NCJ Number
155472
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 291-310
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The relationship between the mass media and the criminal justice system is important, particularly with respect to the formulation of criminal justice policies.
Abstract
Criminal justice policies and decisionmaking are both systematic and individual case level phenomena. That is, criminal justice policies are ultimately determined by ad hoc decisions made by criminal justice personnel and offenders about individual crimes and cases and by systemwide decisions that affect entire classes of offenses and cases. In the area of media and criminal justice, two questions arise. The first question, concerning the relationship between media and criminal justice decisionmaking, has not been answered with any clarity. The second question focuses on why the relationship is not better understood. The author examines underlying methodological problems that make deciphering the media-criminal justice relationship inherently difficult. Some problems are common issues found throughout the social sciences that are exacerbated in the media-criminal justice area. Other problems are unique to the media-criminal justice relationship and arise due to the existence of unusual media relationships with criminal justice policies and decisionmaking. 57 references, 33 notes, and 1 table