Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology 3rd Edition by Michael Maxfield, William Pasewark, Earl Babbie,Scott Pasewark

Exercise 3

Often things we think are true and supported by considerable experience and evidence turn out not to be true, or at least not true with the certainty we expected. Criminal justice seems especially vulnerable to this phenomenon, perhaps because crime and criminal justice policy are so often the subjects of mass and popular media attention. If news stories, movies, and TV shows all point to growing gang- or drugrelated violence, it is easy to assume that these are real problems identified by systematic study. Choose a criminal justice topic or claim that is currently prominent in news stories or entertainment. Consult a recent edition of the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (citation below) for evidence to refute the claim