Media is an important avenue regarding public views on the criminal justice system and law enforcement. Most of the civilians hardly come into contact with the criminal justice system since they have limited contact with the police. Most people depend on the media outlets to get information about the criminal justice system and the police. Unfortunately, the information that reaches the people through these media outlets are not always true and do not reflect the reality and accurate information about the criminal justice system or about the police (Tucker, Richmond & Perkins, 2017). The depictions from the media, however, whether accurate or not have serious implications on the policy implementation and public opinion.
The impact of media has been seen throughout the criminal justice system. One good example of this is seen in the shift of public support from the programs of rehabilitation to punitive favoring increasing incarceration. This shift was largely due to the influential article by Martinson (1974) which examined the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. The author concluded that rehabilitation programs do not bring any positive change but instead make the offenders more radicalized (Tucker, Richmond & Perkins, 2017). The report got a lot of media attention and was credited widely to have shifted public opinion from supporting rehabilitation programs. According to Tucker, Richmond & Perkins (2017), many other studies have reached same conclusions even though these studies do not offer a change in social policy. Instead, the attention of the media on Martinson's article was a basic ingredient in the change of public opinion and social policy.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Another good example is the focus of the media on school violence in the last two decades. In the last decade, school shootings have brought panic amongst many parents who had children in schools. The media portrayed this situation to be on the rise. The media attracted the public outcry and this led to several demonstrations from the civil society groups and the general public across the country. This problem escalated to a national level and saw the Congress hold hearings on it. The Congress passed a legislation to get enhancements such as school cameras and metal detectors. The attention of the media on school shootings brought a lot of panic to parents and made it appear like it was something that had risen during this period. When actual assessment was conducted, however, the statistics showed that as opposed to a media report, school violence was on the decline and that the emotionally charged reactions from the public were because of the media hype. Statistics also showed that children who were carrying weapons to schools had declined significantly over this period.
While media has been seen to exaggerate and create a negative public opinion on the criminal justice system, media has also created new and helpful opportunities for the justice agencies to find a solution to crimes. It is undoubtedly true that the social media has been beneficial to some of the criminal justice institutions. For example, social media has given the police an unprecedented access to the members of the public (Gonzalez, 2016). Through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the public and the police are able to communicate in time about events and incidents that need attention. Social media has also become an essential tool used for investigations. For instance, the release of CCTV footage of victims of murder assists the police to apprehend the killers. Moreover, the broadcasting nature of social media on the criminal trials has in a great way added transparency and accountability to the criminal proceedings and this has led to open justice in the society (Gonzalez, 2016). Social media, on the other hand, has posed risks for many users and especially young people. Crimes such as revenge porn and other new crimes have been facilitated by the social media and this has prompted calls for harsher punishment. The social media platforms have also been used to track victims such as in the case of Kim Kardashian robbery.
References
Gonzalez, A. (2016). Exposure to VIdeo Media and its Effects on Attitudes Towards Law Enforcement.
Tucker, M., Richmond, J., & Perkins, E. (2017). Association Between Law Enforcement and Media Portrayals.
