Intro to Corrections (CRM 331) Name: ________________________
Exam #2, March 28-29, 2023
This exam has four sections which add up to 100 points. Your score on this exam will count 33% of your final grade unless you choose to do a paper, in which case the exam will count 25% of your final grade. Good luck, and be sure to answer all the questions.
I. True/False 30 pts. Type/enter T or F in the space provided. (2 points each)
1. _____ Loss of agency is described as one of the “Harms” associated with life in prison.
2. _____ When communities attract prisons in order to spark economic development this is
called prison privatization.
3. _____ Mandatory minimum sentencing is a form of indeterminate sentencing.
4. _____ Most of the people held in U.S. jails have not been convicted of a crime.
5. _____ Research by Tunnell and others show that most offenders have a pretty good idea of
the punishment they would receive if they were caught.
6. _____ At peak prison population in 2009, The PEW Center for the States determined that 1
in 31 adult Americans was serving time in prison.
7. _____ Under the Anti-Drug Abuse act of 1986, powder cocaine defendants were punished
much more severely than crack cocaine defendants.
8. _____ Research on active offenders shows that informal punishments play a much greater
role than formal punishments in deterring their criminal behavior.
9. _____ The increase in the number of offenders serving LWOP reflects an increase in the
certainty of punishment.
10. _____ Wright and Decker examine the decision-making process of armed robbers.
11. _____ “Flossing” is likely to draw punishment/revenge from other street criminals.
12. _____ Michigan has registered one of the largest increases in prison populations over the
past 7-8 years compared to other states.
13. _____ Most offenders under correctional supervision are in prisons and jails.
14. _____ The decline in U.S. prison populations during the first two years of the COVID
pandemic was primarily due to state prisons releasing more inmates.
15. _____ Crank and Brezina claim that the criminal lifestyle serves to neutralize the intended
punitive effect of prison.
II. Multiple Choice/Guess 30 pts. Type/enter an asterisk (*) next to the letter that corresponds to your answer. (2 points each)
16. Power/control is identified as the main reason/motivation for why __________ committed
their crimes.
a. Armed robbers
b. Carjackers
c. Auto thieves
d. Sex offenders
e. Burglars
17. The PEW research reports argue that the major factor influencing the rise in prison populations over the past 30 years is
a. an increase in crime rates
b. higher rates of revocation back to prison among those serving community-based sanctions
c. more offenders choosing prison rather than community-based sanctions
d. an increase in the amount of time served by incarcerated offenders
e. none of the above
18. Clemmer and colleagues argue that prisonization can be understood as the adoption of a(n) ____________________ among incarcerated offenders, who learn the informal rules of how to live in prison.
a. defensive worldview
b. inmate code
c. stigma
d. prisonized worldview
e. none of the above
19. The use of better risk assessment instruments has helped Michigan
a. do better at classifying inmates in correctional facilities
b. design treatment programs for inmates in prison
c. make better choices about which prisoners should receive parole
d. identify sex offenders
e. decide which neighborhoods are at greater risk for crime
20. Opportunity, rather than careful planning, is more characteristic of ____________________ than any other street crime.
a. armed robbery
b. residential burglary
c. auto theft
d. car-jacking
e. sex offending
21. Research by scholars like Copes, Fleisher, Wright and Decker, and Tunnell
a. shows that habitual offenders would rather do prison than an alternative sanction
b. shows that habitual offenders are very concerned about being caught
c. shows that the majority of criminal offenders feel bad when they commit crimes
d. shows that habitual offenders are worried about the prison experience
e. none of the above
22. Which of the following was NOT a reform/policy used by Michigan to reduce its prison population?
a. provide community-based services to released inmates to reduce recidivism
b. consider parole at each inmate’s Earliest Release Date
c. abolish all mandatory minimum sentences
d. increase the percent of inmates who are granted parole
e. empty and close 20+ prisons in Michigan
23. When offenders violate the conditions of their release, or violate the conditions of their community-based sanctions, this often results in
a. recidivism
b. revocation
c. administrative segregation
d. solitary confinement
e. none of the above
24. Since roughly 1980, U.S. correctional policy has emphasized
a. rehabilitation
b. indeterminate sentencing
c. transportation
d. non-custodial sanctions
e. determinate sentencing
25. Work by Tunnell, Copes, Fleisher, and Wright and Decker are examples of
a. convict criminology
b. research that is supportive of deterrence
c quantitative research
d. ethnographic research
e. none of the above
26. Which of the following four observations about American corrections is FALSE?
a. The number of persons in American prisons and jails has declined over the past 8-10 years.
b. Michigan is among the top five states when counting people serving LWOP.
c. Solitary confinement for as little as 10 days results in negative psychological effects.
d. About 70% of offenders under correctional supervision are serving non-custodial sanctions.
e. All the above statements are true.
27. Which of the following statements about life imprisonment is FALSE?
a. Over two thirds of Federal inmates serving life have been convicted of non-violent offenses
b. Virtual life sentences are sentences of at least 50 years before parole consideration
c. One in every seven persons in prison is serving a life or virtual life sentence
d. Texas has more inmates serving life sentences than any other state
e. Most Louisiana inmates serving a life sentences are serving Life Without Parole
28. Most offenders placed in administrative segregation are there because
a. they were sentenced to administrative segregation by the court
b. they asked for administrative segregation
c. on arrival in a prison, all offenders are placed in “adseg” for the first few weeks
d. they have misbehaved in prison and may be dangerous to other inmates or staff
e. none of the above
29. Many sentencing reforms during the imprisonment binge were designed to reduce:
a. the deterrent effect of punishment
b. the likelihood of imprisonment
c. judicial discretion in sentencing
d. plea bargaining
e. none of the above
30. Which of the following is NOT one of the four “narratives of penal consciousness” or ways in which offenders experience prison according to Frederique and Sexton?
a. punishment as part of life
b. punishment as a better life
c. punishment as a separate life
d. punishment as death
e. punishment as suspension of life
III. Fill-Ins 30 pts. Type/enter the term/concept in the space provided. (2 points each)
31. ____________________ is said to be a process whereby an inmate takes on the norms, values, customs and general culture of the penitentiary.
32. Heith Copes describes the lifestyle and rewards associated with offenders who pursue the crime of ____________________.
33. The ____________________ is the most commonly used measure of the level of imprisonment in a society.
34. Research by both Copes and Wright & Decker find that after the money, ____________________ and ____________________ are primary reasons to commit crimes.
35. A program called the ____________________ has resulted in a significant decline in recidivism, and the number of Michigan inmates revoked back to prison after being released.
36. Fleisher and others claim that a ____________________ is learned in childhood through a process of socialization and is common among many people who pursue a criminal lifestyle.
37. ____________________ for a little as 10 days has been shown to cause significant mental and/or physical problems in inmates.
38. ____________________ and ____________________ are both reasons offered by active burglars for why they decided NOT to commit a burglary.
39. A sentence of “no less than 5 years and no more than 30 years” would be considered a(n) ____________________ sentence.
40. Two examples of the “harms” of imprisonment discussed by Irwin are ____________________ and ____________________.
41. Michigan abolished nearly all ____________________, contributing to a decline in the state prison population.
42. The ____________________ was started in the early 1980s by the Reagan administration, and was the major source of rising prison populations thru 2010.
43. Inmates who can’t make it in the general population, either because they have been labeled snitches, or are too weak to survive without protection, or are likely to be targeted by predatory inmates, are often placed in ____________________.
44. The use of confidential informants is a common data collection technique in a type of research called ____________________.
45.____________________ is the term Garland applied to the unprecedented increase in correctional populations in the U.S. over the past 30 years.
IV. Essay. 10 Points: Choose one of these essays to answer on this exam. Be as thorough as you can in your answer. Use space below to type your answer. You can use additional pages below if needed.
1) Explain the defining features of mass imprisonment in the U.S. and present some numbers/rates/measurements that show the growth in incarceration in the U.S. over the past 40 years or so. Finally, identify and explain the factors that have contributed to the growth in prison and jail populations.
2) Explain the ethnographic research method—how is it done? What do the ethnographic studies of active offenders and offenders under correctional supervision (Tunnell, Wright and Decker, Copes, Wood et al, Crank and Brezina) tell us about criminal decision- making and motivations to commit crimes? What might these findings mean for the effectiveness of punishment policies based on the concept of deterrence?