CRM1300 Test Questions with 100% Correct
Solutions
What is deterrence? - Answer the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of
punishment.Pain of punishment > pleasure of crime
Certainty better than severity
Public, prompt and certain
Public symbolism
Clear, simple & socially accepted laws
Criticisms of Deterrence Theory - Answer Prison reduce, not increase deterrence
Can't overly criminalize people
Rational choice theory (too simplistic)
Detection problematic (must catch them)
Knowledge of law & message received?
Economic costs & does not reduce recidivism (20%in prison-1%recidivism)
Punishment = inequalities (hurts more then helps)
Alternatives (maybe we need to look at other harms then the ones committed such as
the person's background)
Understanding Official Crime Statistics - Answer what are they trying to tell us, the origin
of criminological "facts". "facts" because they are no hard facts
"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, be aware that statistics can and have been abused by
politicians etc.
"Data does not speak for themselves" don't take it at face value, the stats don't tell us
the actuality of society
, Offences known to the police, they are collected based on incidences known to the
police, crime facts are based on this information, therefor all the crime that don't come
to the attention of police aren't known
UCR (Uniform Crime Report) - Answer a survey developed by statistics Canada
(Canadian Center for Justice Statistics), the procedures they take the statistics, have a
system in place that has consistency across Canada, so all the police collect it the same,
all police agencies are required to submit this on an annual basis.
4 approaches to crime statistics - Answer Prima facie, Constructionist-institutionalist,
Structural, Integrationist
prima facie - Answer crime statistics are somewhat accurate index of crime, ignores
differences in jurisdictions, ignores if the police has different resources,we take the
crime stats from their face value
Constructionist-institutionalist - Answer this tells about the people and institutions
construction crime stats then about crime itself, so how the courts and police are
dealing with it, then the criminals themselves, which asks us if they're manipulating the
data
Structural - Answer how police resources get used more on some crimes than others,
these decisions decide what crimes we collect, the state is not neutral when it comes to
its choice to collect crime statistics, what to call a crime, what crime to catch, how to
report etc.
Integrationist - Answer synthesizes the basics of all the previous perspectives and says
we have to be alert to all of them, that there are a variety of forces both individual and
structural that shape what crime statistics look like. We can make crime statistics by
being aware of the other three perspectives
Solutions
What is deterrence? - Answer the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of
punishment.Pain of punishment > pleasure of crime
Certainty better than severity
Public, prompt and certain
Public symbolism
Clear, simple & socially accepted laws
Criticisms of Deterrence Theory - Answer Prison reduce, not increase deterrence
Can't overly criminalize people
Rational choice theory (too simplistic)
Detection problematic (must catch them)
Knowledge of law & message received?
Economic costs & does not reduce recidivism (20%in prison-1%recidivism)
Punishment = inequalities (hurts more then helps)
Alternatives (maybe we need to look at other harms then the ones committed such as
the person's background)
Understanding Official Crime Statistics - Answer what are they trying to tell us, the origin
of criminological "facts". "facts" because they are no hard facts
"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, be aware that statistics can and have been abused by
politicians etc.
"Data does not speak for themselves" don't take it at face value, the stats don't tell us
the actuality of society
, Offences known to the police, they are collected based on incidences known to the
police, crime facts are based on this information, therefor all the crime that don't come
to the attention of police aren't known
UCR (Uniform Crime Report) - Answer a survey developed by statistics Canada
(Canadian Center for Justice Statistics), the procedures they take the statistics, have a
system in place that has consistency across Canada, so all the police collect it the same,
all police agencies are required to submit this on an annual basis.
4 approaches to crime statistics - Answer Prima facie, Constructionist-institutionalist,
Structural, Integrationist
prima facie - Answer crime statistics are somewhat accurate index of crime, ignores
differences in jurisdictions, ignores if the police has different resources,we take the
crime stats from their face value
Constructionist-institutionalist - Answer this tells about the people and institutions
construction crime stats then about crime itself, so how the courts and police are
dealing with it, then the criminals themselves, which asks us if they're manipulating the
data
Structural - Answer how police resources get used more on some crimes than others,
these decisions decide what crimes we collect, the state is not neutral when it comes to
its choice to collect crime statistics, what to call a crime, what crime to catch, how to
report etc.
Integrationist - Answer synthesizes the basics of all the previous perspectives and says
we have to be alert to all of them, that there are a variety of forces both individual and
structural that shape what crime statistics look like. We can make crime statistics by
being aware of the other three perspectives
