Thus, we asked students about violence and safety in schools, parental and school supervision, trust in government and the political process, and equality under the law. We also asked students about the appropriateness of media coverage of elections, crime, and violence. Finally, we asked students a series of questions designed to test their knowledge about important legal concepts and issues. In some other areas, students were less knowledgeable. Our data shed only a little light on this question.
Several factors show small relationships with level of knowledge.
The Influences of Popular Culture Perhaps the most interesting relationship here occurred between prime-time law show viewing habits and the index of knowledge. Indeed, perhaps both causal links are true. For the most part, however, the demographic and behavioral variables about which we asked students are not correlated with overall legal knowledge. Such habits as the amount of television viewing, sources for news and legal information, working outside of school, doing community service work, and the availability of the Internet in school or home are not related to students' having more or less knowledge about the legal concepts we surveyed. In the wake of the tragedy at Columbine High School, we asked students a series of questions about supervision, safety, and rights in family and school settings.