In the contribution which was written on the basis of his diploma work, thè author deals with the attitude of the Slovene newspapers towards the crime and criminals in the 80s of the 19th century. As a fundamental source he used the papers »Slovenec« and »Slovenski Narod«, which — being the representatives of both the leading currents in the then Slovene public life — comprised rhore or less the whole spiritual horizon of the Slovenes. Analysing their articles, the author tries to describe the basic characteristics and prejudices that appear in writing about crime in this period.