Analyzing Crime and Crime Control: A Resource Guide. Economics-Political Science Series

This document, the fourth in a series of resource guides emphasizing economic-political analysis of contemporary public policies and issues, focuses on crime control. Designed as a three-week unit for secondary school students, the guide is presented in three sections. The introduction presents an economic and a political science framework for policy analysis and discusses the integration of economics and political science. Topics in the second section include the incidence and costs of crime, attitudes toward crime and criminals, the economics of crime, punishment as deterrent, evidence on arrests, juvenile courts, resources for criminal justice, victimless crimes, and public-policy choices. The third section contains six learning activities. Students take a crime I.Q. test, discuss a filmstrip on the cost of crime, survey the prevalence of shoplifting among teenagers, compare ideas of criminologists and sociologists on crime control, plan a program to prevent crime in the school, and play a simulation, "Law, Enforcement, Money, and Politics." Reproducible materials are provided for each activity. (KC)