In the contemporary world, the portrayal of the crime on television shows and the news influences the public’s perception of how crimes are handled. The knowledge and judgements of many individuals about the criminal justice system are based what they see on television. The media therefore has a very strong influence on the society’s expectations with the police as well as other branches of the criminal justice system. The purpose of this essay is to provide a comprehensive analysis of media portrayals of the criminal justice system and their effect on the public’s perception.
A research done by Gravetter & Wallnau (2016) to compare popular crime shows such as CSI to actual US homicide data shows that there are strong misrepresentations of crime on the latter. Television shows and news programs are motivated to show crime stories that would make the headlines as a newsworthy coverage. TV shows reconstruct serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery or sexual assault to provide false and misleading impressions of crimes and how they are handled ( Pollock, 2016 ). Movie directors focus on developing a crime story that will attract the attention of the audience without considering their portrayal of the criminal justice system ( Williams & McShane, 2013 ).
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Crime dramas are not modelled to represent real world legal cases in the justice system because they exaggerate certain aspects of the legal process (Mays & Ruddell, 2015). The end result is that the shows have painted a false picture of the legal system to the viewers. In most episodes, cases are normally solved within a few hours based on the use of advanced technological equipment as well as the genius minds of agents. Despite the fact that this is not realistic, it can create unrealistic expectations and change the perception of jurors and judges during the presentation of trial evidence ( Maxfield & Babbie, 2014 ).
From the discussion provided above, it is evident that media coverage of crime is not exaggerated, but also misleading. The perception of crimes, crime investigation agents and the police, as well as the criminals is therefore a false representation of real operatives in the criminal justice system. The forensic procedures and technology used in some of the shows is often exaggerated and in some cases completely fake. Crime must therefore be presented in a more accurate manner so that the public can have a credible understanding of the justice system.
References
Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B . (2016). Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 10th ed. California: Wadsworth.
Maxfield, M.G. & Babbie E.R. (2014). Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 7th Ed. Upper Sadle River, NJ: Cengage.
Mays, G. L., & Ruddell, R. (2015). Making Sense of Criminal Justice: Policies and Practices , 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pollock, J.M. (2016). Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice , 9th ed . Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth.
Williams, F.P. & McShane (2013). Criminological Theory , 6th Ed. London: M.D. Pearson.
