NCJ Number
155120
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1994) Pages: 133-147
Date Published
1994
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The reality of crime in the U.S. has been created to a large degree by the images of crime and justice expressed in popular fiction, tabloid journalism, and prime-time news.
Abstract
This article discusses three themes related to the idea that the mass media forms images of crime and justice that shape the American collective personality when it comes to issues of law and order. These themes involve the predator criminal as a media icon, the coverage of sex crimes against women, and the portrayals of high-profile police-citizen encounters. The author argues that these themes have each evolved to the point where they have become givens in the social construction of crime and crime control. Taken together, the portrayals of criminal predators and their victims by the news media reveal a dominant news theme that the danger of attack is an external one. The media coverage of criminals and crime fighters suggests that only the State and its agents of control are capable of confronting a crime problem that is out of control. 20 references