Experience of Crime

Most students commencing legal studies will have some 1 of crime, whether directly, as a victim of crime or indirectly through exposure to media coverage. This means that most offenses 2 on the syllabus, such as murder, theft and rape will be familiar 3. This tends to give students the impression that they know more about criminal law than they do about other subjects on the syllabus. This can be a real disadvantage in terms of the academic study of criminal law because it tends to lead students to rely on preconceived notions of the nature and scope of the offenses and to reach instinctive, but often legally inaccurate, conclusions. It is absolutely 4 to success in criminal law that you put aside any prior knowledge of the offenses and focus on the principles of law derived from statutes and cases. 5 doing this you will soon appreciate just how much difference there is between everyday conceptions of crime and its actuality.