Instructor’s Test Item Bank
Chapter 1: Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control
Multiple Choice
1-1. Which of the following crimes causes the greatest fear in the minds of most Americans?
a. white-collar crimes
b. violent crimes (p. 3)
c. property crimes
d. morality crimes
1-2. Quantitative research typically involves
a. a conclusive legislative change in a law.
b. descriptive and in-depth research on a specific group or location.
c. diffusing salient issues between researchers.
d. statistical analysis of a large number of cases in a given population. (p. 16)
1-3. Who signed the Patriot Act into law following the events of September 11th?
a. President Clinton
b. Supreme Court Justice O’Connor
c. President Bush (p. 10)
d. Senator Ted Kennedy
1-4. The Elusive Criminal Justice Experiment means that
a. it is hard to determine with absolute certainty if approaches to control crime are
successes or failures. (p. 15)
b. legislators are highly effective in creating social policy to eliminate crime.
c. social phenomena such as crime is relatively simple to measure and thus produces a
concrete field for study.
d. criminologists lack the expertise to properly identify and study a macro-level crime problem.
1-5. Crime control polices that push crime into other neighborhoods is a problem known as
a. diffusion.
b. displacement. (p. 17)
c. redirection.
d. confusion.
1-6. Which of the following terms denotes researchers who have an interest in receiving funding to
research a hot topic?
a. bandwagon science (p. 20)
b. original research
c. academic crusader
d. cross-sectional researcher
61
,1-7. Targeting low-level crimes, such as street-level drug dealing and prostitution, in an effort to deter
more serious crime is known as the
a. fractured society theory
b. fragmented circle theory
c. broken windows theory (p.4)
d. collapsed neighborhood theory
1-8. A private foundation supplying a criminal justice agency with funding is providing
a. solution funding.
b. soft money. (p. 20)
c. hard money.
d. research shortage funding.
1-9. Which type of science would evaluate the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program?
a. soft sciences (p. 14)
b. determinate sciences
c. hard sciences
d. indeterminate sciences
1-10. A method used to determine whether an approach to the crime problem is a success or failure is
called
a. process evaluation.
b. learning outcomes.
c. methodology analysis.
d. outcome evaluation. (p. 13)
1-11. Micro-level crime control is
a. one that affects many people.
b. concerned with large numbers of individuals.
c. more isolated geographically. (p. 16)
d. seen as affecting an entire state or nation.
1-12. Which of the following is not a type of displacement?
a. spatial
b. vector (p. 17)
c. tactical
d. target
1-13. Science used by someone to advance their own political priorities is known as a(n)
a. academic attention getter.
b. academic lobbyist.
c. academic crusade. (p. 20)
1-14. A person who evades paying taxes is committing what type of crime?
a. white-collar crime (p. 3)
b. violent crime
c. property crime
d. morality crime
62
,1-15. Determining whether the addition of more patrol officers reduces crime in a specific beat or
precinct, is an example of
a. input.
b. output.
c. evaluation. (p. 14)
d. summation.
True or False
___ 1-16. The mass media heightens people’s fear of crime. (True, p. 9)
___ 1-17. As crime rates decline, people tend to express less fear of being a crime victim. (False, p.9)
___ 1-18. Public order crimes such as prostitution, pornography, gambling and substance abuse are
called morality crimes. (True, p. 4)
___ 1-19. Tax evasion is a white-collar crime. (True, p. 3)
___ 1-20. Criminology is called a hard science. (False, p. 14)
___ 1-21. Longitudinal studies take place at a single point in time. (False, p. 19)
___ 1-22. An academic crusade involves the practice of convincing others that one approach to crime
control is superior to another. (True, p. 20)
___ 1-23. Decriminalization expands the number of activities that are defined as criminal. (False, p. 4)
___ 1-24. Three-strikes legislation is solely intended to control crime and not to prevent it. (False, p. 2)
___ 1-25. Crime reduction policies can cause criminal activity to be displaced. (True, p. 17)
Fill-In
1-26. __________ constitutes the “bread and butter” of crime control. (Criminal law, p. 10)
1-27. __________ is a type of research that involves number-crunching and statistical analysis of data.
(Quantitative, p. 16)
1-28. __________ can drive crime problems into neighboring areas. (Displacement, p. 17)
1-29. _________ knowledge can be considered tentative, because researchers use different measures to
represent the same phenomenon. (Scientific, p. 18)
1-30. The funding of a police agency through the appropriations process is termed _________. (Hard
money, p. 20)
63
, 1-31. A researcher following the same group over a long period of time is conducting
_________. (Longitudinal research, p. 19)
1-32. _________ is a problem concerned with the extent to which researchers’ findings can be carried
over to a series of locations. (Generalization, p. 18)
1-33. _________ research is a study that takes place at a single point in time. (Cross-sectional, p. 19)
1-34. _________ crime is ill-defined but generally consists of crimes committed by people during the
course of their professional careers. (White-collar, p. 3)
1-35. _________ of crime is concerned with crime patterns over time. (Temporal distribution, p. 4)
Instructor Essay Questions and Suggested Answers
1. Explain what is meant by the term victimization paradox and describe its consequences.
The term victimization paradox suggests that most people’s fear of being the victim of a violent crime
is far greater than the actual likelihood of being victimized. Research has shown that although women
and the elderly are least likely to be crime victims, their fear of crime remains relatively high.
Unfortunately, the fear of crime can have negative consequences upon one’s quality of life. Excessive
fear causes people to withdraw from normal everyday interaction within the community they reside.
Additionally, fear discourages business development and can contribute to the deterioration of
neighborhoods. (p. 9)
2. Define the term displacement and provide some examples of the various types.
Research has suggested that even when crime control policy leads to a short-term reduction in crime,
the policy might in fact be displacing the problem to another neighborhood. Not only can criminal
activity be pushed from one neighborhood to another, displacement can cause a variety of other
possible outcomes. These other outcomes might include temporal displacement, which causes a
criminal to change the time of day that they plan to execute a crime. Another outcome of displacement
might be tactical, wherein a criminal acquires a new method of operation for the purpose of committing
a crime. Sometimes displacement causes offenders to select new property or persons to victimize. This
is known as target displacement. Another form of displacement can result when criminals are arrested
and new offenders replace them, committing similar offences known as perpetrator displacement.
(p. 17)
3. Describe the elements of a classical experiment and explain why it is not commonly used in the field
of criminal justice.
The classical experiment consists of three distinct elements. These elements include: a) a treatment
group and a control group, b) a pretest and a posttest, and c) a controlled intervention. The treatment
group is the one that will receive an intervention. The control group is the one that does not get
exposed to the intervention. In other words, this group will conduct “business as usual”. Next the
pretest and posttest are measured before and after the intervention. Finally, a controlled intervention is
administered by the researcher. Due to the inherent limitations in the social sciences, classical
experiments are rare in criminal justice. Many times the difficulties associated with the classical
64
Chapter 1: Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control
Multiple Choice
1-1. Which of the following crimes causes the greatest fear in the minds of most Americans?
a. white-collar crimes
b. violent crimes (p. 3)
c. property crimes
d. morality crimes
1-2. Quantitative research typically involves
a. a conclusive legislative change in a law.
b. descriptive and in-depth research on a specific group or location.
c. diffusing salient issues between researchers.
d. statistical analysis of a large number of cases in a given population. (p. 16)
1-3. Who signed the Patriot Act into law following the events of September 11th?
a. President Clinton
b. Supreme Court Justice O’Connor
c. President Bush (p. 10)
d. Senator Ted Kennedy
1-4. The Elusive Criminal Justice Experiment means that
a. it is hard to determine with absolute certainty if approaches to control crime are
successes or failures. (p. 15)
b. legislators are highly effective in creating social policy to eliminate crime.
c. social phenomena such as crime is relatively simple to measure and thus produces a
concrete field for study.
d. criminologists lack the expertise to properly identify and study a macro-level crime problem.
1-5. Crime control polices that push crime into other neighborhoods is a problem known as
a. diffusion.
b. displacement. (p. 17)
c. redirection.
d. confusion.
1-6. Which of the following terms denotes researchers who have an interest in receiving funding to
research a hot topic?
a. bandwagon science (p. 20)
b. original research
c. academic crusader
d. cross-sectional researcher
61
,1-7. Targeting low-level crimes, such as street-level drug dealing and prostitution, in an effort to deter
more serious crime is known as the
a. fractured society theory
b. fragmented circle theory
c. broken windows theory (p.4)
d. collapsed neighborhood theory
1-8. A private foundation supplying a criminal justice agency with funding is providing
a. solution funding.
b. soft money. (p. 20)
c. hard money.
d. research shortage funding.
1-9. Which type of science would evaluate the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program?
a. soft sciences (p. 14)
b. determinate sciences
c. hard sciences
d. indeterminate sciences
1-10. A method used to determine whether an approach to the crime problem is a success or failure is
called
a. process evaluation.
b. learning outcomes.
c. methodology analysis.
d. outcome evaluation. (p. 13)
1-11. Micro-level crime control is
a. one that affects many people.
b. concerned with large numbers of individuals.
c. more isolated geographically. (p. 16)
d. seen as affecting an entire state or nation.
1-12. Which of the following is not a type of displacement?
a. spatial
b. vector (p. 17)
c. tactical
d. target
1-13. Science used by someone to advance their own political priorities is known as a(n)
a. academic attention getter.
b. academic lobbyist.
c. academic crusade. (p. 20)
1-14. A person who evades paying taxes is committing what type of crime?
a. white-collar crime (p. 3)
b. violent crime
c. property crime
d. morality crime
62
,1-15. Determining whether the addition of more patrol officers reduces crime in a specific beat or
precinct, is an example of
a. input.
b. output.
c. evaluation. (p. 14)
d. summation.
True or False
___ 1-16. The mass media heightens people’s fear of crime. (True, p. 9)
___ 1-17. As crime rates decline, people tend to express less fear of being a crime victim. (False, p.9)
___ 1-18. Public order crimes such as prostitution, pornography, gambling and substance abuse are
called morality crimes. (True, p. 4)
___ 1-19. Tax evasion is a white-collar crime. (True, p. 3)
___ 1-20. Criminology is called a hard science. (False, p. 14)
___ 1-21. Longitudinal studies take place at a single point in time. (False, p. 19)
___ 1-22. An academic crusade involves the practice of convincing others that one approach to crime
control is superior to another. (True, p. 20)
___ 1-23. Decriminalization expands the number of activities that are defined as criminal. (False, p. 4)
___ 1-24. Three-strikes legislation is solely intended to control crime and not to prevent it. (False, p. 2)
___ 1-25. Crime reduction policies can cause criminal activity to be displaced. (True, p. 17)
Fill-In
1-26. __________ constitutes the “bread and butter” of crime control. (Criminal law, p. 10)
1-27. __________ is a type of research that involves number-crunching and statistical analysis of data.
(Quantitative, p. 16)
1-28. __________ can drive crime problems into neighboring areas. (Displacement, p. 17)
1-29. _________ knowledge can be considered tentative, because researchers use different measures to
represent the same phenomenon. (Scientific, p. 18)
1-30. The funding of a police agency through the appropriations process is termed _________. (Hard
money, p. 20)
63
, 1-31. A researcher following the same group over a long period of time is conducting
_________. (Longitudinal research, p. 19)
1-32. _________ is a problem concerned with the extent to which researchers’ findings can be carried
over to a series of locations. (Generalization, p. 18)
1-33. _________ research is a study that takes place at a single point in time. (Cross-sectional, p. 19)
1-34. _________ crime is ill-defined but generally consists of crimes committed by people during the
course of their professional careers. (White-collar, p. 3)
1-35. _________ of crime is concerned with crime patterns over time. (Temporal distribution, p. 4)
Instructor Essay Questions and Suggested Answers
1. Explain what is meant by the term victimization paradox and describe its consequences.
The term victimization paradox suggests that most people’s fear of being the victim of a violent crime
is far greater than the actual likelihood of being victimized. Research has shown that although women
and the elderly are least likely to be crime victims, their fear of crime remains relatively high.
Unfortunately, the fear of crime can have negative consequences upon one’s quality of life. Excessive
fear causes people to withdraw from normal everyday interaction within the community they reside.
Additionally, fear discourages business development and can contribute to the deterioration of
neighborhoods. (p. 9)
2. Define the term displacement and provide some examples of the various types.
Research has suggested that even when crime control policy leads to a short-term reduction in crime,
the policy might in fact be displacing the problem to another neighborhood. Not only can criminal
activity be pushed from one neighborhood to another, displacement can cause a variety of other
possible outcomes. These other outcomes might include temporal displacement, which causes a
criminal to change the time of day that they plan to execute a crime. Another outcome of displacement
might be tactical, wherein a criminal acquires a new method of operation for the purpose of committing
a crime. Sometimes displacement causes offenders to select new property or persons to victimize. This
is known as target displacement. Another form of displacement can result when criminals are arrested
and new offenders replace them, committing similar offences known as perpetrator displacement.
(p. 17)
3. Describe the elements of a classical experiment and explain why it is not commonly used in the field
of criminal justice.
The classical experiment consists of three distinct elements. These elements include: a) a treatment
group and a control group, b) a pretest and a posttest, and c) a controlled intervention. The treatment
group is the one that will receive an intervention. The control group is the one that does not get
exposed to the intervention. In other words, this group will conduct “business as usual”. Next the
pretest and posttest are measured before and after the intervention. Finally, a controlled intervention is
administered by the researcher. Due to the inherent limitations in the social sciences, classical
experiments are rare in criminal justice. Many times the difficulties associated with the classical
64
