1. Crime Waves and Fear of Crime
Class 1

2. Administrative
Give quiz

3. Review Social Construction of Crime History of Crime
Behaviors that are and are not criminal change over time
Relationship in the past of crime and sin
Capital crimes were much more common
One thing that hasn’t changed much is demographic make-up of criminals

4. Today Images of Crime and Criminals What do the Data Show?
Limitations of Crime Data
What happened to Tyler Clementi and why?
What does the public believe happened?
How did the legal authorities respond?
The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Bill
Key Points from Today’s Class

5. I. Images of Crime and Criminals
What do we picture when we think about crime?
Why is this what we picture?
How accurate is this picture?
What is a crime wave?

6. II. What Do the Data Show? Does crime get worse over time?
Why do so many people have the impression that it does?

7. III. Limitations of Crime Data
Definitional issues
Who does the reporting?
What do they report?
Gaps in the data?

8. IV. What Happened to Tyler Clementi and Why
Roommate set up webcam so he (and others) could watch Clementi during date
Watched during date and commented online
Clementi became aware and unplugged roommate’s computer so second attempt unsuccessful
Clementi reported roommate’s action to Rutgers authorities
Clementi committed suicide (jumped off George Washington Bridge)

9. V. What Does the Public Believe Happened?
That Ravi and his friends outed Clementi
That Ravi posted pictures of Clementi having gay sex on the internet
Does the falsity of these beliefs matter? Should it matter?

10. VI. How Did the Legal Authorities Respond
Plea bargaining with Dharun Ravi’s friend Molly Wei for her testimony
Charged Ravi with 15 counts of four different offenses
Offered Ravi plea bargains which he rejected
Verdict and sentence

11. VII. The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Bill
Introduced less than two months after Clementi’s death
Requires colleges to have anti-harassment policies
Is this a sensible response?
Is this a major problem susceptible to legal resolution
Are there adequate laws on the books
Will this result in negative unintended consequences?

12. VIII. Key Points from Today’s Class
Many crime waves are as much imaginary as real
Crime Trends and Public Perceptions
Crime data imperfect but still better than not having the data
We often don’t know what we think we know about even well publicized crimes
Our responses to crime panics are often not helpful

13. Next Time
Begin section on violent crime