Discuss some of the controversies associated with the PSI report.
What will be an ideal response?
Because the future of a defendant depends to a great extent on the content of the report, the information contained therein should be reliable and objective. All pertinent information must be verified by cross-checking with more than one source, and that source should be reliable. The officer must be careful in the terms he or she uses to describe the offender. The use of phrases such as “morally bankrupt” or “sweet young lady” may reveal more about the officer’s attitudes and values rather than the defendant’s character. It is feared that if victims and other informants from whom the investigating officer has sought information know that the offender will see their comments, they will refuse to offer their information, thus the judge will not have complete information on which to make the sentencing decision.
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Cohen and Felson's "routine activity theory" seeks to explain how environments create crime opportunities by:
a. Reducing the police in all neighborhoods b. Bringing together an offender, a target, and the absence of a capable guardian c. The criminal effect of people routinely gathering in public places d. The differential association of good-bad activities
Data quality is a concern with secondary data.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the federal Megan’s Law and an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Act and those two laws together became a federal requirement for states to pass statues for ______.
a. holding judges accountable for sentencing of sex offenders and enforced removal of sex offenders in certain neighborhoods b. publicly showing sex-offender pictures and community notifications c. holding judges accountable for sentencing of sex offenders and requiring community meetings for notification d. sex-offender registration and community notification
Under the sponsorship of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), rules and regulations prohibiting performance-enhancing drugs in international sports competitions have been formally accepted by more than ________ National Olympic Committees.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).