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MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What is the term for sociological theories that focus primarily upon an individual’s
socioeconomic standing to explain crime?
a. social process theories
b. social structure theories
c. social control theories
d. labeling theories
2. A general argument posited by feminists regarding serial murder is that women are
usually selected as victims because of their _____.
a. powerlessness
b. sexuality
c. race
d. social class
3. Gunn, in her research on social class and serial murder, found that adult male victims
are selected by social-class standing, whereas adult female victims are selected on the
basis of their _____.
a. sexuality
b. financial standing
c. gender
d. race
4. These theories contend that criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process.
a. social process theory
b. social structure theory
c. social control theory
d. labeling theory
5. According to Bandura, how can aggressive and violent behavior be substantially
reduced?
a. providing appropriate non-violent role models
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b. physically punishing children for aggressive behavior
c. allowing children to blow off steam in socially acceptable ways
d. controlling the sale of guns and weapons in our society
6. According to researchers, what is the social learning of violence a direct result of?
a. being victimized
b. biological influences
c. gun ownership
d. viewing violence
7. What does the “coercive cycle” refer to?
a. parents learning abusive parenting techniques from their parents, then carrying them
out with their own children
b. the revolving door of our punitive criminal justice system that perpetuates violent
crime
c. the sexual exploitation of children
d. foster children being moved from one abusive family to the next that often leads them
to become abusers themselves
8. How does Miller refer to “soul murder” in her book For Your Own Good?
a. the horrible effects of being raised in an abusive foster home
b. extraordinary beatings and sexual abuses of young children by parents and relatives
c. the desire of some serial killers to not only kill children but to first destroy them
emotionally
d. the effect of pervasive violence within our penal system that precludes criminals from
ever being rehabilitated
9. As children at risk become adolescents, some of them will find themselves engaged
in what Goffman referred to as _____ or places where routine degradation processes
are the norm for stripping away individualism in order for conformity, compliance, and
altruism to flourish.
a. partial institutions
b. state institutions
c. social institutions
d. total institutions
10. What do Hirschi’s four elements of the social bond include?
a. alliances, involvement, participation, and belief
b. attachment, participation, cooperation, and regulation
c. attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief
d. alliances, commitment, cooperation, and regulation
11. How does Becker describe “moral entrepreneurs?”
a. people who create rules
b. religious zealots
c. persons who exploit those with moral values
d. persons who punish others for not sharing their same values
12. Less than _____ of all homicides in the United States are committed by juveniles.
a. 59 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 1 percent
d. 10 percent
13. According to Brown, et al., what is the culture of honor hypothesis?
a. It describes a thinking disorder that is difficult to treat.
b. Habitual criminals who are honorable experience internal conflicts when committing
crimes.
c. States that place high regard on social status and strength in regards to one‘s
property, reputation, and family will have higher rates of violence and aggression than
states classified as non-culture-of-honor states.
d. An idea that describes organized civil disobedience.
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14. Who perpetrates the most mass murders in grammar schools, junior high, and high
schools?
a. pre-pubescent juveniles
b. teenagers
c. adults
d. teachers
15. What are the four types of juvenile killers that Myers identified in his study?
a. explosive, predatory, revenge, displaced matricide
b. explosive, predatory, revenge, displaced patricide
c. calm, predatory, revenge, displaced matricide
d. explosive, rational, revenge, displaced matricide
16. What are the three categories of offenders that Kirby classified?
a. primary juvenile offenders, secondary juvenile offenders, and tertiary juvenile
offenders
b. primary juvenile offenders, maturing juvenile offenders, and secondary juvenile
offenders
c. maturing juvenile offenders, mature juvenile offenders, adult offenders
d. juvenile offenders, adult offenders, and elderly offenders
17. This killer of 10 victims, including his grandparents and mother, explained that “he
was killing his mother all along.”
a. Craig Price
b. Eric Harris
c. Richard A.
d. Ed Kemper
18. Which of the following is not part of the MacDonald Triad?
a. fire-setting
b. animal cruelty
c. burglary
d. enuresis
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19. Which of the following statements is correct?
a. Children who are physically or sexually abused seem to mimic their mistreatment on
their companion animals.
b. For a mistreated child, power and dominance is preferable to the plight of
helplessness.
c. Animal cruelty may signify a child’s preoccupation with death and that the child may
be rehearsing their own suicide.
d. Cruelty to animals during childhood occurs much more often among aggressive
criminals than among non-aggressive criminals or non-criminals.
20. What should parents or guardians do when children are cruel to animals, according
to Margaret Mead and other researchers?
a. never punish or discipline the child as they are already traumatized
b. always hold the child responsible through discipline
c. never hold the child responsible through punishment
d. always report such abuse to local authorities
21. What does Price & Dodge’s intention-cue detection refer to?
a. attributional bias
b. reformational bias
c. fire-setting behavior
d. conduct disorder
22. What does Patterson’s “coercive family interaction patterns” suggest about abused
children over time?
a. start fires in order to kill their abusers
b. report the abuse to authorities
c. rebel against the abuse
d. view abuse as normal
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23. What percentage of the time is a child’s enuresis considered to be a “red flag” of
something more serious?
a. 10
b. 20
c. 40
d. 50
24. According to Fineman’s typologies of fire-setters, which of the following most closely
resembles the profile of certain types of serial killers?
a. cry for help
b. delinquent
c. anti-social
d. revenge
25. Hickey, in his Fresno Juvenile Fire study, noted all of the following about children
who set fires except _____.
a. They are more frequently spanked or isolated from others than non-fire-setters.
b. They report bad experiences at home.
c. Their families often face financial problems, family restructuring, or relocation.
d. They often grow up to be arsonists.
26. According to Hickey, what is the most likely explanation for serial murder?
a. organic brain pathology
b. childhood traumatization
c. mental illness
d. role modeling
27. For the psychopath, becoming adept as a serial killer requires perfecting this.
a. rationalization and unconscious pretense
b. rationalization and conscious pretense
c. conscious pretense
d. rationalization
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28. Offenders may suppress traumatic event(s) to the point where he or she cannot
consciously recall the experience(s). What may this be called?
a. causal overkill
b. psychodynamic violence
c. splitting off the experience
d. psychological trauma
29. What does the “Mephisto Syndrome” describe?
a. a combination of dissociation and psychopathy
b. feelings of extreme frustration followed by aggression
c. characteristics of both psychotic and psychopathic persons
d. a combination of dissociation and psychosis
30. Cline outlined a four-factor syndrome involving pornography. Which of the following
is NOT one of those factors?
a. decompression
b. addiction
c. acting out
d. escalation
TRUE/FALSE
1. A social structure theorist would not say that criminal behavior is a function of a
socialization process.
2. According to social structure theory, a child who is very attached to his/her parents
will be less likely to engage in criminal behavior.
3. According to social process theory, family has no significant effect on youths’
delinquent or violent behavior.
4. Serial killers generally deny the victim according to neutralization theory.
5. Classical control theory contends that punishment deters prospective murderers.
COMPLETION
1. _____ focus on individuals’ socioeconomic standing, suggesting that poor people
commit more crimes because they are stifled in their quest for financial or social
success.
2. _____ contend that criminal behavior is a function of a socialization process.
3. Sykes and Matza (1957) and Matza (1964) view the process of delinquent youths
becoming criminals as a matter of _____ their personal values and attitudes as they
drift between conventional behavior and illegitimate behavior.
4. _____ views abnormal behavior as a process by which a person graduates from
primary deviance to secondary deviance.
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5. The _____ of violent behavior describes, in effect, the cyclical experience of serial
offenders.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Discuss how social structure theory provides insight into serial murder.
2. Discuss how social class theory explains why male serial killers usually select female
victims.
3. Describe how the trauma-control model of violent behavior explains the cyclical
experience of serial offenders.