Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Test Bank
CHAPTER 4: CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL AND DETERRENCE RESEARCH
Multiple Choice
1. ______ is an explanation of crime that assumes crime and victimization are
highest in places where three factors come together in time and place: motivated
offenders, suitable or attractive targets, and absence of a guardian.
a. Lifestyle theory
b. Deterrence theory
c. Neoclassical theory
d. Routine activities theory
2. ______ assumes that individuals are rational and weigh the potential benefits
against the potential costs of engaging in a criminal act.
a. Rational choice theory
b. Traditional deterrence theory
c. Classical theory
d. Routine activities theory
3. The three elements of routine activities theory are ______.
a. capable guardian, poverty, and gangs
b. attractive targets, absence of a guardian, and motivated offender
c. capable guardian, poverty, and businesses
d. little kids, absence of a guardian, and motivated offender
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
4. All of the following are considered formal controls or sanctions EXCEPT
______.
a. community acceptance
b. courts
c. jail or prison
d. law enforcement
5. Studies have shown that informal sanctions provided the most deterrent
effects for individuals considering crime and led to the creation of ______ theory.
a. routine activities
b. lifestyle
c. rational choice
d. deterrence
6. ______ are a collection of studies, generally on a particular topic. These types
of studies were popular in the late 1960s to test the deterrence model.
a. Longitudinal studies
b. Aggregate studies
c. Cross-sectional studies
d. Scenario studies
7. Identification of the experiential effect was the primary contribution of ______
studies of deterrence.
a. longitudinal
b. aggregate
c. cross-sectional
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
d. scenario
8. Deterrence research has shifted away from aggregate level units of analysis
and toward ______ level.
a. family
b. national
c. group
d. individual
9. When research is conducted or data collected at one point in time, it is termed
______.
a. longitudinal studies
b. aggregate studies
c. cross-sectional studies
d. scenario studies
10. Cross-sectional studies usually involve data collection in ______ format.
a. survey
b. observational
c. secondary data
d. group
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
11. Cross-sectional studies have found that the ______ of punishment was
strongly associated with intentions to commit future crimes.
a. certainty
b. severity
c. celerity
d. conformity
12. Peers have a profound impact on individual perceptions of the pros and cons
of offending. When one sees one’s friends getting away with crimes, the
perceived risk of punishment ______.
a. is increased
b. is decreased
c. remains stagnant
13. Your textbook discusses the ______ study, which applied routine activities
theory.
a. Oregon Hot Spots
b. Colorado Hot Spots
c. Nebraska Hot Spots
d. Minneapolis Hot Spots
14. According to the Minneapolis, Minnesota, study, of the top 10 locations police
were called, half were ______.
a. bars or places alcohol was served
b. malls
c. vacant house
d. bus depots
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
15. Global positioning systems (GPS) have been used by authorities to predict all
of the following EXCEPT ______.
a. areas with low fear of crime
b. where chronic offenders will strike next
c. serial killer locations
d. areas needing increased police presence
16. Which one of the following groups of people are the least likely to be
victimized?
a. young males
b. individuals in their teens through 20s
c. elderly
d. individuals with “deviant lifestyles”
17. Many researchers content that lifestyle theory is merely an extension of
______, offering no new revelations for why some individuals are victimized more
than others.
a. routine activities theory
b. rational choice theory
c. deterrence theory
d. lifestyle theory
18. Aggregate studies have shown evidence that an increased certainty of
punishment was associated with ______ crime for most serious offenses.
a. more
b. no change in
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
c. less
d. white collar
19. This type of research asks individuals to estimate their immediate intent to
commit a criminal act in a given situation and their immediate perceptions of
certainty and severity of punishment.
a. longitudinal studies
b. aggregate studies
c. cross-sectional studies
d. scenario studies
20. Robert Martinson’s review of ______ concluded that “nothing works” because
offending was not reduced.
a. corrections
b. courts
c. rehabilitative programs
d. criminal justice systems
21. Which theory is NOT influenced by Beccaria’s emphasis on free will and
choice?
a. routine activities theory
b. rational choice theory
c. lifestyles perspective
d. trait theory
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
22. Which statement most closely conforms with the lifestyles perspective?
a. Crime can happen anywhere at any time; no matter what a person does, there
is no avoiding it.
b. People who choose to drink to excess at a bar every night are asking to be
mugged.
c. Some people are just born to be criminals and some are just born to be
victims.
d. A person’s upbringing can have a strong influence on whether or not they
become successful later in life.
23. Crime mapping and geographical profiling is an application of which theory?
a. lifestyles perspective
b. routine activities theory
c. rational choice theory
d. trait theory
24. Which theory matches the statement, “Eliminating visible signs of crime helps
reduce crime”?
a. rational choice theory
b. lifestyles perspective
c. broken windows perspective
d. neoclassical perspective
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
25. One study from California suggested that “three strikes” laws reduced crime,
but studies conducted elsewhere showed that they ______.
a. either had no effect on crime or actually increased it
b. only reduced crime during the summer months
c. only reduced juvenile crime
d. always increased violent crimes
26. Longitudinal research done in the 1980s and 1990s indicated that behavior
was influencing perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment more than
perceptions were influencing behavior. This was due to the ______.
a. rational choice theory
b. experiential effect
c. aggregate effect
d. extraneous effect
27. Studies have consistently shown that official deterrence is highly ineffective
against criminal acts that involve immediate payoff for ______.
a. elderly females
b. middle-aged males
c. young males
d. young females
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
28. Research indicates that chronic offenders are the least likely to be deterred
by the threatened punishments of our society because they ______.
a. aren’t aware of any official punishments
b. have a high exoneration rate
c. have a subconscious desire to be caught
d. have so little to lose
29. What do we call studies that involve providing participants with specific
hypothetical scenarios and then asking them what they would do in each
situation?
a. scenario research
b. longitudinal studies
c. aggregate studies
d. cross-sectional studies
30. Studies have shown a/an ______ correlation between what one reports doing
in a given scenario and what one would do in real life.
a. low
b. high
c. non-existent
d. converse
31. Which group is most likely to avoid crime due to informal deterrence?
a. Caucasians
b. African-Americans
c. females
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
d. males
32. The most significant work that brought rational choice theory into the
mainstream of criminological research was The Reasoning Criminal: Rational
Choice Perspectives on Offending written by ______.
a. Cornish and Clarke
b. Gottfredson and Hirschi
c. Sampson and Laub
d. Cohen and Felson
33. Jack Katz’ Seductions of Crime emphasized the ______ committing crime for
the first time, mostly the inherent physiological pleasure of committing crime.
a. negative effects
b. benefits of
c. psychosis of
d. financial losses of
34. What is a “motivated offender”, according to the routine activities theory?
a. someone who is likely to commit a crime, statistically speaking
b. a criminal who scores high on tests that measure ambition
c. a criminal who is highly educated
d. an offender who has a history of financial success
Schram, Introduction to Criminology 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
35. Which group below is least likely to be deemed a “suitable target” according
to the routine activities theory?
a. a bar that serves alcohol
b. a vacant home (owners are on vacation)
c. a woman riding on a crowded train during rush hour
d. an unlocked car
36. Examples of guardianship in the context of routine activities theory include:
police officers, security guards, household dogs, alarms, and ______.
a. increased lighting
b. gang members
c. a crowded subway
d. a strip mall
37. Many cities applied the broken windows perspective from the late 1990s to
the mid-2000s and cracked down on minor offenses to reduce major crime. The
result was ______.
a. crime actually increased in these cities
b. crime decreased in only these cities and rose elsewhere
c. crime decreased in these cities and elsewhere equally
d. crime stayed the same in these cities
38. Three-strikes policies are severe, but they ______.
a. always reduce crime
b. are not always swift or certain
c. never have any effect on crime
d. always increase crime