STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM 3 VIOLENCE IN AMERICA FALL 2016
PROFESSOR HIGGINS O’BRIEN
Exam Review: Below you will find the review questions for our third and final exam, which will be made available to you through Blackboard on Thursday, December 15th from 12:01am to 11:59pm and you will have 3 hours to take the exam once you start
Review Questions: Your exam will consist of 4-6 questions, drawn from the material provided below. The exam covers material on the class schedule from week 12, Robbery and Workplace Violence through week 15 Institutional Violence
To prepare, I recommend that you draft answers to each study question, using the materials, lectures, links, and readings assigned to date. I am interested in your critical analysis, but be sure to demonstrate that you have read the materials assigned, including the lectures, materials posted on website, and films viewed in class. As you look at the questions I list below, you will notice that your answers require two things: (1) knowledge of the facts needed to answer the question, and (2) critical thinking skills.
1. Name and describe the 4 types of workplace violence both in your textbook and the workplace violence report, which type is most deadly? Which one is most common in the workplace? Which is responsible for the term “going postal” and what does that mean?
2. According to Reidel and Welsh, give an example of one of their explanations for school violence (individual, institutional, and community) and explain fully discussing the corresponding criminological theory.
3. Explain the Routine Activities Theory and then apply it to one of the violence topics from this part of the semester and explain why it could be responsible for that type of violence.
4. Explain the following theories as they relate to hate crime: Group Conflict Theory, Strain Theory and Social Learning Theory. Which do you prefer and why?
5. Reviewing the Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence and your textbook (chapter 10) explain if and how any of the following school shootings could have been prevented. Columbine, Virginia Tech, or Northern Illinois University or Sandy Hook Elementary School.
6. Discuss and explain two of the following explanations of robbery: (a) differential opportunity, (b) control theory, (c) routine activities, (d) social learning theories, (e) symbolic interaction theory.
7. There are three broad categories of responses to the prison violence and disorder problem: (1) inmate-focused strategies designed to resolve the ongoing conflicts among inmates using restorative justice and conflict resolution techniques; (2) staff-focused strategies designed to change the “negative” staff culture that exists in many U.S. prisons today; and (3) management focused strategies designed to change the “situational context” of prisons (e.g., daily routines, access to programs, staffing patterns, crowding reduction) in order to reduce violence and disorder in these facilities. Which of these approaches do you find most effective and why?
8. In the article “In Search of the Tossed Salad Man”, Byrne and Hummer use comedian Chris Rock’s humorous depiction of prison sexual assault in the article’s introduction to emphasize what most people expect should happen or deter violent behavior in offenders. Review the article and then tell me if you agree or disagree with the points being made about violence and sexual assault in prison.