Questions:
1. Bob hits Sally with a shovel. In this situation, which of the following is the mens rea?
A. The shovel
B. Bob
C. Bob's blameworthy state of mind
D. The act of hitting Sally
2. Which of the following is false regarding crime rates in the United States?
A. Burglaries are more numerous than motor vehicle thefts.
B. Forcible rapes are more numerous than murders.
C. Larcenies are more numerous than robberies.
D. Violent crimes are more numerous than property crimes.
3. Which of the following is not a key element of classic experimental design?
A. Reciprocity
B. Experimental and control groups
C. Pretests and posttests
D. Equivalence
4. Which of the following acts is most likely mala prohibita?
A. Assault
B. Rape
C. Theft
D. Failure to file income taxes by April 15
5. Which of the following is most likely mala in se?
A. Failure to display proof of insurance on your windshield
B. Littering
C. Illegal parking
D. Murder
6. Victim surveys suggest that official statistics
A. overstate crime in order to qualify for increased federal funds.
B. accurately report the amount of crime occurring.
C. overstate the amount of crime occurring.
D. understate the amount of crime occurring.
7. Which of the following is the most important agent of socialization?
A. Religious denomination
B. School
C. Family
D. Peers
8. A system of mutual trust, in which a subject is asked to share information with a researcher in the belief
that the information will not be used in an inappropriate, harmful or embarrassing manner, is
A. deviance.
B. reciprocity.
C. operationalization.
D. Gemeinschaft.
9. The crime index is
A. unweighted, as a murder counts the same as a bicycle theft.
B. weighted according to danger of crime.
C. weighted according to severity of harm caused by the crime.
D. weighted according to whether the crime involves harm to person or property.
10. Your textbook states that researchers should be objective. In this case, the term objective means
A. careful.
B. judgmental.
C. purposeful.
D. value free.
11. The hypothesis that mass media can promote violent tendencies is the _______ hypothesis.
A. reciprocity
B. precipitation
C. catharsis
D. operationalization
12. What is the primary role of a criminologist?
A. Prison supervision
B. Scientific study of crime
C. Prosecution of criminals
D. Law enforcement
13. Which of the following is not a characteristic of criminal law?
A. Crimes are defined specifically.
B. The law should be applied uniformly.
C. The law involves penal sanctions for violations.
D. The law is enforced by private parties who are victims.
14. The annual aggregate burden of crime in dollars is closest to which of the following figures?
A. $1.7 trillion
B. $2 billion
C. $100 million
D. $1 billion
15. Which of the following is not an "index crime" under the UCR?
A. Arson
B. Prostitution
C. Forcible rape
D. Murder
16. The aspect of criminology that studies why and how crime occurs is called
A. operationalization.
B. methodology.
C. theory.
D. deviance.
17. Methodology addresses the question of
A. "Why?"
B. "How?"
C. "What should be?"
D. "What is?"
18. A mailing with questions asking if you or your family have been crime victims is most likely
A. the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
B. the Uniform Crime Reports.
C. a criminology experiment.
D. a victim survey.
19. Operationalization involves the process of
A. using a quantitative measure.
B. a subject being interviewed.
C. defining how a concept is being measured.
D. gathering data in a certain setting.
20. Which of the following is not true regarding ethics in criminology research?
A. Subjects have the right to confidentiality.
End of exam
B. The American Society of Criminology has a code of ethics.
C. Ethics are irrelevant, as research involves science rather than moral judgments.
D. The Academy of Criminal Justice has a code of ethics.