The activity aims to introduce students to analytical methods to examine the effectiveness of laws and other crime prevention measures. Reading scientific articles, students will learn what the main types of empirical analyses are and how they can be chosen depending on the question of interest and the data available. The aim of this module is to understand what analytical tools are available to researchers to investigate particularly pressing issues, such as prison conditions, racial and gender discrimination in the

application of laws and the prevention of corruption. This second module, which does not require any previous mathematical or statistical skills, is preparatory to the third module, in which students will be able to try their hand at developing a study plan on a research question of interest to them.