Invisible Crimes: Impacts of Teaching Crimes of the Powerful on Student Perceptions of Victimhood

• In Event: Offender Pathways: Sentencing, Adjustment, and Perceptions of Powerful Crime

Abstract

Crimes of the powerful are often outside the purview of criminology and criminal justice students. Thus, they are unlikely to recognize how crimes of the powerful, most notably corporate malfeasance, government corruption, and environmental degradation impact their lives. Can introducing a Crimes of the Powerful course in the curriculum help students make these connections? And, how much impact does it have? These questions drive the current research. At this point in the project, four surveys have been conducted – two pre-tests and two post-tests in two different classes at two different universities (a regional public university and a private liberal arts college). There are plans to continue data collection for three years, but current results are preliminary with a small sample size. Two straightforward conclusions emerge: 1) after taking such a course, students generally become more aware of how crimes of the powerful impact them; and 2) students knew very little before taking the course. Surprisingly, several students suggested that crimes of the powerful had not impacted them after taking the course. Some questions were added from the first administration to the next to explore how students were conceptualizing and making sense of corporate and state actions.

Authors

• Daniel Patten, Purdue University - Fort Wayne

• Katherine E. Brown, Augustana College