Race and Sentencing: In Search of Fairness and Justice

Multiple Choice

7.1 To be fair, a sentencing scheme must allow the judge or jury _______to shape sentences to fit individuals and their crimes.

a. discretion c. time

b. power d. discrimination

ANS: A

REF: 283

LO: 1

7.2 According to Zatz, the issue of __________ in sentencing “may well have been the major research inquiry for studies of sentencing in the 1970s and 1980s.”

a. equity c. racial discrimination

b. economic discrimination d. racial disparity

ANS: D

REF: 287

LO: 3

7.3 When racial disparity in sentencing occurs in some contexts, but not others, it is called:

a. internal discrimination c. institutional discrimination

b. subtle racial discrimination d. deliberate discrimination

ANS: B

REF: 286

LO: 1

7.4 ____________________is a legally relevant factor that may very well be “race-linked”. .

a. Place of residence c. Prior criminal record

b. Education d. Socioeconomic status

ANS: C

REF: 288

LO: 2

7.5 There are _____ types of evidence of racial disparity in sentencing identified by the authors.

a. two c. five

b. three d. six

ANS: A

REF: 284

LO: 1

7.6 According to the research on disparity and sentencing, racial minorities are sentenced more harshly when the victim is ________________.

a. white c. female

b. poor d. young

ANS: A

REF: 290

LO: 7

7.7 Concerns about the changes in the racial/ethnic makeup of a community, coupled with stereotypes linking race and ethnicity to drug use and drug-related crime and violence, may lead to __________ among sentencing officials.

a. overt discrimination c. unconscious racism

b. contextual discrimination d. indirect discrimination

ANS: C

REF: 295

LO: 1

7.8 Ojmarrh Mitchell’s meta-analysis of published research on race and sentencing found a larger effect size in jurisdictions without _________________.

a. full time public defenders c. structured sentencing guidelines

b. pretrial release programs d. indeterminate sentencing

ANS: C

REF: 291

LO: 3

7.9 Reviews of sentencing studies from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were:

a. methodologically flawed. c. theoretically baseless.

b. methodologically sophisticated. d. too limited in scope.

ANS: A

REF: 288

LO: 3

7.10 The term __________ characterizes that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

a. predators c. social predators

b. social dynamite d. social feeders

ANS: B

REF: 304

LO: 8

7.11 The __________ suggests that jurors deviate from their fact-finding mission in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

a. complacency hypothesis c. contradiction theory

b. liberation hypothesis d. nullification hypothesis

ANS: B

REF: 312

LO: 6

7.12 Most sentencing research examines the sentences imposed on offenders convicted of:

a. drug offenses. c. felonies.

b. violent crimes. d. white collar crimes

ANS: C

REF: 315

LO: 3

7.13 Sentencing studies from the 1930s through the 1960s usually used __________ statistical techniques.

a. bivariate c. unsophisticated

b. inadequate d. multivariate

ANS: A

REF: 288

LO: 3

7.14 _________________is one example of a “process-related” factor that interacts with race to explain disparity in sentencing between minorities and whites.

a. Unemployment c. Gender

b. Neighborhood composition d. Pretrial detention

ANS: D

REF: 292LO: 4

7.15 Studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s generally concluded that racial disparities in sentencing reflected __________ racial discrimination.

a. indirect c. economic

b. overt d. contextual

ANS: B

REF: 289

LO: 6

7.16 Steffensmeier and Demuth’s study of race and sentencing in Pennsylvania revealed that ________________had the highest likelihood of being incarcerated.

a. African Americans c. Hispanics

b. Whites d. Asian Americans

ANS: C

REF: 295

LO: 6

7.17 Research comparing the sentences of illegal immigrants to U.S. citizens has found that illegal immigrants are more likely to be sentenced to prison, but are more likely to _____________________.

a. receive a shorter prison sentence c. be sentenced under guidelines

b. have their sentences suspended d. plead guilty as charged

ANS: A

REF: 297

LO: 6

7.19 The numerous studies of racial disparity in sentencing conducted during the 1970s and 1980s are notable for their __________ theoretical and methodological sophistication.

a. variation in c. uniformity in

b. creativity in d. low levels of

ANS: A

REF: 287

LO: 3

7.19 Recent studies examining racial disparity in sentencing have included _______________because of their popular image as “the model minority.”57

a. Hispanics c. Native Americans

b. Asian Americans d. Illegal Aliens

ANS: B

REF: 298

LO: 6

7.20 The judge or jury must be free to consider all relevant aggravating and ________ circumstances.

a. prejudicial c. important

b. racial d. mitigating

ANS: D

REF: 283

LO: 1

7.21 Differential treatment of interracial and intraracial sexual assaults continued even after passage of the ________Amendment, which outlawed explicit statutory racial discrimination

a. Nineteenth c. Fifth

b. Sixth d. Fourteenth

ANS: D

REF: 307

LO: 7

7.22 Some researchers, building on Kalven and Zeisel’s “liberation hypothesis,”122 assert that African Americans will be sentenced more harshly than whites in:

a. all cases c. more serious cases

b. no cases d. less serious cases

ANS: D

REF: 312

LO: 9

7.23 Auerhahn suggested that the offender’s race and ethnicity would not have a direct effect on the length of the sentence. Rather, she hypothesized that harsher treatment would be reserved for African American and Hispanic defendants who more closely matched stereotypes of:

a. dangerousness and threat c. illegal aliens

b. past criminals d. flight risks

ANS: A

REF:314

LO: 5

7.24 There is relatively little research testing for racial discrimination in the sentencing of individuals convicted of misdemeanor offenses. Because the lower courts where misdemeanor cases are handled usually have huge caseloads and informal, nonadversarial procedures for delivering what is often referred to as _______________,one might predict that the likelihood of racially disparate decisions would be even greater in these courts than in the more formal felony courts.

a. “American justice” c. “real justice”

b. “procedural justice” d. “assembly-line justice,”

ANS: D

REF: 315

LO: 3

7.25 The task of assessing the effect of race on sentencing is complicated by the _________, which critics contend has been fought primarily in minority communities.

a. war on poverty c. war on drugs

b. war on terrorism d. war on crime

ANS: C

REF: 316

LO: 4

True/False

7.26 The term social predators characterizes that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 304

LO: 2

7.27 The numerous studies of racial disparity in sentencing conducted during the 1970s and 1980s are notable for their low levels of theoretical and methodological sophistication.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 287

LO: 3

7.28 Research examining the interactions of legally irrelevant sentencing factors has found race, gender, and age to have significant direct effects on sentence severity.

a. True b. False

ANS: A

REF: 301

LO: 5

7.29 The liberation hypothesis suggests that jurors deviate from fact-finding in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

a. True b. False

ANS: A

REF: 312

LO: 9

7.30 Judges have access to all relevant information when determining an offender’s culpability or dangerousness to society at the time of imposing sentence.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 304

LO: 8

7.31 Most of the research on sentencing examines the sentences imposed on offenders convicted of felonies.

a. True b. False

ANS: A

REF: 315

LO: 3

7.32 The differential treatment of interracial crimes is most pronounced with property crimes.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 306

LO: 7

7.33 Research has shown that whites are more likely to believe that serving time in prison is less of a hassle than alternative forms of sentencing.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 311

LO: 7

7.34 It has been argued that “the recent blackening of America’s prison population”130 is a result of America’s war on drugs.

a. True b. False

ANS: A

REF: 316

LO: 11

7.35 Reviews of sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were too limited in scope.

a. True b. False

ANS: B

REF: 288

LO: 3

Fill-In

7.36 Sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s usually used __________ statistical techniques.

ANS: bivariate

REF: 288

LO: 3

7.37 One possible explanation for racial disparity in sentencing is that minorities are more often subject to facially neutral _______________which proscribe more severe sentences or sentence enhancements.

ANS: laws and policies

REF: 286LO: 1

7.38 The __________ hypothesis suggests that jurors deviate from fact-finding in cases in which the evidence against the defendant is weak or contradictory.

ANS: liberation

REF: 312

LO: 9

7.39 The fact that minorities have a greater likelihood of pretrial detention and unemployment, which often leads to harsher sentences, is an example of ______________discrimination.

ANS: indirect

REF: 286

LO: 9

7.40 Steffensmeier and his colleagues argue that judges develop a _______________based on stereotypes and attributions that are linked to offender characteristics.

ANS: perceptual shorthand

REF: 304

LO: 5

7.41 David Greenberg has suggested that some judges may be concerned about changes in the racial/ethnic makeup of a community and display ____________________racism in their sentencing decisions

ANS: unconscious

REF: 295

LO: 6

7.42 Research comparing the sentencing decisions of African American and white state court judges has yielded ___________results.

ANS: mixed

REF: 326

LO: 10

7.43 Studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s generally concluded that racial disparities in sentencing reflected __________ racial discrimination.

ANS: overt

REF: 288

LO: 9

7.44 Reviews of sentencing studies conducted from the 1930s through the 1960s found that most were methodologically __________.

ANS: flawed

REF: 288

LO: 3

7.45 The term social __________ to characterize that segment of the deviant population that is viewed as particularly threatening and dangerous.

ANS: dynamite

REF: 304

LO: 1

Essay