Study Guide: Exam 3 Technology and the Criminal
Justice System Professor Byrne Spring 2015
Exam Format: Multiple Choice ( 60%) and Essay/Short Answers( 40%)
Required Reading in Text: Chapters 10,11,12, 13.
Required Links, online reading, and Websites to visit: See Schedule and be sure to review the
following:
Technological innovation and Offender Reentry
Maximum Impact: Targeting Supervision on Higher-Risk People, Places and Times
Key Terms to review:
1. Types of contraband detection devices used in prison/jail; effectiveness
2. Types of duress alarm systems for corrections officers in indoor and outdoor settings
3. Types of language translation devices for use within prisons and in community
corrections
4. Inmate-staff ratios in US vs. Ireland: are they about the same?
5. Super-max prison: what is it? extent of use
6. Inmate classifications systems: external and internal; % of prisoners classified as max,
mod, min;
7. Types of special population housing; extent of use
8. Extent of Inmate health problems (prevalence of various mental and physical health
problems)
9. Electronic supervision tools in community corrections; types and extent of use;
effectiveness
10. The use of polygraph tests and penile plethysmographs in sex offender treatment
11. Kiosks to monitor offender location, using biometric devices; extent of use in NYC
12. Risk Assessment in community corrections:Instruments used for drug offender
classification, sex offender classification, mentally ill offender classification, and
multiple-problem offender classification
13. Maximum Impact: Key findings and recommendations from Byrne review
14. California vs, Johnson: What was the Supreme Court decision? Link to current debate
on tracking of prisoner radicalization?
15. Escape/flight risk: How often does it happen and why?
16. LSI_R: what is it?
17. Field Search: what is it?
18. % of drug offenders in federal and state prison populations
19. % of probationers who successfully complete probation: is it getting higher or lower
over time?
20. % of parolees who successfully complete parole: are parolees more likely to fail today
than in the past?
21. Number of offenders under correctional control in the US; % in prison and % under
community supervision
22. Cost of corrections; common strategies used to reduce corrections costs; justice
reinvestment
23. The Methamphetamine Remote Recovery Project, E-Treat and Ann-e
24. Cell phones in prison: detection strategies; prisoner phone service cost issues; video
calls
25. Compstat and reentry: key principles
Sample Essay Questions:
1. Provide an overview of hard technology and soft technology innovations in prisons, and
then highlight the research on the impact of these technology innovations on prison
performance.
2. Provide an overview of hard and soft technology innovations in community corrections
and then highlight the research on the impact of these technology innovations on the
performance of community corrections.
Here are a few Sample Study Questions for short answer section ( answers in text and ppts):
1. ___________ are identification cards that contain the inmate’s photograph and that are integrated with a circuit
chip that stores pertinent information about each prisoner.
A. Plethsysmographs
B. Smart Cards
C. Courtools
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
2 Approximately half of all new prison admissions nationwide each year are for technical violations of the
conditions of probation and/or parole. To eliminate this source of new prison admissions, the legislature in the state
of ____________ passed a law that essentially outlaws this practice.
A. California
B. Massachusetts
C. Washington
D. Arizona
3. According to a recent review by Stowell, due to its versatility and ability to communicate in both indoor and
outdoor environments, duress notification systems based on_____________________ may be forthcoming.
A. RFID
B. MDT
C. SYSTRAN
D. CMC
4. The use of video surveillance was found to be as an effective way to help reduce levels of violence (perpetrated
by inmates and guards) in jails and prisons.
A. True
B. False
5._________________ operates by translating key phrases spoken into the machine by an officer into one of 50
different languages . The _______ is not a dynamic language translator, meaning that it cannot be used for the
purposes of carrying on a direct conversation with an inmate. Rather, the ____________ stores thousands of prerecorded phrases in the various languages, which can be used to obtain “basic information” during the questioning
of non-English-speaking inmates .
A. SYSTRAN
B. Voice Response Translator (VRT)
C. JNET
D. All of the above
E. B and C only
6. The current trend in handling many high-risk inmates, approximately 10% 0f the prison population (or 200,000
inmates nationally), has been to remove them from the general prison population and to place them in ultra-secure
housing units known as supermax prisons.
A. True
B. False
7. In addition to its role in preventing drunk driving, the____________ device functions as a surveillance tool for
community supervision officers. A memory chip in the mechanism can store data that can be retrieved each time the
vehicle is serviced. Examples of data that can be downloaded include number and outcome of vehicle starts, driver’s
blood alcohol content per test and retest, tamper attempts, and total number of hours of operation
A. GPS
B. Plethysmograph
C. Sousveillance
D. Ignition interlock
8. According to the results of a recent NCCHC review of correctional health care , the rate of schizophrenia or other
psychotic disorders is____________ times greater among prisoners as compared to the U.S. population., while the
rate of bipolar disorder is___________ times greater .
A. three to five; 1.5 to 3
B. ten to fifteen; 10 to 12
C. three to five; 10-12
D. ten to fifteen; 1.5 to 3
9. The prevalence of Infectious disease among prisons is a serious problem, with the rate of AIDS 5 times higher,
Active tuberculosis 4 times greater, Hepititis C 9-10 times higher, and the rate of HIV infection 8-9 times higher
than the U.S. population.
A. True
B. False
10. The ___________ is the most common means of assessing the nature and extent of the offender’s deviant sexual
arousal, a practice known as phallometric assessment
A. Privatization
B. Portocaval Shunt
C. Plethysmograph
D. None of the above