Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
This course examines current topics and emerging challenges in the field of criminal justice, including debates on policing practices, sentencing policies, juvenile justice reforms, and the impact of technology on crime and law enforcement. Students will explore how societal changes, legislative developments, and shifts in public opinion influence the administration of justice. Through critical analysis of case studies and contemporary research, the course fosters an understanding of the complexities facing criminal justice professionals and encourages thoughtful engagement with potential solutions to modern issues.
Recommended Textbook
CJ2 2nd Edition by Larry K. Gaines
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17 Chapters
849 Verified Questions
849 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Criminal Justice Today
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Sample Questions
Q1) Public order crime is defined as:
A) behavior that has been labeled criminal because it is contrary to shared values, customs and norms.
B) illegal acts carried out by illegal organizations engaged in the market for illegal goods or services.
C) nonviolent crimes committed by business entities or individuals to gain a personal or business advantage.
D) the interlocking network of law enforcement agencies, courts, and corrections institutions designed to enforce criminal laws.
Answer: A
Q2) Federal employees make up the majority of employees in law enforcement in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The prison population in the United States has been decreasing since 1985.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Causes of Crime
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Sample Questions
Q1) Causation between two variables means that they tend to vary together.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Who is known as the "father of criminology?"
A) Cesare Lombroso
B) Jeremy Bentham
C) James Q. Wilson
D) Cesare Beccaria
Answer: A
Q3) Which of the following elements is NOT discussed as an important component of social disorganization theory?
A) Disorganized zones exhibit higher rates of crime.
B) Those who are labeled as criminals will exhibit more criminal behavior.
C) The value of role models with hope for the future.
D) Crime is largely a product of unfavorable conditions in certain communities.
Answer: B
Q4) _________ drugs have chemicals that affect the brain, causing changes in emotions, perceptions, and behavior.
Answer: Psychoactive
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Chapter 3: Defining and Measuring Crime
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Q1) In most jurisdictions, an infraction is a noncriminal offense for which the penalty is a __________ rather than incarceration.
Answer: Falseine
Q2) Which of the following is NOT one of the three factors most often used by criminologists to explain increases and declines in the nation's crime rate?
A) imprisonment
B) youth populations
C) gang activity
D) the economy
Answer: C
Q3) In the early years of the 2000s, the nation's crime rate __________ for a time before
Resuming its downward slope
A) flattened
B) increased
C) decreased
D) fluctuated wildly
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Inside Criminal Law
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Q1) Which of the following is the constitutional requirement that laws used in accusing and convicting persons of crime must be fair?
A) due process
B) substantive due process
C) procedural due process
D) Bill of Rights
Q2) The Bill of Rights applies the first twenty-one amendments to the Constitution to the states.
A)True
B)False
Q3) When a person is physically forced to ingest or is injected with an intoxicating substance,
Or is unaware that a substance contains drugs or alcohol it is called:
A) voluntary intoxication
B) involuntary intoxication
C) duress
D) entrapment
Q4) _______________ __________ is the act of willful neglect or physical violence that occurs within a familial or other intimate relationship.
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Chapter 5: Law Enforcement Today
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Q1) A uniformed security guard patrolling a shopping mall parking lot or a bank lobby has one primary function- to convince a potential criminal to search out a shopping mall or bank that does not have private security, this is known as the __________ factor.
Q2) The oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States is the U.S. Marshals Service.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Discuss and explain at least three reasons why the field of private security continues to grow in the United States.
Q4) Which of the following is the primary factor that influences police discretion?
A) the nature of the criminal act
B) the attitude of the wrongdoer towards the officer
C) the race or ethnicity of the offender
D) departmental policy
Q5) Police officers primarily see themselves as:
A) crime fighters
B) peace preservers
C) public protectors
D) public servants
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Chapter 6: Challenges to Effective Policing
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Q1) Which of the following is a person who is involved in criminal activity and gives Information about that activity and those who engage in it to the police?
A) confidential informant
B) undercover officer
C) narc
D) hot spotter.
Q2) Most police departments require that you be a U.S. citizen in order to become a police officer.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The rules or standards of behavior governing a profession; aimed at ensuring the fairness and rightness of actions are called __________.
Q4) Concentrated areas of high criminal activity that draw a directed police response are called:
A) hot spots
B) directed patrol
C) cold hits
D) cold cases
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Police and the Constitution: The Rules of Law Enforcement
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Q1) What is the Supreme Court's justification for saying that the Fourth Amendment does not require police to obtain a warrant to search automobiles when they have probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains contraband or evidence of criminal activity?
A) Because a warrant is never required for any movable object such as a vehicle.
B) By the time the officers could obtain the warrant, the suspects could have driven away and destroyed any evidence
C) Because there is no right to privacy in a vehicle that may be operated on a public roads.
D) Because warrants are only required for personal property such as homes, apartments, or garages.
Q2) The standard that the Supreme Court uses now to determine whether a stop is based on reasonable suspicion is called:
A) totality of circumstances
B) probable cause
C) reasonableness
D) Terry standard
Q3) Taking a person into custody who is suspected of criminal activity is called a/an
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Chapter 8: Courts and the Quest for Justice
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Q1) The process by which one jurisdiction surrenders a person accused or convicted of violating another jurisdiction's criminal law to the second jurisdiction is called
Q2) For the most part, criminal jurisdiction is determined by __________.
A) judges
B) grand juries
C) prosecutors
D) legislation
Q3) Which courts have jurisdiction over cases that include drug trafficking, kidnapping, bankrobbery, and illegal gambling?
A) municipal courts
B) county courts
C) district courts
D) federal courts.
Q4) "Jurisdiction" literally means:
A) "to speak the law"
B) "to abide by the law"
C) "to write the law"
D) "to decide the law"
Q5) Explain how a court case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Pretrial Procedures: The Adversary System in Action
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Q1) A rule of evidence requiring that communications between a client and his or her attorney be kept confidential, unless the client consents to disclosure is called:
A) attorney-client privilege
B) Gideon protection
C) Strickland standard
D) adversary
Q2) Most chief prosecutors are appointed (versus elected) officials in the United States.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Most criminal cases in the United States conclude with negotiated deals rather than trials.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Many lawyers rarely do trial work and focus on drafting documents and doing legal research instead.
A)True
B)False
Q5) List and briefly explain the different forms of plea bargaining agreements.
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Chapter 10: The Criminal Trial
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Q1) __________ is the group of citizens from which the jury is selected.
Q2) Jury lists are usually drawn from which of the following?
A) email address searches of people in the area
B) phone book numbers of people in the area
C) drivers license rolls and voter registration lists
D) volunteer lists of people who sign up for jury duty
Q3) Individuals may be tried twice for the same crime if new evidence is found.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A witness who has been granted immunity may still refuse to answer questions on the basis of self-incrimination.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The court case that set forth the rule that a suspect's decision to remain silent cannot be held against him or her was:
A) Adamson v. California
B) Miranda v. Arizona
C) Duncan v. Louisiana
D) Barker v. Wingo
Q6) Explain the typical qualifications that are necessary for jurors.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Punishment and Sentencing
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT one of the four basic philosophical reasons for sentencing criminals?
A) restorative justice
B) retribution
C) incapacitation
D) deterrence
Q2) For the better part of the past three decades, the American criminal justice system has mostly rejected many of the principles of rehabilitation as a philosophical reason for punishment in favor of other, more __________, strategies.
A) community based
B) restorative
C) regulatory
D) punitive
Q3) __________ is the philosophy that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime.
Q4) Explain the difference between sentencing disparity and sentencing discrimination.
Q5) States use a two-stage, __________, procedure for the trying and sentencing of capital cases.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Probation and Community Corrections
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Q1) Explain alternative sentencing arrangements.
Q2) A condition of probation that is designed to help reverse the self-destructive behavior of the offender is called a:
A) punitive condition
B) treatment condition
C) standard condition
D) intermediate condition
Q3) Explain how probation can be revoked.
Q4) ISP is a form of probation in which the offender is placed under stricter and more frequent surveillance and control than in conventional probation
A)True
B)False
Q5) __________ is a technique of probation supervision in which the offender's whereabouts are kept under surveillance by an electronic device.
Q6) The criticism that intermediate sanctions designed to divert offenders from prison actually increase the number of citizens who are under the control of the corrections system is called _______________.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Prisons and Jails
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Q1) A disciplinary action taken by prison officials in which all inmates are ordered to their quarters and nonessential prison activities are suspended is known as
Q2) The imprisonment rates for women are growing slower than that of men.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A prison operates under which type of management structure for its employees?
A) linear
B) vertical
C) hierarchical
D) horizontal
Q4) Explain the factors that have caused the prison population to grow dramatically in the last several decades.
Q5) Most jails in the United States are operated at which of the following levels?
A) municipal
B) county
C) state
D) federal
Q6) Explain what the concept of the "burden of jail administration" means.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Behind Bars: The Life of an Inmate
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Q1) Many of the procedures and issues of parole supervision are similar to those of probation supervision.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is NOT a reason for an officer to use force on an inmate?
A) acting in self-defense
B) acting to defend the safety of a third person
C) upholding the hierarchy of the institution
D) preventing an escape effort
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a barrier to reentry for parolees?
A) financial hardship
B) mental illness
C) strong community connects
D) adjustment to social changes
Q4) The release of an inmate into a community supervision program at the discretion of the parole board is called which of the following?
A) mandatory release
B) discretionary release
C) pardon
D) parole
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Juvenile Justice System
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Q1) A juvenile variation on shock probation is called _______________.
A) a residential treatment program
B) a rehabilitation counseling program
C) boot camp
D) a diversionary program
Q2) A __________ is a juvenile who has been found to have engaged in behavior deemed unacceptable for those under a certain statutorily determined age.
Q3) Explain the relationship between age and crime?
Q4) A process in which the prosecutor decides whether a juvenile offender's case will Be heard in juvenile or adult court is called:
A) judicial waiver
B) automatic transfer
C) prosecutorial waiver
D) police waiver
Q5) List the major rights that juveniles have in the judicial process, as well as some rights adults have in some cases that juveniles do not have, unless provided for by state statute.
Q6) Explain the development of the concept of parens patriae.
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Chapter 16: Homeland Security
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Q1) Individuals who use violence to further political goals such as the formation or destruction of a particular government are called __________.
Q2) Which of the following is true regarding unregulated border entry into the United States?
A) local law enforcement agents find it easy to stem this flow of illegal immigrants using logistics
B) the homeland security presence on the Mexican border has never been smaller
C) illegal border crossers are generally more concerned about border enforcement than the heat and harsh conditions of the landscape
D) as of 2010, no high-level terrorist suspects are known to have taken an illegal land route into the United States
Q3) To infiltrate homegrown terrorist cells, law enforcement relies heavily on intelligence provided by:
A) the military
B) informants
C) counterintelligence
D) police
Q4) Identify and explain three important trends in international terrorism.
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Cyber Crime and the Future of Criminal Justice
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Q1) __________ is the willful and repeated emotional harm inflicted on another individual through the use of electronic devices such as computers and cell phones.
Q2) Businesses sometimes fail to report cybercrimes for fear of losing customer confidence.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What protections ensure that a person who writes a book or a song or creates a software program is financially rewarded if that product is sold in the marketplace?
A) software and hardware
B) piracy and hacking
C) copyrights and patents
D) duplicates and rulings
Q4) Studies have shown that nearly __________ of American teenagers who use the Internet report being targets of cyberbullying.
A) one in five
B) one in ten
C) one in fifteen
D) one in seventeen
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