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Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: February 15, 2004
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ 490 Special Topics: Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice

You will be held accountable for purposes of grading for the readings and exercises listed here. There will be no "testing." That means that you will not have to live in anxious anticipation of what we will ask and how much you will have to know. Instead, we will provide weekly discussion questions, lectures, essays, and concepts we feel that you should know as a result of having taken this course. You will assure us of that learning and receive your grade for the questions and concepts about which you choose to write and talk with us. In addition you will find detailed explanations and examples on our grading policies in the first week's reading.

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Week 5: Week of February 15, 2004

Topic: The Entertainment Media and the Social Construction of Crime and Justice

Preparatory Readings:

• Surette. Media, crime, and criminal justice. -- Chapter 2.

Lecture related links:


--- Martha Minow. Making All the Difference: Exclusion, Inclusion and American Law. Check out this link Martha Minow on the Dear Habermas site.



Concepts to be covered:

• definition of the situation
• social constructionism
• presentation of self
• labeling/stereotyping
• difference
• identity politics
• the Other



Discussion Questions:

1. Why would Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz state: "Perhaps the most realistic TV show on justice is a situation comedy - Night Court"(Surette: 45)?

2. Do you think the law of opposites is becoming more true or less true? Why. (Surette: 51)

3. Have you ever been frightened by crimes shown in an entertainment medium? Did you behave differently or feel differently about the world and strangers for a while afterward? Why. (Surette: 51)

4. Where do you find the portraits of horrific crimes the most frightening -- on film, in print, or on radio? Why do you feel different media have different impact? (Surette: 51)

5. How do you feel computers and computer-based games will change the portrayal of crime and justice in the entertainment media? Do you think the portrayals will be more or less realistic and graphic? Why. (Surette: 51)



Suggested Creative Activities:



• Examine the most popular computer and computer-based games. What proportion of these games focus on crime and justice? How is crime and criminal justice portrayed? Why.
• Watch one or more episodes of Night Court. How "real" is this TV program? Why.
• What is the most horrific portrayal of crime and violence in the entertainment media? Should there be limits on such portrayals? Why.



Recommended Readings:

• Nicholas Cowdery. Getting Justice Wrong: Myths, Media and Crime.
• Marshall McLuhan. The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects.
• David Kidd-Hewitt and Richard Osborne. Crime and the Media.
• Sheila Brown. Crime and Law in Media Culture.



Media Sources:

Left/Right Perspectives - Cursor - New York Times
Arts and Letters Daily - The Economist - The Guardian
Wall Street Journal -The Weekly Standard - The Nation
Los Angeles Times - Chicago Tribune - The Washington Post
Cursor's Al Jazeera Archive - Ha'aretz - Palestine Monitor


Indymedia - BBC News - New Profile - Progressive Sociologists Network


Minimum Requirements for Week 5:

• Basics:
  ---You should be familiar with the various issues discussed in Surette chapter 2, "The Entertainment Media and the Social Construction of Crime and Justice." In other words, you should be able to answer the discussion questions and to be actively involved in our class discussions.
  --- You should be familar with the above list of concepts, and able to show how these concepts relate to "media, crime and criminal justice."



takata@uwp.edu

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