Professor Erin Yetter knows it isn’t always easy to bridge the gap between classroom lectures and the real-world applications of their content. That’s why her course, Economics of Crime, will host an impressive roster of government and criminal justice professionals to speak to her students.

“We can talk about all the people, organizations and processes that are in place in the criminal justice system,” says Yetter, “but hearing from the people who actually make it happen day in and day out for their living makes it all come to fruition.”

Economics of Crime (ECON 3580) is a synchronous online course that applies economic tools and techniques to the study of crime and crime-control policies. This will be Yetter’s second fall semester teaching the course at Temple, though she has also taught a version of the course at another university. In all iterations, she has strived to curate a diverse slate of guest speakers, ranging from high-ranking government officials to formerly incarcerated individuals. She is often pleasantly surprised at how receptive guests have been to visiting her class.
 

“I'm very lucky. When I reach out to most guests about speaking to my class, they say, ‘Yeah, absolutely, no problem.’ Even [Dr. Laurel Harry, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections]. She's in the Cabinet for the State of Pennsylvania, she is a high level government official. For her to come and talk to the class, that’s a big deal!”

At the same time, Yetter hopes to localize the discussion to the students’ immediate environment. “One of the first things we cover is criminal rationale and how criminals make their decisions. Then we apply that to campus crime,” says Yetter. “Having Dr. Griffin (Vice President & Chief of Temple University Department of Public Safety) come in and talk about Temple’s role in that—what they do, what they're required to do, and how they work with the community to achieve that—takes the material and applies it to the real world.”

The course draws a wide variety of perspectives not only from its guests, but from its students as well. Economics of Crime has only two prerequisites (ECON1101, ECON 1102) which has made it possible for many students from other majors to take the course. Yetter has been delighted to find her class is not always made up predominantly of economics majors.

“When you have all these different majors intermingling, the discussion is so much richer,” says Yetter. “We're still talking about things through the lens of economics because it's an economics course, of course, but we're hearing all from all these different perspectives, and it just makes it much more diverse and awesome.”

This semester, members of Temple’s various economics clubs are invited to join in on the class’s guest speaker sessions. The full schedule of Economics of Crime guest speakers can be found below.

September 25th

• Dr. Jennifer D. Griffin 
  Vice President & Chief of Temple University Department of Public Safety
   
• Judge Jacquelyn Frazier-Lyde
  Municipal Court of Philadelphia
  First Judicial District of Pennsylvania

October 2nd

• Julia Lucas, Esq.
  Assistant Public Defender

October 16th

• Jen Dyott
  Intelligence Analyst, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

October 23rd

• Dr. Laurel Harry
  Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC)

TBD

• Jason Antoine, Esq.
  Criminal Defense and Personal Injury Attorney

October 30th

• Dru Smith
  Former Inmate, Delaware Department of Corrections