Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Test Bank
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY
Multiple Choice
1. A crime that is considered “an act which is not inherently immoral, but
becomes so because its commission is expressly forbidden by positive law” is
called ______.
a. mala in se
b. mala prohibita
c. illegal
d. civil wrongs
2. A crime that is considered “an act inherently and essentially evil, that is
immoral in its nature and injurious in its consequence, without any regard to the
fact of its being noticed or punished by the law of the state” is called ______.
a. mala in se
b. mala prohibita
c. illegal
d. civil wrongs
3. Prostitution is illegal in most jurisdictions in the United States. However,
prostitution is legal, and licensed, in most counties of Nevada. This type of crime
would be considered ______.
a. mala in se
b. mala prohibita
c. illegal
d. civil wrongs
4. ______ are not necessarily against the law but are considered atypical and
may be deemed immoral rather than illegal.
a. mala in se
b. mala prohibita
c. Deviant acts
d. Civil wrongs
5. ______ defined criminology as the body of knowledge regarding crime as a
social phenomenon, which includes the process of making laws, of breaking
laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of laws.
a. Hirschi
b. Gottfredson
c. Durkheim
d. Sutherland
6. ______ often refers to the various criminal justice agencies and institutions,
such as police, courts, and corrections, that are interrelated and work together
toward common goals.
a. Victimology
b. Restorative justice
c. Criminal justice
d. Jurisprudence
7. A ______ of crime views the formal system of laws, as well as the
enforcement of those laws, as incorporating societal norms for which there is a
broad normative consensus.
a. conflict perspective
b. symbolic interactionism
c. consensus perspective
d. traditionalism perspective
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
8. The ______ maintains that there is conflict between various societal groups
with different interests, and it is often resolved when the group in power achieves
control.
a. conflict perspective
b. symbolic interactionism
c. consensus perspective
d. rational choice theory
9. The structure of the criminal justice system is often presented as ______.
a. police and corrections
b. police and courts
c. police, courts, and corrections
d. police, victims, and courts
10. ______ are designated as lower courts, and they do not have power that
extends to the overall administration of justice; thus, they do not try felony cases
and do not have appellate authority.
a. Courts of limited jurisdiction
b. Courts of general jurisdiction
c. Courts of appellate jurisdiction
d. The Supreme Court
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
11. ______ are designated as major trial courts. They have the power and
authority to try and decide any case, including appeals from a lower court.
a. Courts of limited jurisdiction
b. Courts of general jurisdiction
c. Courts of appellate jurisdiction
d. The Supreme Court
12. ______ are designated as appeals courts. They are limited in their jurisdiction
decisions on matters of appeal from lower courts and trial courts.
a. Courts of limited jurisdiction
b. Courts of general jurisdiction
c. Courts of appellate jurisdiction
d. The Supreme Court
13. According to conflict perspective, conflict is often resolved when the group in
power achieves ______.
a. control
b. a truce
c. defeat
d. values
14. The general purpose of the criminal justice system includes all of the
following EXCEPT ______.
a. control crime
b. prevent crime
c. community support
d. provide and maintain justice
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
15. The term criminal justice generally refers to all of the following EXCEPT
______.
a. corrections
b. military
c. police
d. courts
16. The term criminology was first coined by ______.
a. Raffaele Garafalo
b. Paul Topinard
c. Edwin Sutherland
d. Joanne Belknap
17. The federal court system is a three-tiered model including all of the following
EXCEPT ______.
a. U.S. Small Claims Court
b. U.S. Supreme Court
c. U.S. District Courts
d. U.S. Courts of Appeals
18. In 2002, President George W. Bush created the ______ in an effort to protect
and defend the United States from terrorist threats.
a. Drug Enforcement Administration
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
b. Department of Homeland Security
c. Federal Bureau of Investigation
d. U.S. Secret Service
19. Historically, the primary objective of processing juveniles was to determine
______.
a. guilt
b. innocence
c. what was in the best interest of the child
d. if their parents had any responsibility
20. ______ is generally reserved for those convicted of more serious crimes with
longer sentences who may be housed in a supermax, maximum, medium, or
minimum security prison, based on security concerns.
a. Jail
b. Probation
c. Parole
d. Prison
21. ______ is a criterion of causality that requires a change in a predictor
variable (X) to be consistently associated with some change in the explanatory
variable (Y).
a. Causation
b. Spuriousness
c. Validity
d. Correlation
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
22. ______ is a relatively new area of criminology.
a. Policing
b. Victimology
c. Research methods
d. Statistical analysis
23. ______ is given by the state/government, and restitution is given by the
offender, typically as part of the sentence given.
a. Compensation
b. Restorative justice
c. Victim impact statements
d. Jurisdiction
24. In 1983, the ______ was established by the U.S. Department of Justice to
implement recommendations from the President’s Task Force on Victims of
Crime.
a. Department of Victimology and Statistics
b. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
c. Department of Justice and Measurements
d. Office of Compensation and Restitution
25. The ______ task force program assists state and local enforcement in
preventing and investigating technology-based sexual exploitation.
a. Central Intelligence Agency
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
b. Department of Homeland Security
c. Internet Crimes Against Children
d. Federal Bureau of Investigation
26. The American colonists followed the common law doctrine from England,
which held that juveniles ______ years or older could be treated the same as
adult offenders.
a. 7
b. 12
c. 14
d. 18
27. The U.S. corrections systems include several residential sanctions, such as
______, work release programs, and study release programs.
a. prisons
b. halfway houses
c. jails
d. house arrest
28. The United States has a three-tiered federal court system. The middle tier
includes ______ circuit courts of appeal.
a. 3
b. 13
c. 50
d. 94
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
29. The U.S. corrections systems include several non-residential sanctions, such
as ______, electronic monitoring, and day reporting centers.
a. jails
b. prisons
c. halfway houses
d. house arrest
30. The concept of parens patriae led the juvenile justice system to focus on
determining what was in the best interests of the child. As a result, juvenile
offenders in the United States ______.
a. have always enjoyed the same due process rights as adults
b. did not obtain due process rights until after the Civil War
c. did not obtain due process rights until the 1960s.
d. still have no recognized due process rights according to the Supreme Court
31. In the 1967 case In re Gault, the Supreme Court determined that juvenile
defendants were entitled to certain due process guarantees, such as the right to
be notified of charges, the right to counsel, the right to confront and cross-
examine witnesses, and the right ______.
a. against self-incrimination
b. to guaranteed bail after arraignment
c. to formally protest excessive fines
d. to free speech during court hearings
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
32. In the juvenile justice system, a trial is called a/an ______.
a. commitment
b. adjudication hearing
c. delinquent act
d. detention
33. Juveniles are usually confined to facilities called ______ on a short-term
basis while awaiting trial.
a. prisons
b. jails
c. detention centers
d. work camps
34. Certain state statutes exclude certain juvenile offenders from juvenile court
jurisdiction, such as when a juvenile has been tried and convicted as an adult on
a previous occasion. These provisions are called ______.
a. statutory exclusions
b. concurrent jurisdictions
c. detention hearings
d. waiver provisions
35. A ______ is the authority to waive juvenile court jurisdiction and transfer the
case to criminal court.
a. disposition hearing
b. temporal ordering
c. judicial waiver
d. jurisdiction
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
36. ______ is attained by explaining a phenomenon, such as criminal activity, in
the simplest way possible.
a. Temporality
b. Parsimony
c. Criminology
d. Exclusivity
37. What is the trait that indicates how much of a given phenomenon a theory
attempts to explain?
a. testability
b. correlation
c. causation
d. scope
38. ______ is the extent to which a theory can be empirically and scientifically
evaluated for accuracy.
a. Testability
b. Correlation
c. Causation
d. Scope
39. ______ is the extent to which a theoretical model is supported by scientific
research.
a. Parsimony
b. Scope
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
c. Testability
d. Empirical validity
40. The extent to which concepts and propositions of a theory make sense in
terms of face value, consistency, and existing knowledge is called ______.
a. logical consistency
b. parsimony
c. causality
d. testability
True/False
1. Some acts are moving from being deemed deviant to being declared illegal,
such as using a cell phone while driving or smoking cigarettes in public.
2. There is one definition of what crime is, and it is the same in all countries.
3. While most mala in se activities are also considered highly deviant, this is not
necessarily the case for mala prohibita acts.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
4. Criminology is the scientific study of crime.
5. Joanne Belknap states she prefers to use the terms crime processing, criminal
processing, and criminal legal system, instead of the term criminal justice, given
that “the processing of victims and offenders [is] anything but ‘just.’”
6. Criminologists, such as Richard Quinney, William Chambliss, and Austin Turk,
maintain that criminological theory has not placed enough emphasis on
explaining criminal behavior.
7. The main goals of the criminal justice system are to control crime, to prevent
crime, and to provide and maintain justice.
8. Unlike the court system, law enforcement doesn’t include various
organizational levels at the federal, state, and local levels.
9. An offender can be placed on probation, incarcerated, or transferred to some
type of community-based corrections facility.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
10. An offender may have to comply with both general and specific conditions of
probation.
11. The Postal Service and the Forest Service have no police power.
12. According to the text, journalists play a key role in examining crime by
exploring what is happening in criminal justice and revealing injustices as well as
new forms of crime.
13. The question “Why are some behaviors defined as criminal while others are
not?” is considered part of the conflict perspective.
14. The United States has one judicial system.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
15. The U.S. Supreme Court has unlimited jurisdiction.
16. Studies show that victim impact statements in death penalty cases have
virtually no impact on sentencing when the case involves a victim of low socio–
economic status.
17. In the field of criminology, it is fairly easy to establish causality.
18. Deviant acts are always considered atypical, and are universally illegal.
19. The term criminology was first coined by the Italian law professor Raffaele
Garofalo in 1885.
20. The consensus perspective of crime is currently the prevailing explanation of
criminal behavior that is accepted by most social scientists.
21. The FBI and the DEA are both examples of federal law enforcement
agencies.
22. Agencies at the state level are divided into counties and municipalities.
23. Judges can sentence offenders to a combination of probation and
incarceration.
24. Shock incarceration is a term that is interchangeable with life sentence.
25. Prisons are designated for offenders serving shorter terms, such as for those
awaiting trial.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Essay
1. Give an example of a mala in se act and a mala prohibita act.
2. Besides the study of crime, what else does the field of encompass?
3. What are the two models of state police departments?
4. What is a judicial waiver in the context of the juvenile justice system?
5. Give an example of a deviant act that is not illegal.
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
6. Give one example of a general condition that could be imposed upon an
individual on probation.
7. Why is the U.S. judicial system referred to as a dual court system?
8. Explain how some mala prohibita acts are not necessarily viewed as highly
deviant.
9. Studies show that victim impact statements have little impact on how judges
sentence offenders. Why is this so?
10. According to several criminologists, we should shift focus from explaining
criminal behavior to explaining criminal law. Do you believe this to be true? Why
or why not?
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
11. Why is defining crime a difficult task? Give your definition of crime, and give
two examples to illustrate your definition.
12. Explain the difference between consensus and conflict perspectives and how
they relate to the formation of laws. How would each of these perspectives view
the formation of a new law, such as a “no texting while driving” law?
13. How is the concept of parens patriae related to the juvenile justice system?
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
14. Using the terms mala in se and mala prohibita, explain why marijuana is now
legalized in many jurisdictions, while other “hard drugs” like heroin and cocaine
are not.