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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did crack cocaine first emerge in poor black neighborhoods in the United States before spreading elsewhere?
(a) Los Angeles.
(b) Tuscon.
(c) Chicago.
(d) New York.

2. What state supreme court issued a landmark decision in the case of Ruffin v. Commonwealth?
(a) The Virginia Supreme Court.
(b) The Louisiana Supreme Court.
(c) The Arkansas Supreme Court.
(d) The Mississippi Supreme Court.

3. When was Alberta Spruill killed in a botched SWAT raid in Harlem?
(a) June 13, 2000.
(b) September 16, 2006.
(c) April 12, 1995.
(d) May 16, 2003.

4. In her Introduction, the author writes, "The impact of the drug war has been astounding. In less than 30 years, the U.S penal population exploded from around 300,000 to" how many?
(a) "Nearly 1.5 million."
(b) "More than 3 million."
(c) "More than 2 million."
(d) "Almost 1 million."

5. What Supreme Court Justice said of the Florida v. Bostick case that "the basis of the decision to single out particular passengers during a suspicionless sweep is less likely to be inarticulate than unspeakable"?
(a) Justice Earl Warren.
(b) Justice William Brennan.
(c) Justice Thurgood Marshall.
(d) Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

6. When did the Supreme Court rule in United States v. Harris that the Klan Act was partially unconstitutional?
(a) 1872.
(b) 1882.
(c) 1895.
(d) 1889.

7. In what year did a federal grand jury determine that the Ku Klux Klan was a "terrorist organization" and issue hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism?
(a) 1890.
(b) 1880.
(c) 1870.
(d) 1865.

8. How many people does the author say are in prison or jail for a drug offense today in Chapter 2: "The Lockdown"?
(a) Approximately two million.
(b) Approximately half a million.
(c) Approximately 100,000.
(d) Approximately six million.

9. When did Ronald Reagan officially announce the War on Drugs?
(a) 1985.
(b) 1984.
(c) 1988.
(d) 1982.

10. When was The Strange Career of Jim Crow published?
(a) 1955.
(b) 1940.
(c) 1945.
(d) 1959.

11. To whom is the following quote that opens Chapter 1: "The Rebirth of Caste" attributed: "The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery"?
(a) Frederick Douglass.
(b) Martin Luther King Jr.
(c) W. E. B. Du Bois.
(d) Malcolm X.

12. During the time she worked at the ACLU, Michelle Alexander's focus shifted from employment discrimination to what focus?
(a) Criminal justice reform.
(b) Tax reform.
(c) Education reform.
(d) Affirmative action.

13. What sociologist is cited in Chapter 1: "The Rebirth of Caste" as stating that each reincarnation of racial caste "is less total, less capable of encompassing and controlling the entire race"?
(a) Martin Luther King Jr.
(b) Loic Wacquant.
(c) W. E. B. Du Bois.
(d) Marc Mauer.

14. In the Introduction, the author attests that how many people in Germany are in prison for every 100,000 adults and children?
(a) 19.
(b) 116.
(c) 93.
(d) 215.

15. According to the author in Chapter 1: "The Rebirth of Caste," what "was the device employed to protect the institution of slavery and the political power of slaveholding states" when the Constitution was written?
(a) Democracy.
(b) Capitalism.
(c) Authoritarianism.
(d) Federalism.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Nathaniel Bacon live as a property owner?

2. The author asserts in the Introduction that one in how many young African American men are currently under the control of the criminal justice system--in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole?

3. Who was the executive director of the Sentencing Project when the book was written?

4. What was Terrance Bostick found to be carrying on a Greyhound Bus in the case of Florida v. Bostick?

5. What word used in the Introduction refers to the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities?

(see the answer keys)

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