1. History of Crime
Class 1

2. Administrative Athletes Glossary Cell Phone reminder
Quizzes returned at end of class

3. Review Crime is a social construct
Crime myths are useful to the media and the government
Media and government not trying to mislead the public

4. Today Processes of Stereotype and Myth Construction
Historical Aspects of Crime
Relationship of Crime and Sin
Capital Punishment
Who were the criminals?
Key Points to Understand from Today

5. I. Processes of Stereotype and Myth Construction
Creating Criminal Stereotypes
Presentation of Opinion as Fact
Masking Opinions through Sources and Selective Interviewing
Value-loaded Terminology

6. I. Processes of Stereotype and Myth Construction
Confusing Correlation with Causation
Information Management
Undocumented Sources of Authority

7. II. Historical Aspects of Crime
Can you identify behavior which is now a crime but wasn’t in an earlier time period?
Can you identify behavior which is now legal but was a crime in an earlier time period?
What causes such changes in what we consider to be criminal behavior?

8. II. Historical Aspects of Crime
Early Colonial Massachusetts – Jesuits forbidden to enter except by ship wreck or accident
1905 illegal for whites and blacks to play checkers together in any public park in Birmingham, Alabama

9. III. Relationship of Crime and Sin
Blasphemy was often a crime
Heresy was a more serious crime

10. III. Relationship of Crime and Sin
Victimless crimes against public morality
Examples of contemporary laws that are derived from notions of sin
Are all such crimes victimless?

11. IV. Capital Punishment
Used much more extensively in the colonial period than currently
Some of the offenses were the same, especially murder
Rape was also routinely a capital offense
Benefit of clergy
Impact of capital punishment

12. IV. Capital Punishment
Adultery was a capital crime in colonial Massachusetts
Whites and Blacks
Sodomy and Buggery were capital crimes
Recidivists subject to death penalty

13. V. Who Were the Criminals
Overwhelmingly male
Overwhelmingly lower class
Religious, Ethnic and Racial Minorities

14. V. Who Were the Criminals
Who are the people prosecuted and convicted today?
Do the poor and the lower class really commit more crimes?
What kinds of crimes do the well-off commit?
How do we treat those crimes? Why?

15. VI. Key Points to Understand from Today
Since crime is a social construct, crimes change as society changes
In earlier time periods, crime and sin were seen as pretty much the same thing
Capital punishment was much more frequent for a much wider array of offenses
We tend to focus on crimes committed by the poor and lower classes and not on those committed by the wealthy
This reflects who has the power to create the social construction of crime

16. Next Time
Begin discussion of crime waves