Define what the Society of Saint Tammany is and explain its significance to organized crime.
What will be an ideal response?
The Tammany Society was a corrupt political machine associated with the Democratic Party that ran New York City well into the 20th century from the “Hall” (Tammany Hall). The society made use of street gangs to threaten and intimidate political rivals. Prominent among these gangs were the vicious Whyos and the Five Points gang. In order for a new member to be accepted by the Whyos, which at its peak had more than 500 members, he had to have killed at least once. The Whyos plied their trade among New York’s citizenry by passing out price lists on the streets for the services they provided (ranging from US$2 for punching to US$100 for murder) as casually as pizza vendors (Browning & Gerassi, 1980). The Five Points gang was a confederation of neighborhood gangs and was said to have more than 1,500 members at one time.
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Name some of the legal restraints on police action, and list some types of behaviors that might be considered abuse of police authority
What will be an ideal response?
According to James Q. Wilson, which of the following does not describe criminals?
A. Convinced that their crimes will bring severe punishment B. Value the excitement and thrill of crime C. Have a low stake in conformity D. Willing to take greater chances than the average person
A criminologist wants to gain an in-depth understanding of the socialization process of a state police academy. Which of the following methods would be the most appropriate method for obtaining such an understanding?
a. using existing sources of official data b. distributing self-report surveys c. running an experiment under laboratory conditions d. engaging in participant observation
National Crime Victimization Survey and the British Crime Survey both use which of the following techniques to gather data?
a. simple random samples b. stratified sampling c. multistage cluster sampling d. quota sampling