Findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey indicate that what percent of
violent crimes are reported to the police?
a. about 30 percent
b. only half
c. about 70 percent
d. close to 90 percent
Which of the following is consistent with court unification?
a. Judges may be temporarily assigned to other courts in other places throughout the
state to alleviate backlogs and reduce delay.
b. A centralized state office supervises the work of judicial and non-judicial personnel.
c. Decisions about the allocation of funds are made at the state and not the local level.
d. All of the above.
CASE 7.3
Indigents are defendants who cannot afford to pay a lawyer and, therefore, are entitled
to a lawyer for free. Although the Supreme Court has essentially mandated the
development of indigent-defense systems, it has left the financing and type of delivery
system up to states and counties, which have considerable discretion in adopting
programs (Worden and Worden 1989). How best to provide legal representation for the
poor has been a long-standing issue for the courts and the legal profession. In the
United States, the three primary methods are assigned counsel, contract systems, and
public defender.NARREND
The contract systems method is
a. attorneys appointed by the judge on a case-by-case basis.
b. attorneys hired to provide services for a specified dollar amount.
c. a salaried public official representing all indigent defendants.
d. None of these answers is correct.
In McCleskey v. Kemp (1987), the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the death
penalty. Which of the following statements was not among the reasons offered by the
Court in rendering its opinion?
a. The Court argued that statistical studies did not prove there was discrimination
against black defendants.
b. The Court ruled that a defendant must prove that a specific state actor intentionally
discriminated against him or her, which was not shown here.
c. The Court ruled that statistical studies showed that the State of Georgia’s death
penalty law was skewed against black defendants.
d. The Court ruled that statistical studies did not show evidence of discrimination based
on the race of the victim.
What is the primary purpose of a pre-sentence investigation report?
a. to help the judge select an appropriate sentence.
b. to help the jury determine guilt or innocence.
c. to help the prosecutor convict the offender.
d. none of these answers is correct.
The two major adversary actors in the criminal justice system are:
a. police and criminals
b. courts and the media
c. prosecutors and defense attorneys
d. defendants and victims
Why are Latino victims less likely to report crimes to the police than whites?
a. Some speak very little English, which makes it hard for them to understand what is
happening during investigations and arrests.
b. They often lack a basic understanding of the American justice system.
c. In some of their native countries, the justice system has a history of suppression,
which makes them particularly fearful of governmental officials.
d. All of these answers are correct.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that indigent defendants
a. are entitled to a court-appointed attorney if facing only a suspended jail term for a
minor charge.
b. who plead guilty are entitled to state-paid legal help on appeal.
c. facing felony prosecution are entitled to a court-appointed attorney.
d. all of these answers are correct.
CASE 7.1
Like many other provisions of the Constitution, the Sixth Amendment has a different
meaning today than it did when it was first ratified. In a landmark decision, the U.S.
Supreme Court held that, based on the Sixth Amendment’s provision of right to counsel,
indigent defendants charged with a felony are entitled to the services of a lawyer paid
for by the government (Gideon v. Wainwright 1963). Later, the Sixth Amendment right
to counsel was extended to juvenile court proceedings as well (In re Gault 1967). But as
so often happens, answering one question raised several new ones.
Which of the following issues did the court wrestle with following the Gideon decision?
a. nonfelony criminal prosecutions
b. stages of the criminal process.
c. self-representation.
d. The court wrestled with all of these issues following the Gideon decision.
Not all uncooperative behavior can be blamed on victims and witnesses. Witnesses
reported which of the following in a Washington, D.C. study?
a. some weren”t told they should call the prosecutor.
b. some were never notified of court appearances.
c. some were never told of their rights.
d. all of these answers are true.
Differences in sentencing caused by different laws in different jurisdictions or
differences in judicial attitudes toward sentencing is called sentencing
a. discrimination.
b. discreteness.
c. dexterity.
d. disparity.
After Gideon v. Wainwright established a right to counsel for indigent felony
defendants, courts have wrestled with four areas. Which of the following is not one of
those areas?
a. right to counsel in nonfelony prosecutions.
b. stages of the criminal process.
c. ineffective assistance of counsel.
d. representation by members of the clergy.
A prison sentence that ranges from one to five years is a(n)
a. parole sentence
b. indeterminate sentence
c. mandatory minimum sentence
d. determinate sentence
Which of the following is a key consideration for prosecutors when deciding whether to
offer a defendant a plea deal?
a. a defendant’s willingness to avoid incarceration
b. a victim’s desire to have the case go to trial
c. the strength of the case
d. a defendant’s willingness to testify in another case
What federal court has original jurisdiction over disputes between states?
a. Legislative Court
b. District Court
c. Court of Appeals
d. Supreme Court
In County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, the Court held that a probable cause hearing for
all those arrested without a warrant must be held within how many hours of arrest?
a. 24
b. 36
c. 48
d. 72
Which of the following is not one of the three major ways of providing indigents with
court appointed attorneys?
a. assigned counsel system
b. contract system
c. public defender system
d. pro-bono system
The U.S. Constitution specifies that the President of the United States has the power to
nominate judges with the advice and consent of the
a. Judicial Conduct Commission
b. U.S. Senate
c. U.S. Supreme Court
d. U.S. Department of Justice
CASE 16.2
Criminal appeals are generally routine because they seldom raise meritorious issues
(Primus, 2007; Wold & Caldeira, 1980). Current standards of effective assistance of
counsel often force lawyers to appeal, no matter how slight the odds of appellate court
reversal. As a result, a significant number of criminal appeals lack substantial merit. For
example, of the roughly 5,125 written dispositions in criminal appeals filed by
defendants in the California Court of Appeals in 2010, the court reversed only 226 (4%)
convictions (Judicial Council of California, 2011). Why do criminal appeals rarely
succeed? First, the appellate standards of review applicable to most decision-making
during criminal trials are highly deferential to trial court outcomes (Primus, 2007).
Second, appellate courts often find that no reversible error was committed during the
trial court proceedings.
Given the information provided, which of the following statements is true?
a. The rules of appeals are designed not to disturb the results of a criminal trial unless a
serious, reversible error has occurred.
b. The rules of appeals are designed not to disturb the results of a criminal trial unless
any error has occurred.
c. The rules of appeals are designed not to disturb the results of a criminal trial unless
no error has occurred.
d. The rules of appeals are designed to disturb the results of a criminal trial.
Informal sanctions are used by members of the courtroom work group. Which of the
following represents an improper use of sanctions?
a. The judge drags a trial out by continuously interrupting it for other business.
b. The judge disallows standby counsel for a pro se defendant, when requested to do so
by the defendant.
c. A judge criticizes a lawyer in front of a client.
d. A prosecutor adopts a tougher stance during bargaining by not reducing charges.
CASE 17.3
Although a fairly uniform upper age limit for the exercise of original juvenile court
jurisdiction in delinquency proceedings has been established in the United States, there
is far less uniformity involving lower age limits for juveniles charged with serious
offenses, or who have a history of repeated offenses, who may be tried as adults.
Transfer to criminal court refers to the process whereby the jurisdiction over a juvenile
delinquent is moved to adult court. There are four primary mechanisms for juvenile
transfers to adult criminal courts: judicial waivers, prosecutorial waivers, statutory
waivers, and automatic waivers.
Prosecutorial waivers are sometimes called
a. concurrent jurisdiction waivers c. consecutive jurisdiction waivers
b. conjective jurisdiction waivers d. comprehensive jurisdiction waivers
The basic administrative unit of a circuit, which has authority to make all necessary and
appropriate orders for the effective and expeditious administration of justice within its
circuit, is called the:
a. Administrative Office of the District
b. Administrative Oversight Commission
c. Federal Judicial Administration
d. Judicial Council
What is the process for a federal judge to be removed from office?
a. The House of Representatives must vote articles of impeachment and then the Senate
must convict the judge with a two-thirds vote for removal from office.
b. After conducting an investigation and filing a written report, the Judicial Council
must vote to remove the judge from the bench.
c. The state judicial conduct commission must hear evidence in secret and then decide
on the merits of the case.
d. The investigation process is informal. If probable cause is found for the removal of a
judge, the commission will first seek the judge’s voluntary retirement.
Which of the following cases deals with ‘stop and frisk”?
a. Mapp v. Ohio
b. Terry v. Ohio
c. Wolf v. Colorado
d. Miranda v. Arizona
Which of the following is not an essential element of therapeutic jurisprudence?
a. immediate intervention
b. hands-on judicial involvement
c. treatment programs
d. adversarial adjudication
Misdemeanors are handled by which courts?
a. lower courts
b. supreme courts
c. justice of the peace courts
d. problem-solving courts
CASE 2.1
Roberta picks her toddler up at the daycare after she gets off work. The child is asleep
in her car seat and Roberta decides to stop off at the local pool hall for a beer and to talk
to some friends for a little while. She leaves the child in the car while she goes inside.
She winds up staying for a second beer and a couple of line dances. The temperature in
the car reaches 120 degrees and the child dies of hyperthermia. Roberta, though not
very bright, would never intentionally harm her child.
Which of the followings statements regarding Roberta’s criminal liability is true?
a. Roberta is not guilty because this tragedy was an accident.
b. Roberta is not guilty because although she was negligent, she had no criminal intent
to harm
her child.
c. Roberta is guilty because she intentionally left her child in the car and the same intent
applies to any harm that results.
d. Roberta is guilty because she had a legal duty to keep her child safeher negligent
omission resulted in the child’s death.
Which of the following is true of appellate courts?
a. The function of an appellate court is to carefully review the facts that were presented
at a defendant’s criminal trial.
b. Appellate court decisions are always made by a group of judges; decisions are never
made by a single judge.
c. Appellate courts, like trial courts, may hear testimony from witnesses, conduct trials,
or use juries.
d. Appellate court decisions must be unanimous.
Which of the following court participants is supposed to stand at the center of the
criminal court drama?
a. the prosecutor
b. the defendant
c. the defense attorney
d. the judge
Which of the following was not one of the points made by the U.S. Supreme Court in
its landmark ruling, Miranda v. Arizona?
a. The “police dominated” atmosphere of an interrogation room calls for some type of
protection for the defendant.
b. The defendant’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination is applicable to
the police interrogation as well as questioning by the prosecutor during trial.
c. The Constitution affords a defendant certain guarantees, including the right to remain
silent and the right to consult counsel.
d. The interrogation at issue was manipulative and harsh and the police, therefore,
overstepped their bounds in obtaining Mr. Miranda’s confession.
In which of the following decisions did the U.S. Supreme Court rule that the
government is under no obligation to disclose evidence to the grand jury that may help
clear the suspect?
a. Tennessee v. Garner
b. Terry v. Ohio
c. Burns v. Reed
d. U.S. v. Williams
With regard to gender discrimination, most researchers now explicitly
a. reject the evil-woman hypothesis, but accept the chivalry/paternalism hypothesis.
b. accept the evil-woman hypothesis, but reject the chivalry/paternalism hypothesis.
c. reject the evil-woman hypothesis, but continue to debate the viability of the
chivalry/paternalism hypothesis.
d. continue to debate the merits of the evil-woman hypothesis, but reject the
chivalry/paternalism hypothesis.
Judges control the flow of information about cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court has approved six-member juries in criminal cases.
Southern states account for the most capital sentences but not the most executions.
Gault was arrested for rape.
Awarding jobs to friends, family, or members of a party is referred to as patronage.
According to Bentham, punishment based on retribution was productive.
The particularity requirement means that warrants should be as detailed as possible.
In the juvenile justice system, parents are considered to have sole and exclusive legal
responsibility over their children.
A prisoner may advance their date of release in prison by earning
______________________ time credit.
Overall, community prosecution stresses a proactive approach. Rather than reacting to
crime through prosecution, these programs stress crime prevention.
Parental rights may be terminated altogether if a juvenile court judge determines that
the parents failed in their responsibility to raise a child properly.
Petition cases are handled formally and often result in a finding of juvenile delinquency.
Pretrial __________ is largely limited to defendants who have committed serious
crimes.
What presumptions apply at the start of trials? What is the burden of proof applicable to
overcoming them?
In ____________________ v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld guided
discretion death penalty laws.
To a prosecutor, a plea bargain represents the certainty of ___________________
without the risks of trial.
James Eisenstein and Herbert Jacob (1977) have proposed that the best way to analyze
the network of ongoing relationships among the courthouse actors is through the
concept of the courtroom ____________________.
Murder, rape, and robbery defendants are less likely to plead guilty than those charged
with less serious offenses.
The leading causes of wrongful convictions include improper forensic evidence.
U.S. attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the
__________________, with the advice and consent of the Senate.