NCJ Number
248012
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 31 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2014 Pages: 934-959
Date Published
October 2014
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Scholars have demonstrated that prominent media coverage of crime shapes the creation of public policies.
Abstract
More subtly, such coverage can also sustain existing policies. In this paper, we ask: which capital crimes captivate the media and thus sustain popular support for the death penalty? To answer the question, we examine newspaper coverage of capital murders that occurred in Harris County (Houston), Texas between 1992 and 1999. Our findings reveal that prominent media coverage presents a distorted reality in which brutal crimes tend to be committed by minority offenders against vulnerable, "worthy" victims. Thus, the public mandate for capital punishment is sustained by atypical crimes that conform to existing cultural templates about criminal threat and victimization. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor Francis.