Exam 2 - Textbook Terms Chapters 11

Question 1

_________ -The second phase in the cycle of abuse, characterized by multiple incidents of violent battering.

Answer 1

acute battering

Question 2

_________ - The first stage of rape trauma syndrome, it usually lasts a few weeks and includes severe physical symptoms (e.g., sleeplessness, loss of appetite, trembling, numbness, and pain) as well as severe emotional disturbance manifested in symptoms such as extreme fear, shame, persistent nightmares, depression, and even suicide attempts. The victim’s intellectual functioning is also likely to be impaired.

Answer 2

acute crisis phase

Question 3

acute crisis phase - The first stage of rape trauma syndrome, it usually lasts a few _________ and includes severe physical symptoms (e.g., sleeplessness, loss of appetite, trembling, numbness, and pain) as well as severe _________ disturbance manifested in symptoms such as extreme fear, shame, persistent nightmares, depression, and even suicide attempts. The victim’s intellectual functioning is also likely to be impaired.

Answer 3

• weeks

- emotional

Question 4

_________ - A hypothesized syndrome (an identifiable cluster of symptoms) suffered by women who have been victims of long-term abuse. Used in the legal system to explain why a battered woman does not escape her abuser or seek assistance and to explain why a battered woman might injure or kill her abuser. The scientific validity of the syndrome has been questioned.

Answer 4

-battered woman syndrome (BWS)

Question 5

battered woman syndrome (BWS) - A hypothesized syndrome (an identifiable cluster of symptoms) suffered by women who have been victims of _________ abuse. Used in the legal system to explain why a battered woman does not escape her abuser or seek assistance and to explain why a battered woman might injure or kill her _________. The scientific validity of the syndrome has been questioned.

Answer 5

• long-term

- abuser

Question 6

_________ - Outside of people’s common knowledge and understanding. Expert testimony must provide new and relevant information that is beyond the ken of jurors.

Answer 6

beyond the ken

Question 7

_________ - A dubious and highly publicized psychological disorder in which the experience of racial oppression causes a black person’s criminal actions; used in court to excuse criminal behavior.

Answer 7

black rage syndrome

Question 8

_________ - A severe personality disorder characterized by unstable relationships, dramatic mood swings, manipulativeness, intense fear of abandonment, and impulsive outbursts.

Answer 8

borderline personality disorder

Question 9

_________ - A dubious psychological disorder that presumably causes the afflicted to be chronically late to meetings, work, and other activities; used in court to excuse irresponsible behavior.

Answer 9

chronic late syndrome

Question 10

_________ - The third stage in the cycle of abuse, characterized by the batterer’s being overcome with remorse and treating the victim with kindness, expressing regret for hurting the victim, and promising to never hurt the victim again.

Answer 10

contrition

Question 11

_________ - Puzzling behaviors by victims of sexual violence after their victimization— that is, behaviors contrary to what jurors might expect.

Answer 11

counterintuitive victim behavior (CIVB)

Question 12

_________ - A hypothesized cycle of recurring phases in a violent relationship: tension building, followed by acute battering, followed by contrition (and then back to tension building).

Answer 12

cycle of abuse

Question 13

_________ - Bias arising when experimenters collecting data are aware of the hypotheses of the study, leading to the possibility that the experimenters may intentionally or unintentionally influence the responses of the participants.

Answer 13

experimenter bias

Question 14

_________ - A guide for when expert testimony on sexual assault victims’ behavior should be admitted and what type of testimony should be allowed.

Answer 14

five-level model of expert testimony

Question 15

_________ - A type of batterer who is generally predisposed to violent behavior toward the people around the batterer. The batterer tends to be antisocial, prone to impulsive behavior, and dependent on alcohol or other drugs. This type of batterer shows the highest recidivism rate.

Answer 15

generally violent antisocial batterer

Question 16

generally violent antisocial batterer - A type of batterer who is generally predisposed to violent behavior toward the people around the batterer. The batterer tends to be _________, prone to impulsive behavior, and dependent on alcohol or other drugs. This type of batterer shows the highest _________ rate.

Answer 16

• antisocial

- recidivism

Question 17

__________ - A state of heightened sensitivity and attention to the environment to detect danger (e.g., a battered woman’s heightened attentiveness to the abuser’s subtle behaviors).

Answer 17

hypervigilance

Question 18

__________ - Severe harm likely to be inflicted in the immediate future; a requirement for self-defense claims.

Answer 18

imminent bodily harm

Question 19

__________ - Sexual violence, physical violence, stalking, or psychological aggression perpetrated by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, dating partner, or ongoing sexual partner.

Answer 19

intimate partner violence

Question 20

__________ - Interfere with the jury’s essential role as a fact-finder.

Answer 20

invade the province of the jury (or usurp the role of the jury)

Question 21

__________ - A judge’s instruction informing jurors that they can disregard a strict interpretation of the law if such an interpretation would result in an unjust verdict.

Answer 21

judicial nullification instruction

Question 22

judicial nullification instruction - A judge’s instruction informing jurors that they can disregard a strict interpretation of the law if such an interpretation would result in an __________ verdict.

Answer 22

unjust

Question 23

__________ - A phenomenon in which the subject learns over a period of time that attempts to escape from, control, or resist unpleasant conditions are futile; the subject then feels helpless in the face of the conditions and becomes resigned to them, including by not attempting to control or escape the conditions even when the opportunity arises.

Answer 23

learned helplessness

Question 24

__________ - There was no easy way to avoid confrontation or to leave the situation; in some states, this is a requirement for self-defense claims.

Answer 24

no reasonable avenue of escape existed

Question 25

__________ - A severe anxiety disorder following a traumatic event. It is diagnosed in people who have “experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.” Diagnosis of PTSD is based on four criteria: reexperiencing of the event, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event, heightened arousal or hypervigilance, and persistent symptoms that last more than a month.

Answer 25

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Question 26

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - A severe anxiety disorder following a traumatic event. It is diagnosed in people who have “experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.” Diagnosis of PTSD is based on four criteria: __________ of the event, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event, heightened arousal or hypervigilance, and persistent symptoms that last more than a __________ .

Answer 26

• reexperiencing

- month

Question 27

__________ - Common misconceptions about sexual assault, including the following: that when a man initiates sexual activity and the woman says she does not want to have sex, she does not really mean it; that the typical rape is committed by someone unknown to the victim; and that it is impossible to rape a woman who is unwilling.

Answer 27

rape myths

Question 28

__________ - Laws passed to prevent lawyers from delving into the sexual histories of alleged rape victims at trial.

Answer 28

rape shield laws

Question 29

__________ - A hypothesized syndrome (cluster of symptoms) suffered by women responding to the trauma of being raped. Recovery from rape is described as a two-stage process: an acute crisis phase followed by a longer-term reorganization phase.

Answer 29

rape trauma syndrome (RTS)

Question 30

__________ - Not excessive in response to the harm faced; a requirement for self-defense claims.

Answer 30

reasonable and proportional to the danger that existed

Question 31

__________ - Not excessive in response to the harm faced; a requirement for self-defense claims.

Answer 31

reasonable and proportional to the danger that existed

Question 32

__________ - A batterer characterized by limited marital violence, almost no violence outside the family, lack of a personality disorder, and relatively low likelihood of alcohol/ drug abuse and depression. About 50% of batterers fall into this type.

Answer 32

relationship/ family-only (FO) batterer

Question 33

__________ - The second stage of rape trauma syndrome, it involves the long process of recovery from rape.

Answer 33

reorganization phase

Question 34

__________ - A defense based on the claim that the defendant’s actions were a justifiable response to an imminent threat of bodily harm; the defendant generally needs to show (1) that he or she was in danger of imminent bodily harm (severe harm in the immediate future), (2) that the force used to repel the attack was reasonable and proportional to the danger that existed (not excessive in response to the harm faced), and in some jurisdictions, (3) that no reasonable avenue of escape existed (there was no easy way to avoid the confrontation or leave the situation).

Answer 34

self-defense

Question 35

__________ - In battered woman cases, testimony that offers a detailed explanation of the victim’s behavior by stressing the difficulties she faced in everyday life that prevented her from leaving the relationship or seeking assistance.

Answer 35

social agency framework (SAF)

Question 36

__________ - Patterns of behaviors or traits that tend to describe groups of similar people. In the medical and psychiatric fields, the term refers to a cluster of related symptoms that lead to a significant dysfunction in the performance of normal activities.

Answer 36

syndrome

Question 37

__________ - The first phase in the cycle of abuse, characterized by an accumulation of emotional tension along with some relatively minor incidents of abuse.

Answer 37

tension building