1. How Do We Learn What We Know about Crime?
Class 1

2. Administrative Any questions about course, assignments, etc.?
If you haven’t read the syllabus and examined the home page yet, do that before the next class or don’t come back.

3. Review
Difference Between Study of Criminology and Study of Criminal Justice
Are Most People Law-Abiding

4. Today How Does the Public Learn About Crime?
How Do Criminal Justice Professionals Learn about Crime?
How Do Social Scientists Learn About Crime?
Role of opinions
Key Points to Understand from Today

5. I. How Does the Public Learn about Crime?
From the education system
From the mass media
News Media
Entertainment Media
From the government

6. II. How Do Criminal Justice Professionals Learn About Crime?
Learn relatively little from the academic study of crime
Learn from stories told by older professionals
Learn from personal experience

7. III. How Do Social Scientists Learn About Crime?
They approach crime using the scientific method
Examples of hypotheses they might investigate
What kinds of data might they collect to test those hypotheses?

8. IV. Role of Opinions What are opinions? Opinions about crime
When is it appropriate to have an opinion?
Capital Punishment
Longer Prison Sentences
Legalization of Marijuana (or other drugs)
We should have more police on patrol

9. IV. Role of Opinions When is it appropriate to have opinions?
Use of illegally obtained evidence
Gun control
We should do more (or don’t need to do more) to make the criminal justice system treat all groups more equally
We should do more to prevent crime

10. V. Key Points to Understand from Today
Most of the public know very little about the reality of crime and about criminology
Most criminal justice professionals (police, attorneys and judges) know very little about criminology
Government and the media are not lying to us about crime
Opinions are not appropriate when there is evidence to consider unless you have looked at the evidence

11. Next Time
We begin discussion of Crime Stereotypes and Crime Myths