorating buildings and other infrastructures, significant concentrations of single-parent families

What theory asserts that people adapt to the values of the subculture to which they belong? What do subcultures form in disorganized neighborhoods?

Cultural deviance theory 

What is the social reality of crime? In the nineteenth century, what were the majority of female inmates incarcerated for?

The theory that criminal laws are designed by those in power to help them keep power at the expense of those who do not have power 

Crimes against moral codes 

According to an analysis of 24 studies involve 17,000 adolescents from around the world, what did researchers find regarding exposure to violent video games?

Exposure to violent video games does correlate with increased physical aggression

According to Janet Lauritsen, what is the relationship between having a single-parent household, neighborhood disorganization, and criminal victimization?

Adolescents from single-parent homes who lived in highly disorganized neighborhoods were victimized at much higher rates than their counterparts in more stable locales 

What did the Supreme Court decide in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA)?

In the absence of any provable negative effects on minors from violent video games, the Court ruled that California’s ban was unconstitutional and therefore could not be enforced

What are psychotherapeutics, cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin? According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, about how many Americans use these illegal drugs each year?

• Psychotherapeutics- prescription drugs used for nonmedical purposes. 

• Cocaine- commonly snorted as a powder, though it can be injected 

• Hallucinogens- category that includes LSD, mescaline and PCP. known for their “psychedelic” effects, which cause users to experience reality in a distorted state

• Heroin- most commonly injected directly into the user’s veins, though it can be snorted or smoked

About what percent of first-time users of illegal drugs do NOT go on to become dependent on illicit drugs?

32 million Americans report using an illegal drug at least once in the previous 12 months 

What is dopamine? How are its levels affected by drug use and the cessation of drug use?

The neurotransmitter responsible for delivering pleasure signals to brain nerve endings in response to behavior. The greater amounts of any particular drug are required to create the amount of dopamine needed for the same levels of pleasure

What did the National Institute of Health find regarding the relationship between D2s and addiction

people with fewer receptors (D2s) are more likely to have a greater craving for the stimulating effects of drugs

What are synthetic drugs?

have slightly altered chemical structures that increase both their potency and lethality (fentanyl)

With regards to the controversy of drug legalization, what is diversion?

What is focused deterrence?

What did Marvin Wolfgang, Robert Figlio, and Thorsten Sellin in Delinquency in a Birth Cohort find

What happened when California tested the recidivism rates of ex-prisoners over the age of 30? How does that compare to the state average?