NCJ Number
175410
Date Published
1998
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the effectiveness of a course designed to better inform criminal justice students about current crime myths, particularly those that involve satanism and the occult.
Abstract
Two primary statistical techniques were used to analyze the data gathered with the Satanism Perception Scale: Pearson's product-moment correlation and the Student's T-test. Pearson's r was used to determine the relationship between precourse satanism perception and estimates of crimes linked to satanism and precourse satanism perception and the perceived importance of factors believed to cause people to become involved in satanism. The T-test was used to examine differences in satanism perception means between the two administrations of the Satanism perception Scale. A paired samples T-test was used to examine whether there was a significant decrease in student satanism perception after completing the course. Findings show that many criminal justice students believed that a large percentage of some selected crimes are linked to satanism. This belief can be significantly related to a subject's anti-satanist attitudes. Study results further show that the students had different perceptions and attitudes at the end of the course than at its beginning. Although research limitations do not permit a claim that the course directly changed attitudes, the researchers believe that the experience was not only successful in training criminal justice students to view information on satanism through a more unbiased and critical eye, but also in fostering a more objective and analytical approach to any information related to criminal justice. 6 tables and 16 references