The portrayal of the justice system and crime has been centrally featured by television since its inception. The police, in particular, have been featured as prominent figures in several fictional crime series. Sometimes known as police procedural, the drama is a staple idea for both the past and the present television programs. More than 300 police dramas have been screened on American network with many other shows premiering every year. Most of these shows are, however, short-lived and easily forgotten while some of them attract a wide audience from all over the world. Some of them with the large audience have received critical acclaim. This paper aims at pointing out some of the television programs that show the criminal justice system and how they portray the police and the general justice system. The paper will further analyze whether or not the portrayal of the justice system depict the reality of these agencies. The criminal shows that I have picked include, Orange is the new black, law and order, The Sinner, and Brooklyn nine-nine.
These shows have swept changes in the society and have led to a shift of portrayals of the criminal justice system and the police on the general public. Early portrayal of the police gave a special focus on law and order in which the police were portrayed as moral figures who played a conservative point of view. These shows represent the police drama in which the police engage in investigative practices for some common crime events in the society. These shows also focus on the structures of the criminal justice system as well as the gender representation in the justice department.
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In law and order franchise, for instance, the police are portrayed as super cops who are able to single-handedly fight corruption and get justice for themselves. The demographic shift in the criminal justice system has seen more female and African American characters in the criminal justice system, something that was hardly shown by the past crime shows. In The Sinner, for instance, the police have been depicted as people with more humanistic characteristics with real emotions and flaws. Orange is the new black takes the law and order approach and gives a more liberal explanation of the emergence of crime in the society with social inequality being highlighted as the main cause of criminal activities. Brooklyn nine-nine has focused more on the law and order approach and they have allowed the police drama to extend its limits of television by portraying a more realistic and modern fashion of police with a more liberal mindset.
While some of these shows have inspired people to pursue careers in law enforcement and forensic science, some of them have influenced the viewers to overestimate the frequency of serious criminal activities and misperceive essential facts about crime. Most viewers of these shows find themselves misjudging the number of workers in the criminal justice system. Viewers of these shows misjudge attorneys and police officers who make up less percentage of the workforce.
From most of these shows, there are several problems that come with crime control. Crime control as depicted by these shows indicates that the social class plays a huge role in crime control in which the noble class freely get away with serious crimes while those from the low class end up being charged even for small crimes. Another problem that comes with crime control is racial segregation and a poor representation of minority groups in the criminal justice system. The African Americans, for example, are poorly represented in the criminal justice system while the white police are overrepresented. While some of the crime shows indicate a true depiction of what happens in the criminal justice system, some of the shows exaggerate the reality and negatively influence the members of the public.
