Crime Control Technology and Criminal Behavior: Understanding the Relationship, Exams of Economics

Download Crime Control Technology and Criminal Behavior: Understanding the Relationship and more Exams Economics in PDF only on Docsity! Name______________________________ Dr. Phillips Economics 160 Spring 2003 Dr. Votey MIDTERM EXAMINATION (possible points 150) Part I (20 minutes) Answer all 20 questions. Choose the BEST answer and mark your Scantron 40 Points Sheet accordingly. 1. The Law Enforcement Production Function a. specifies the function of the police in the state statutes that deal with law enforcement and criminal justice. b. is the graduation ceremony for police recruits who have completed their training c. is a relationship that relates law enforcement output measures such as crimes cleared by arrest to the inputs that are required to produce that output. d. is another name for the police academy course that, during their training, educates police recruits, about how crime is controlled. e. describes the negative relationship between police numbers and levels of public safety. 2. Crime Generation a is the title of the Trilogy by Jeremy Bentham who detailed the alarming forces affecting the rise in crime in early 19th century England. b. is a functional relationship that describes the factors and processes, such as lack of economic opportunities and the deterrent effects of law enforcement that influence individuals to commit crimes against other individuals and society.. c. the name given to the youth who became of age to participate in crime in the early 1980's when crime participation was beginning to peak d. none of the above. e. a. and b. 3. Jeremy Bentham a. has been called the father of modern economic decision theory. b. in the early 19th century, was among the first to describe the analysis that society should use to work out deterrent measures to control crime. c. described the logic that criminals used to decide whether or not to commit a crime, and that formed the basis for his prescriptions for society to control crime, expressed in terms of pain and pleasure. d. was a popular figure in crime fiction created by the legendary author Arthur Conan Doyle. e. all but d. 4. In an analysis of the seeming trade-off between equity and efficiency in the determination of the level of crime that will result in a society, a. Lester Thurow stated that, if we act to spread existing resources so that crime rates are equalized across all of the states the average level of crime will fall. b. if two communities, one rich and one poor, have the same preferences regarding crime control and spending on other goods and services and identical crime control technologies, the poor community will have lower average levels of crime. 1 c. if the rich and poor communities have the same crime control technologies and preferences, the rich will tend to spend a greater share of income on crime control. d. if both the rich and poor communities have identical crime control technologies and preferences, the lower crime rates for the poor community can be perceived as an offset to the fact of being poor. e. None of the above. 5. The private optimum speed a. is the correct speed for individual drivers to maintain in emergencies and the social optimum is the speed at which all public vehicles from police patrol vehicles to garbage trucks should maintain in non-emergency situations. b. is the speed at which at which all drivers who are concerned with the social welfare should drive. c. is the fastest a driver should go who wishes to avoid violating the speed laws. d. is the speed we can all drive and avoid the problems of air pollution from exhaust emissions. e. none of the above. 6. Setting the blood alcohol level (BAC) established for California of .08 percent a. has had almost no influence on the control of drunken driving since its establishment in the mid 1980’s. b. is regarded as the major factor in reducing deaths due to drunken driving in California and the U.S. by roughly 1/3 since the mid 80’s. c. is included as a guideline for safe driving distributed by the DMV with a new drivers license. d. should be ruled unconstitutional because it effectively requires a person to testify against himself. e. both b. and c. are true. 7. The economic paradigm a. describes the methodology which U. S. firms employ to guarantee maximum rewards to CEO’s and other senior management in the U.S. in recent years. b. is achieved through the application of four steps: profit maximization, cost minimization, careful selection of corporate directors, and effective product promotion when markets are weak. c. is a process of a three steps requiring: 1. careful specification of the feasible alternatives, 2. valuation of the alternatives and 3. optimization, i.e., selecting the best option. d. describes the enigma that achieving economic efficiency in both rich and poor communities serves the objectives of the poor to a greater degree than of the rich. e. only applies to outcomes of management decision making when markets are imperfect. 8. The economist's term Consumers' Surplus a. is the money remaining from a household budget when falling prices lower the cost of planned purchases. 2 e. none of the above 19. The plurality of victims of violent offenders were found to believe a. the offender was high on drugs b. the offender was high on booze c. the offender was high on drugs and booze d. the offender was not using either e. none of the above 20. The crime control technology curve a. shows how crime per capita varies with expenditures per capita on criminal justice b. shows the options for choice, the first step of the economic paradigm c. is downward sloping if crime is controllable d. all of the above e. shows the total costs of crime per capita, the sum of expenditures on criminal justice plus the damages to victims Part II (10 minutes) Answer both questions. Fill in the blanks. 20 points 1. The crime control technology reflects a relationship between expenditures on crime control and offenses that are, in turn a function of the force of deterrence effects, social and economic conditions, and moral compliance influences. Based on what is discussed in this course, what would most likely cause the crime control technology curve to shift upward ( higher offense rates) for a given level of expenditures on crime control? ___________________________________________________________________________. (in one sentence or less) Hint: OF = f ( CR, SV, SE, MC ) and CR = g ( OF, L ) 2. Fill in the blanks from the vocabulary below: The first step in the economic paradigm or way of thinking is to list the _______ _____ _______ Values of alternatives Options for choice all optimal solutions The bottom line price times quantity price plus tax 5 Part III (20 minutes) Answer both questions. 40 points 1. On the following set of axes is depicted a rich community's Crime Consumption Possibility Frontier derived from the relationships displayed. a. Fill in the blanks labeling the axes (4) and quadrants (4). b. Draw in the Budget Constraint for a poorer community starting at point P, and label it. c. Derive the poorer community's Crime Consumption Possibility Frontier and label it. d. Show the levels of offenses for the poor and rich communities by labeling them OFR and OFP ………… 6 P R R 2. Two states, Arizona and Nevada, are illustrated as being on the same Crime Control Technology a. Assume that Arizona is minimizing the total social costs of crime, the sum of expenditures per capita on the criminal justice system plus damages to victims. Yet Nevada has a lower crime rate. Why shouldn’t Arizona follow Nevada’s example? b. Draw in the total social cost of crime line for Arizona, and the corresponding line for Nevada. Which represents the lowest total social cost of crime per capita? 7 Crime Control Technology, Nevada and Arizona $- $50.00 $100.00 $150.00 $200.00 $250.00 $300.00 $350.00 $400.00 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 Uniform Crime Reports Index Crimes Per Capita C JS E xp en d it u re s P er C ap it a Arizona Nevada