Justice, Essay Example

Abstract

The paper discusses the impact of police drama shows on public perceptions about criminal justice. The results of the recent analysis reveal contradictory attitudes toward crime, based on crime shows. The problem is in that crime shows reveal only the top of the wedding cake, using unique cases as the sources of enormous commercial profits, thus distorting public beliefs about justice.

That crime shows like CSI, Law and Order, or Criminal Minds impact public perceptions about criminal justice system no one can deny. As media consumers, we frequently find ourselves under the impact of criminal justice public images, which television and newspapers try to promote. It appears, however, that not always are these perceptions positive. More often than not, crime shows generate contradictory attitudes toward crime and do not help improve the general picture of crime in the country.

It is difficult not to agree to Robbers (2005) in that “television and print media provide a great deal of information on social issues, such as crime and justice”, and the majority of crime shows are aimed to create a generally positive and effective picture of criminal justice system in the country. In reality, however, those who regularly watch crime shows are more about the difficult criminal situation in the country, rather than about the effectiveness of criminal justice in the U.S. For example, Robbers (2005) confirms that crime shows develop anti-gun control perceptions in public due to the multiplicity of crimes on the screen and desensitization of the audience. Really, the more crime individuals watch on TV, the more likely they are to see gun policies as an effective measure of self-protection. At the same time, according to Dowler & Zawinski (2007), frequent viewers of police dramas believe that wealthy criminals receive preferential treatment, and that police misconduct is not uncommon in criminal justice.

The truth is that what police dramas like CSI and Law and Order show are only the top of the wedding cake. These are a kind of celebrity cases, unique by nature, too complex to be usual, and in need for special kinds of prosecution and forensic procedures. For the sake of profitability, producers do not engage in plots, which involve simple felonies or misdemeanors, and which are actually the third and the fourth layers of Walker’s Wedding Cake theory. For these reasons, what viewers see on TV is very much far from the criminal justice reality. This distorted picture makes public perceptions about criminal justice irrelevant and turns these dramas into nothing else but the source of enormous commercial benefits.

References

Dowler, K. & Zawilski, V. (2007). Public perceptions of police misconduct and discrimination: Examining the impact of media consumption. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35 (2): 193-203.

Robbers, M.L.P. (2005). The media and public perceptions of criminal justice policy issues: An analysis of Bowling for Columbine and gun control. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 12 (2): 77-95.