Exam 1 Review Questions

Cards (54)

  • What is the difference between violence and criminal violence?
    Criminal violence attempts to create harm against another person, but animal violence etc does not.
  • Three different ways criminal law is made?
    • What is right and wrong
    • Use of political and economic power to protect their interests
    • The social construction of violence
  • What is meant by social construction of violence?
    We perceive violence differently as a result from interactions with others.
  • Explain the important of the research on the "razor blade in the apple"
    No one says it is illegal to put a razor blade in Halloween candy, but it is not an appropriate thing to do.
  • Criminology and criminal justice similarities
    • Justice refers to the system
    • Criminology focuses on the offenders and their behaviors
  • What is meant by "clearing" an offense and how does that affect research on offenders?
    • Clearing means someone is arrested and taken to court
    • We only know the offenders of the cleared cases, not the unsolved ones.
  • Video - crime measurement and limitations of official data
    • Only crimes reported to the police are in the system
  • Video - why we should be cautious when looking at arrest data?
    • Someone can be arrested but that's not the person who committed the crime
    • Social class is not in data
  • Video - how perceptions of crime and arrests are influenced by race?
    • Blacks are more likely to be perceived as criminals
    • 3.7 times more likely to get arrested
    • More likely to be pulled over for no reason
  • UCR and NIBRS similarities
    • They both find similar levels of violent crime
    • Both uses the 4 crimes
    • Both are run by the FBI
  • UCR and NIBRS differences
    • NIBRS do not use the hierarchy rule
    • The crime categories are different between the two
  • UCR limitations
    • Reporting is voluntary
    • Crime is unfounded if not reported
    • Using the hierarchy rule: the worst crime gets recorded
    • Administrative issues
  • NIBRS limitations
    • Some cities are still working on transitioning from old reporting system
  • UCR limitations of official data?
    • Based on police reports
    • Only arrest data from part II crimes
    • Data is reported monthly
  • NIBRS limitations on official data
    • ?
  • NCVS strengths
    • Captures crimes not known to the police
    • Victim, household, offender characteristics
    • Provides incident details
  • NCVS weaknesses
    • Limited range of crimes
    • Over-reporting
    • Social and interview effect could affect answers
    • Lies are possible
    • Interviewer cannot go to police after finding out about a crime
  • What is clearance rate?
    • Refers to a person being arrested
  • What are exceptional clearances?
    • Identified the offender
    • Gathered enough evidence to support an arrest
    • Identified exact location of offender
    • Identified something that made an arrest impossible
  • Differences between crude and specific rates?
    • Crude rates
    • Total number of event divided by mid-year population
    • Specific rates
    • Real number
  • Describe the historical trends of violence in the US as it relates to issues of race. 
    • Native people's displacement
    • Slavery and economy in the South
    • Civil war
    • Social banditry
    • Prohibition and organized crimes
  • Why is it difficult to compare homicide rates over time and across countries?  What data are used to make historical? 
    • Limited details
    • Cultural and legal definition differences
    • Only data from developed countries
  • Relationship between white and natives
    • Whites forced native people to relocate
  • Trail of the Tears significance
    • Getting native people land until gold was discovered
    • Then forced out of their land on foot
  • Violent nature of slavery
    • The need for cheap labor
    • Slaves were portraid as animals
    • Restrictions and fear of killing the white master
    • Gap between blacks and whites grew less clear after Civil war and violence increased
  • Lynching, where and why?
    • Race relations changed
    • Blacks wanted to win back what they had lost in war
    • Occurred mostly in the southern US
  • Violence in urban areas?
    • Higher rates of report
    • More inequalities with lots of people in the area
    • Rates are hard to tell because there is no data
  • Impersonalization of homicide
    • Homicides back in time were more personal and the two people more likely knew each other
  • Why did social banditry become popular?
    • Most people did not grow wealthy after industrial revolution
    • Increase of gangs because of young men trained in arms
    • Southern population was left to find their own way after war
  • Prohibition
    • Transportation in secret because alcohol was illegal, lots of money involved
    • Other types of alcohol had to be found (and stolen)
    • Alcohol consumption declined but deaths increased
  • Why is the homicide rate in the US so much higher than in other similar countries?
    • Access to firearms
    • More likely to use a firearm to harm another person
  • Video - why were the Indian Nations forced from their lands?
    • Americans should be able to establish themselves on Indian lands
  • Video - what was the ruling of the Supreme Court? 
    • The Georgia tribe was removed by force despite their efforts
  • Video why is the forced march called the Trail of Tears? 
    • Food provided by the government was rotten
    • Many people died on the trails
    • Cold weather didn't make it easier
  • Video - what happened at Sand Creek?
    • Gold was discovered in that land and white people wanted it
    • "Hostile" Indians were killed by volunteers, no soldiers to spare because of the Civil war
  • Video - why does Burns say it so important the plaque reads massacre instead of battle?
    • It was a massacre because of racism
    • Fought by "federal soldiers" aka volunteers
  • Video - what were the intended consequences of Prohibition? Were they reached?
    • Poverty and domestic violence should decrease
    • It was said that alcohol was the root of problems
    • A better social life was the hope
    • They were not reached
  • Video - what were the unintended consequences of Prohibition?   
    • Organized crime increased - illegal selling and transporting
    • Increased consumption of illegal alcohol as well as increase in alcohol related deaths
  • Video - how did prohibition encourage violence?
    • It encouraged organized crimes and gang violence
  • What are the most common demographic characteristics of homicide offenders (e.g., sex, race, and age)?
    • Men age 18-24
    • White and black 50/50 (?)