Societies 0005 study guide (exam 1) (Reiman) (Extended)

University of Pittsburgh class societies with Epitropoulos

Which of the following portrays the categorization of "typical historic evolution of deviant behavior?"

**sin a crime a illness**

The notion that there is always a real threat of crime, and that it is primarily perpetrated by the poor serves to:

a) maintain the status quo

b) deflect discontent downward

c) challenge authority

**d) A and B**

Collective definitions society applies to certain problems and their solutions; social products of telling and re-telling crime-related fictions and sensational stories are known as:

a) media hype

b) crime stories

**c) crime myths**

d) social mores

What is the monthly report by every police chief in the country that is submitted to the FBI?

**Uniform Crime Report (UCR)**

In 2012, the average American taxpayer making $50,000 per year paid\____ towards the food stamp program, compared to \____ a year in subsidies to companies

a) 10,000/1,000

b) 1,700/8,000

**c) 36/6,000**

d) 6,000/36

Some argue that eliminating welfare would decrease crime and would force people to get good-paying jobs. The problem with this argument is:

a) welfare discourages marriage

b) welfare makes people lazy

**c) good-paying jobs aren't plentiful**

d) lack of father role models

In the objections raised by the current criminal justice system, it is argued that someone who purposely harms another is more evil than someone who harms another without aiming to. What is Reiman's reaction to this?

a) the CEO acts just as purposefully as the mugger and so both should be treated criminally

b) If the harm is the same, the charges should be the same

**c) even if a mugger acts purposefully and the CEO acts less purposefully, it doesn't justify refusing to treat the CEO criminally**

d) even if the mugger acts purposely and the CEO acts intentionally, it doesn't justify treating the perpetrators the same way

Concerning injuries and deaths due to unsafe work conditions, 'Defenders' say that by accepting that job, you 'consent' to the risks of that job. Reiman implies that 'free consent' is overestimated because:

**a) you can consent only if you know about the risk**

b) you cannot consent to risks without someone being liable

c) there is not equal power to negotiate risk taking

d) Reiman fully accepts this objection

Reiman characterizes the US criminal justice system as criminal because it cannot equally protect the rights/interests of \________ and because it does not equally punish \______

a) the poor/the rich

b) the rich/the poor

**c) all/all**

d) the rich/the rich

Some of the major excuses for high rates of crime include:

a) we're too soft on crime

b) its inevitable due to modern life

c) we don't know

**d) all of the above**

The social construction of crime refers to:

a) ongoing debates over street crime versus corporate crime

b) the natural evolution of crime over time

**c) the active creation of our criminal justice system, including definitions of what is criminal**

d) the belief that crime is something fixed and unchanging

At some point in their life, approximately 1 in 3 African American men will:

**be incarcerated**

Weeding out of the wealthy begins at:

**a) arrest**

b) profiling

c) sentencing

d) incarceration

\_____ play(s) a critical role in upholding the criminal justice system, making biases in the system invisible and institutions appear to be neutral.

a) Excuses

**b) Ideology**

c) Power

d) Corruption

One way to improve fairness and promote a more just legal system would be to:

**a) reduce the discretionary powers available to police officers, prosecutors and judges**

b) provide equal representation under the law

c) decriminalize all drugs

d) decrease mandatory sentences for arms possession

As with medicine's concern with defining illness, Reiman's central issue is:

a) dealing with pseudo-crimes

b) dealing with white collar crimes

**c) defining crime**

d) deconstruction of deviance

\_____ kill more people, injure more people, and steal more money and property from people than \________

***a) white collar crimes/street crimes***

b) street crimes/white collar crimes

c) large corporations/gangsters

Capitalist societies have which characteristics below that increase pressure to commit crimes?

a) no guarantee of living conditions

b) degradation and humiliation of poor people

c) encourages greedy behavior

d) a and b

**e) all of the above**

Because profit is considered a legitimate goal, and poverty represents greed and laziness, the image of crime in our society as being the work and threat of the poor is:

**distorted**

Since the War on Drugs began, crime and drug use has generally decreased

**false**

which of the following are considered victim-less crimes?

a) drug use

b) prostitution

c) seat belt violations

**d) all of the above**

e) none of the above - there are no victimless crimes

How do capitalist societies increase the pressure to commit crimes?

1. **no guarantee of decent living conditions**
2. **encourages greedy behavior**
3. **degrades and demeans poor people**

this is socially constructed (defined and created by society)

**definition of crime/criminal**

What are the four sources of crime according to Reiman?

1. **Inequality/Poverty**
2. **Prisons**
3. **Guns**
4. **Current drug policies**

What does Reiman say are the 4 excuses for our criminal justice failures?

1. **We're too soft on crime**
2. **Modern life/modernity**
3. **Youth**
4. **We don't know`**

This plays a critical role in upholding the criminal justice system making biases in the system invisible and institutions appear to be neutral

**Ideology**

Reducing discretionary power available to police, prosecutors and judges

**What are the methods of improving the criminal justice system?**

How does Reiman say the United States should reduce crime that (re)produces poverty?

1. **provide high quality education**
2. **invest in inner cities**
3. **provide better access to job training**

What should prisons do for those incarcerated, according to Reiman?

**Promote personal responsibility and prepare those incarcerated for post-release life**

The term for "habitual relapse into crime"

**recidivism**

the monthly report field by every police chief in the USA to the FBI

**Uniform Crime Report**

Who/what creates the image of crime in our society?

**Legislators, police and prosecutors, judges and juries, the media**

Reiman says that more police and more prisons would do what?

**More police and more prisons would be a failure for the criminal justice system**

Based on our US federal budget, Americans are more eager to give to \________ and cut from the \________.

**rich and corporations / poor and needy**

What kind of crime kills more people, hurts more people, and takes more money & property from people?

**white-collar crimes**

The emphasis in our society on gang violence over corporate fraud is an example of what concept from Reiman?

**"carnival mirror"**

In 2012, the average taxpayer making $50,000 paid how much per year in subsidies to corporations?

**$6,000**

What are the wealthy more likely to be weeded out of the *conviction* process?

**They can afford hiring a lawyer instead of relying on a public defender**

White-collar crimes cost the US this much money annually

**486 billion**

This western democracy has a MUCH higher rate of murder (lethal violence) than other western democracies

**US**

Who did the "war on drugs" target?

**poor people and people of color**

Why would eliminating welfare NOT help with decreasing crime?

**Well-paying jobs are not readily available/hard to come by**

What is the issue of "double discrimination" in death penalty sentencing?

**race of victim and perpetrator:**

**Black perpetrators more likely to receive death sentences, cases with black victims less likely to result in death penalties**

A disproportionate number of people in the US are arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced to longer terms in prison because of this (according to Reiman)

**class bias**

This represents a threat to our lives, limbs and properties

**crime**

What does Reiman say is the BEST way to reduce crime?

**reducing poverty**

Most connections that can be made between welfare programs and crimes focus on:

**a) Youth crime**

b) White-collar crime

c) Public nuisances

d) Marijuana and alcohol

Welfare money does all of the following except:

a) Allow poor people to survive

b) Bolster the economy as a whole through increased buying power

**c) Hurts local small businesses**

University of Maryland research has demonstrated a "double-discrimination" in death penalty cases because there is a correlation between \______ and \_________ that affects death penalty sentencing

**race of victim/race of offender**

Reiman claims there is a class bias in the US criminal justice system based on empirical data showing a disproportionate number of poor people are:

a) Arrested

b) Charged

c) Convicted

d) Sentenced to longer terms

**e) All of the above**

Reiman calls for legalization of the sale and use of illicit drugs, while treating addiction as a medical illness

true or false?

**true**

As far as prison goes, Reiman argues the system should

**a) Promote personal responsibility and prepare them for post release life**

b) Punish the offender regardless of class so that it discourages recidivism

According to Reiman, the high rates of crime in our society can mostly be attributed to:

a) Policies that are not tough enough on crime

**b) Inequality in society**

c) Cutbacks to police pensions

d) Need for private prison reforms

Although legislators may be the ones to define crime, it is the \______ who decide whom to charge

a) Judges and juries

**b) Police and prosecutors**

c) Sentencing judges

d) All of the above

The emphasis placed in our society on gang warfare rather than corporate fraud is an example of

a) Pyrrhic defeat theory

b) double jeopardy

c) weeding out

**d) carnival mirror**

Wealthy more likely to be weeded out of the conviction process because they have

***a) the funds to obtain legal counsel other than a public defender***

b) funds to bribe juries

c) connections with politicians

d) funds to clean up their appearance

\________ are supposed to represent threats to life, limb and property:

a) deviant acts

b) sins

**c) crimes**

d) illnesses

Reiman identifies four (4) known sources of crime. Which one below is NOT one of them?

a) inequality

b) prison

**c) evil**

d) guns)

e) gun policy

Reiman's argument is that with regards to crime, our society:

***a) Refuses to address sources of crime***

b) Only focuses on gun control

c) Only focuses on war on drugs

d) Is not much different than the rest of the industrialized world