# 3 Historians challenge public understanding of the past

In this third section you will see how historians use evidence to challenge and change existing knowledge and ideas about the past. Our understanding of history is constantly evolving but this knowledge can carry with it some established and widely held misconceptions or even myths. Recent research has changed our understanding of part of the law and criminal justice system, particularly how people were punished for crimes they committed.

Figure 17 ‘Police work in the East End’, The Graphic, 28 December 1895.

OpenLearn - What do historians do?
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