Media and Crime free essay sample

Media and Crime What is crime? A normative definition views crime as deviant behavior that violates prevailing norms cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave normally. This approach considers the complex realities surrounding the concept of crime and seeks to understand how changing social, political, psychological, and economic conditions may affect changing definitions of crime and the form of the legal, law- enforcement, and penal responses made by society. These structural realities remain fluid and often contentious. For example: as cultures change and the political nvironment shifts, societies may criminalize or decriminalize certain behaviors, which will directly affect the statistical crime rates, influence the allocation of resources for the enforcement of laws, and (re-)influence the general public opinion. Similarly, changes in the collection and/or calculation of data on crime may affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given crime problem. All such adjustments to crime statistics, allied with the experience of people in their everyday lives, shape attitudes on the extent to which the State should use law or social engineering to enforce or encourage any particular social norm. We will write a custom essay sample on Media and Crime or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Behavior can be controlled and influenced in many ways without having to resort to the criminal Justice system. Indeed, in those cases where no clear consensus exists on a given norm, the drafting of criminal law by the group in power to prohibit the behavior of another group may seem to some observers an improper limitation of the second groups freedom, and the ordinary members of society have less respect for the law or laws in general † whether the authorities actually enforce the disputed law or not. Mass Media and Crime The relationship between the criminal Justice system and the media system has been he subject of research, speculation, and commentary throughout the twentieth century. This relationship may be understood in terms of dependency relations operative between these massive systems. Put most simply, neither the media nor the criminal Justice system could operate effectively without the other. The criminal justice system is a resource for the media system in that it affords one of the common sources of news and entertainment stories. The classical surrogate scout role of the media, whereby they monitor the environment for actual and potential threats to individual and collective welfare, affords a powerful way for the media to ttract their audiences. People must constantly update their understanding and ability to orient themselves to the environments in which they act. Media crime stories, whether the news or entertainment genre, instruct and update these understandings. Commercial media organizations translate this relationship with their audience into the profit that flows from advertisers. The media systems capacities to reach vast audiences of citizens and policymakers also positions it as an essential resource for the criminal Justice system and all of its attendant Judicial and law enforcement organizations. For the criminal Justice system to operate effectively, legitimacy, and media storytelling can profoundly affect this process. Allocation of scarce resources to the criminal Justice system also depends upon success in the struggle to get its story positively framed and widely disseminated to media audiences. These macro dependency relations serve as context for examinations of specific aspects of media, criminal Justice, public, and decision-maker relations. Research attention has been given to the dependency relations between Journalists and the police, courts, and Jails. The impact of Journalism on public perceptions of he criminal Justice system, and on public attitudes toward specific cases†including the attitudes of potential and actual Jurors†has been another frequent focus. The right of Journalists to protect sources by not disclosing their names has also come under scrutiny from time to time. While Journalism may be the media profession with the most legitimate claim to exercise influence over the criminal Justice system, it is by no means the only way the media exercise such influence. Entertainment media have also been studied and criticized for their influence over public perceptions of he people and institutions that comprise the criminal Justice system. A striking amount of television programming has in one way or another (e. g. , through comedy, mystery, drama, biography, docudrama, and soap opera) been centered on police, lawyers, Judges, criminals, and victims of crime. The effects on public attitudes and behavior that these portrayals may have brought about have received considerable research attention. Media portrayals of violence, largely in television but also in movies and†increasingly in the 1990s†recorded music, have been studied in part for their potential to inspire real-life criminal behavior. Exposure to violent media content has been argued in criminal defenses as a mitigating factor in the guilt of defendants. Since the early 1980s a television genre has emerged that is part journalism (in that it purports to deal with reality and with important subjects) and in no small part entertainment (in that it is dramatic, enhanced with music and special effects, and often includes actors playing various roles). Shows such as Cops, Americas Most Wanted, and Unsolved Mysteries combine footage of actual arrests, interviews with people involved in crimes, and other documentary information with n assortment of dramatic elements to create a new sort of quasi-Journalism scorned by professional Journalists but very popular. While not yet the focus of much research attention, the emergence of such shows is occasionally credited for a perceived decline in the quality of broadcast Journalism, which may have an indirect effect on the Justice system. Media Consumption and Public Attitude towards Crime and Justice Our society is fascinated with crime and Justice. From films, books, newspapers, Magazines, television broadcasts, to everyday conversations, we are constantly engaging in Crime talk. The mass media play an important role in the construction of criminality and the Criminal Justice system. The publics perception of victims, criminals, deviants, and law enforcement officials is largely determined by their portrayal in the mass media.