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

CRMJ 490-01: 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.

* * * * *

Week 9: Week of October 26, 2003

Topic: Media and the Courts

Preparatory Readings:

• Merlo and Benekos. What's wrong with the criminal justice system: Ideology, Politics and the Media. -- Chapter 3.
• new Answerability: A book on practice
• new Fractal Bits of Experience Coming Together in an Empty Memory Space: I can do this, too!

• Surette. Media, crime, and criminal justice. -- no chapter readings this week.

• Potter and Kappeler. Constructing crime. -- no chapter readings this week.

Lecture related links:


--- Sociology of Knowledge Files .
--- Check out this link -- Ray Surette's website ( found by Bettie Poole).



Concepts to be covered:

• high-profile cases
• indeterminate and determinate sentencing
• Megan's Law
• specialty courts



Discussion Questions:

1. Why does a large segment of the public still believe that crime in increasing? What are the implications of this perception on sentencing policies? What can be done to improve the general public's knowledge about crime trends and crime information? (M&B:82)

2. What is the rationale of three-strikes sentencing legislation? What are the politics of this legislation? (M&B:82)

3. Discuss the issue of race, crime, and sentencing. What attitudes and perceptions affect the public's understanding of this issue? (M&B:82)

Suggested Creative Activities:

• Watch a court related program (i.e, television program, movie) and relate it to this week's readings. Or, listen to a radio program focusing on the judicial process and relate it to this week's readings.
• Select a court related television program, (i.e., "The Practice," "Law and Order"). Find out how and why this particular program was created. How popular is this program? Why. Who are some of its competitors? Why.
• How have lawyers and courts been depicted on television (or on the silver screen)? Trace the changing images of lawyers.
• How many different court related programs are currently broadcasted today? Which one is the most realistic depiction? Why.
• Trace the creation and development of "Megan's Law". Discuss the media's role in this process.
• Trace the development and evolution of the "three-strikes law". Discuss the media's role in the evolution of this law.
• A Creative Project with CSUDH students! Check out Visual Essays Project. If interested, let me know.
  

Recommended Readings:

• William Haltom. Reporting on the Courts: How the mass media cover judicial actions.
• Alan Dershowitz. Reasonable Doubts: The O.J. Simpson Case and the Criminal Justice System.
• W. Lance Bennett & Martha Feldman. Reconstructing Reality in the Courtroom.
• J. Edward Gerald. News of Crime: Courts and Press in Conflict.
• Robert Derchsel. News Making in the Trial Courts.
• Lynne Goodstein & John Hepburn. Determinate Sentencing and Imprisonment .
• Michael Tonry & Kate Hamilton. Intermediate Sanctions in Overcrowded Times.
• Daniel Van Ness & Karen Heetderks. Restoring Justice.

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