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Images of Crime, Criminals and Justice in American Media

A sample of crime films, television programs, news programs, and a song were reviewed for this content analysis. Notes are included at the conclusion of this report. Several general themes emerged from these texts. First, the images of career criminals portrayed in the mass media continue to include Italian Mafia types, minority ghetto gangs, and the occasional white collar criminal who may commit a crime of passion. Deprivation and structural functionalist theories as discussed below along with social learning theories may explain the persistence of these images and the social realities they tend to mirror.

A series of CSI Las Vegas television programs presented criminals as falling into these categories but tended to focus instead on the positive characteristics of crime fighters. This included forensic scientists as well as police officers. While these individuals were shown as having character flaws (e.g., excessive egos, involvement with crime figures, gambling addiction), their dedication to their jobs was emphasized. In contrast, criminals were depicted as less intelligent, more violent, and the product of flawed backgrounds.

Bob Dylan's "The Hurricane" was a song that made the case that Rueben "Hurricane" Carter, a black New Jersey boxer, was wrongfully accused of murder by racist police officers. Whether or not Carter was innocent may be less significant than the fact that Dylan's song painted a portrait of police officers convinced that blacks are likely to be criminals and of a law enforcement system that was institutionally racist at its core.

In contrast, the televised news programs on local CBS, ABC, and NBC channels present stories about crime, criminals, and the police that tend to be favorable to police action and critical of criminals. Many criminals are depicted as emerging from impoverished "ghetto" gang backgrounds and as living outside of societal norms. These programs tend to affirm ...

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Images of Crime, Criminals and Justice in American Media. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:20, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000092.html