Study Questions For Kappeler

Chapter 1

1. What are the two major perspectives used to explain the existence of social problems such as crime?

2. How do the authors define "myth?' What exactly is a "crime myth?" Are there aspects of criminal behavior or the criminal justice system that you are certain are not mythical?

3. Why do the authors consider the study of crime myths so important?

4. What are the recurrent patterns in the social creation of crime myths? What role does each of the following play in their creation? (a) the media (b) government

5. Discuss the importance of the following to myth construction: [a] unpopular groups [b] innocent victims [c] virtuous heroes. Give examples.

6. Why do the authors argue that crime myth creation is frequently the result of bias and distortion resulting from news media coverage?

Chapter 2

1. What is the public's perception of the crime problem?

2. What problems exist with trying to detail the true extent of the crime problem based upon current statistical measures?

3. What do we know about the following types of crime? (a) stranger crime (b) race and crime.

4. Why does fear of crime remain high even when crime rates are decreasing?

Chapter 3

1. Before reading this chapter what were your understandings of the nature of the "missing children" problem in our society? On what were your opinions based?

2. Discuss the problems related to the use of the term "missing children?"

3. What problems have been uncovered in the statistical data related to "missing children?"

4. Why do the authors believe that the growth of the prevention industry spawned by the missing children scare may be having negative impacts?

5. Why do the authors view the criminalization of "child snatching" as problematic?

Chapter 4

1. What "facts" were used in the creation of the serial killer craze of the 1980s?

2. Discuss the specific role of Henry Lee Lucas's testimony in the creation of the serial killer phenomenon.

3. What is the reality of serial murder? What do we know about this phenomenon and what don't we know?

4. For purposes of their analysis, how do the authors attempt to delimit serial killing? What other types of multiple murder do they choose not to include?

5. Discuss the national and international geographic patterns which emerge from the studies of serial killers.

6. What factors may account for the rise in number of unsolved and motiveless homicides that are reflected in UCR statistics?

7. What did each of the following agencies have to gain by spreading the serial killer panic? [a] the Justice Department [b] the news media

8. In what ways did the emergence of the serial killer panic represent an attempt to return to a conservative theory of criminal behavior? What types of theories did it attempt to replace?

Chapter 5

1. Discuss the types of cases which helped to construct the myth of stalking.

2. What types of legislative responses were generated by reports of stalking?

3. What have been the consequences of the criminalization of stalking?

Chapter 6

1. Discuss the major components of the official history and myth of organized crime. In what ways does this myth account for the recent emergence of non-Italian organized crime?

2. What are the major faults with the traditional history of organized crime? What do we currently know about the true nature of organized crime?

3. In what ways have law enforcement strategies aimed at organized crime been based on the myth of organized crime? What impact has the implementation of these policies actually had on organized crime?

4. According to the authors, if we truly wanted to limit the scope of organized crime in our society, what policy initiatives might we take?

Chapter 7

1. In what ways is the discussion about crime myths different in this chapter from previous chapters? Why is white-collar crime a good example of this difference?

2. In what ways is the media's focus on personal and violent crimes misleading?

3. Give examples of corporate criminality which have impacted on health or caused deaths.

4. What has law enforcement's attitude been toward corporate and other forms of white-collar criminality? Why has this attitude led to underenforcement and nonpunitive justice?

Chapter 8

1. Discuss the issue of drug-related deaths. What do we currently know about the relationship between both licit and illicit drugs and death?

2. Why does the text argue that it is a myth that "drugs cause crime" while stating that "drug laws cause crime?"

3. How did the 1980s "drug war" impact the criminal justice system? What impact did the war have on supply and demand for drugs?

4. Discuss the impact of the 1980s "drug war" on international relations. Discuss instances of our own government's duplicity in the international drug war.

5. What remedies to the drug problem do the text authors suggest?

Chapter 9

1.  What new stereotype of delinquency has replaced the Satanic teen?

2. What role have criminologists played in creating contemporary delinquent stereotypes?

3.  In what ways does the school violence coverage represent a "crime wave?" 

4. Is the focus on juvenile crime actually an example of "blaming the victim?"

Chapter 10

1. Discuss the 2 major myths regarding policing one sees depicted in the media

2. What is the real nature of police work? Is it particularly dangerous?

3. Discuss the real nature of police stress.

4. Why can it be argued that for police officers the myth sometimes becomes reality?

Chapter 11

1.  Why are "media trials" likely to blind citizens from the biases inherent in the criminal justice process?

2. What biases are most likely to be present in our trial system processes?

Chapter 13

1. Compare the crime rate in the United States to other Western industrialized nations? What explanation is frequently given for these differences?

2. Compare the current American incarceration and execution rates with those of other societies.

3. What evidence does the text present that the United States has moved dramatically in the direction of greater punitiveness?

4. If large increases in actual crime do not account for the expanded use of punishment in the 1980s, what does?

Chapter 14

1. Discuss the studies which have attempted to document the deterrent effect of the death penalty in reducing murders.

2. Is the death penalty more cost effective than lifetime imprisonment?

3. Is the death penalty as a form of incapacitation truly necessary? How dangerous are released murderers?

4. Is the death penalty truly needed as a crime fighting tool?

Chapter 15

1. Is what ways do crime myths prevent the truth about crime problems from becoming known by the public?

2. Creating solutions to mythical crimes may ultimately be counterproductive. Why?

3. What do the authors mean when they say that we are "masking real social problems with myth?"

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