CHAPTER 14
Race, Ethnicity, and Corrections
TEST BANK
Multiple Choice Questions
1)Which term divides human beings into distinct groups based on hereditary characteristics?
a: ethnicity
b: geographical location
c: race
d: nationality
2)Which term refers to a group’s common social or cultural traits?
a: ethnicity
b: geographical location
c: race
d: nationality
3)Which of the following refers to the overrepresentation of minority group members at all stages of the criminal justice process, including arrest, trial, and punishment?
a: race
b: disproportionate minority contact
c: ethnicity
d: racism
4)Which term refers to the belief that certain races are by definition better or worse than others?
a: race
b: disproportionate minority contact
c: ethnicity
d: racism
5)Which group of people is arrested more often?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
6)Which term describes the social and legal separation of racial minorities, but especially blacks into discrete geographic areas which characterizes the nation’s inner cities?
a: hypersegregation
b: prosegregation
c: immigration
d: assimilation
7)When a judge sentences offenders to different sentences for the same offense, it is referred to as:
a: hypersegregation
b: racism
c: sentencing disparity
d: assimilation
8)To minimize sentencing disparities, especially as they affect minority groups, states have moved in the direction of creating which of the following?
a: risk assessments
b: presentence investigation reports
c: justice by geography
d: sentencing guidelines
9)When a sentence is not appropriate given the facts of the case, judges are not bound to adhere to the sentencing guidelines and may point to which of the following?
a: sentencing guidelines
b: risk assessments
c: manifest justice
d: justice by geography
10)Which groups of individuals are overrepresented in the individual offense categories of sexual assault, assault, rape, motor vehicle theft, other violent offenses, other specified offenses, and fraud/forgery, burglary and property offenses?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
11)Which group of individuals is overrepresented in the robbery and murder categories?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
12)Which group of individuals are more likely to commit violent crimes and more likely to be the victim of a violent crime?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
13)During the 1980s, critics of the federal government’s War on Drugs pointed out that people convicted of which type of drug receive far longer sentences than those whose offenses involved the chemically identical powder version of the drug?
a: cocaine
b: heroin
c: crack cocaine
d: marijuana
14)Which term describes the idea that urban jurisdictions tend to deliver harsher sentences than nonurban jurisdictions?
a: discrimination
b: institutional racism
c: social disorganization theory
d: justice by geography
15)A theory of minority overrepresentation in the criminal justice system is based on which of the following policies and practices of the actors and agencies?
a: discrimination
b: institutional racism
c: social disorganization theory
d: justice by geography
16)Which term describes a form of prejudicial treatment whereby practices at many points in the justice system disproportionately affect members of color?
a: discrimination
b: institutional racism
c: social disorganization theory
d: justice by geography
17)In 2010, 40 percent of state and federal prison inmates were which race?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
18)What is the most common correction disposition in the United States for adults?
a: prison
b: probation
c: jail
d: house arrest
19)In 2010, 13 states executed how many prisoners?
a: 22
b: 44
c: 46
d: 144
20)In 2010 which state executed the most inmates?
a: Texas
b: California
c: New Mexico
d: North Carolina
21)Which three states house 40 percent of death row inmates?
a: California, Texas, and New York
b: Texas, Arkansas, and Florida
c: New York, Arkansas, and California
d: California, Texas, and Florida
22)In 2010 which group of individuals represented the highest percentage executed?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
23)Between 1977 and 2010 which group of individuals were the majority sentenced to death?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
24)Which of the following terms means that a particular group is present in a higher proportion than we would expect given its proportion of the nation’s population?
a: underclass
b: hypersegregation
c: assimilation
d: overrepresentation
25)The most disadvantaged group in society is also known as which of the following?
a: upper class
b: middle class
c: underclass
d: lower class
26)Which of the following represents a racial group?
a: African Americans
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
27)Which of the following represents an ethnic group?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
28)Which groups of individuals commit a disproportionately higher number of crimes such as murder and non-negligent manslaughter and robbery?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
29)When a judge sentences two different defendants to distinctly different types of punishments, this is a form of which of the following?
a: hypersegregation
b: sentencing guideline
c: sentencing disparity
d: racism
30)Which groups of individuals are markedly overrepresented in the offenses of robbery, weapons offenses, murder, drug trafficking, and drug possession?
a: blacks
b: whites
c: Hispanic
d: Asian
True/False Statements
Decide whether each of these statements is true or false
1) The terms race and ethnicity often are used interchangeably however, they represent two distinct, though related, ideas.
2) Governmental entities and social scientific communities are insensitive to definitions of race and ethnicity.
3) The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has done little to deal with the issue of disproportionate minority confinement.
4) Between 2001 and 2010 white arrest rates for the following crimes decreased by more than 20 percent: motor vehicle theft, forgery and counterfeiting, fraud, and prostitution and commercialized vice.
5) Often an unintended consequence of judicial discretion and sentencing disparity is that members of minority groups are punished more frequently and more harshly than others.
6) African Americans are arrested more often than are whites but for generally less serious crimes, although the range of offenses is identical to that for whites.
7) The overrepresentation of minority group members in prison is a problem found only in the United States.
8) Disparities based on race and ethnicity may begin at arrest, but they continue into the sentencing process in both state and federal courts.
9) Geography has been eliminated as a factor in accounting for the differential treatment accorded racial groups.
10) In the future, prisoners serving time in the nation’s jails, prisons, and juvenile correctional facilities in all likelihood will resemble the prisoners, probationers, and parolees of today.
11) People of color are overrepresented on death row and among those executed.
12) Three states, California, Texas, and Georgia housed 40 percent of the nation’s death row population.
13) When jail and prison populations are compared with probation and parole caseloads, it becomes apparent that all racial and ethnic groups do not fare equally well at all stages of the criminal justice process.
14) The various punishments handed out to people convicted of crimes should be proportionate regardless of race or ethnicity.
15) Most often the racial or ethnic composition of a prison’s inmate population is reflected in the racial or ethnic composition of the staff.
16) One of the most visible ways that racial and ethnic issues shape prison society is through prison gangs.
17) Whites are executed in greater proportion than their proportion of death row inmates.
18) In most prisons being a member of a gang not only provides protection, it also decreases the likelihood of a member needing protection.
19) Racial tensions between inmate groups and between inmates and staff have led to riots in state and federal prisons.
20) Prison inmates have relatively a large amount of power in their daily life decisions.
Fill in the Blanks
1) In 2010, ______percent of state and federal prison inmates were African American, and another ______percent were Hispanic.
2) ______is a form of prejudicial treatment whereby practices at many points in the justice system disproportionately affect members of color.
3) The idea that urban jurisdictions tend to deliver harsher sentences than nonurban jurisdictions is known as ______by ______.
4) Criminologists studying crime and migration noted that the inner cities were deviant places, which forms part of ______theory.
5) According to Bonczar, ______women, will have the highest incarceration rates for females.
6) The nation’s state and federal prison systems experienced unprecedented ______during the 1980s and 1990s.
7) Congress passed the ______Act in 2010, which changed the 100:1 sentencing disparity between minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine to 18:1.
8) In 1996, the US Supreme Court addressed the question of sentencing disparities in ______ v. ______.
9) When we combine the figures for blacks and Hispanics, we find that by 2010 ______percent of the inmates in the nation’s jails are ______of ______a fact that has not changed substantially since 1988.
10) Between 1985 and 1997 the rate for ______women in prison almost ______over the period.
11) ______defendants were substantially overrepresented in nine individual offense categories: other sexual assault, sexual assault, rape, motor vehicle theft, other violent offenses, other specified offenses, fraud/forgery, burglary, and property offenses.
12) The ______- ______Act of 1986established mandatory minimum penalties for drug trafficking based on the quantity of the drug involved.
13) Critics of the federal government’s War on Drugs pointed out that people convicted of drug law violations involving ______receive far longer sentences than those whose offenses involved the chemically identical powder version of the drug.
14) What is important to remember is that 75 percent of all persons convicted in federal court are either ______or ______.
15) Free (1997) believes that the national campaign against drugs has ______affected blacks through sentencing guidelines.
16) When a ______person kills another person, the victim is most likely to be a ______stranger or a ______friend.
17) Minnesota’s guidelines are mandated by statute as judges are bound to adhere to the guidelines unless they can point to a ______.
18) One of ______(2003) five goals is to ensure public safety by incarcerating the most dangerous offenders for the longest time.
19) The______-______Act of 1988, mandates a sentence of at least five years in federal prison for the possession of five grams of crack cocaine.
20) To minimize sentencing disparities, especially as they affect minority groups, states have moved in the direction of creating ______.
Matching
Match the words in the list to the following statements:
A) hypersegregation; B) disproportionate minority contact; C) ethnicity; D) Fair Sentencing Act ; E) six; F) Sentencing disparity; G) Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986; H) death penalty; I) seven; J) racism
______1) When a judge sentences two similar defendants to distinctly different types of punishments.
______2) The belief that certain races are by definition better or worse than others.
______3) It differentiated crack cocaine from powder cocaine for sentencing purposes.
______4) The overrepresentation of minority group members at all stages of the criminal justice process, including arrest, trial, and punishment.
______5) Bonczar predicts this percent of all children born in 2001 eventually will go to prison.
______6) The social and legal separation of racial minorities but especially blacks into discrete geographic areas that characterizes the nation’s inner cities.
______7) One of the more controversial criminal justice issues in the United States in the past 30 years.
______8) The percent that Bonczar predicts that incarceration rates for black females will be at in the future.
______9) Refers to a group’s common social or cultural traits.
______10) This changed the 100:1 sentencing disparity between minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine to 18:1.