A Justice Site
Media, Crime and Criminal Justice Preparations
Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: November 13, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
CRMJ 490-01: Media, Crime, and Criminal JusticeYou 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 12: Week of November 16, 2003
Topic: Media as a Cause of Crime
Preparatory Readings:
- Surette. Media, crime, and criminal justice. -- Chapter 5.
- Guest Lecturer: Maurice Horton.
- Documentary, "Media Survival Tactics: Successfully Telling Your Story to the Media" to be shown in class.
- Merlo and Benekos. What's wrong with the criminal justice system: Ideology, Politics and the Media. -- 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:
- media effect on aggression
- Ronald Aker's social learning theory
- copycat crime
- terrorism's relationship to the media
Discussion Questions:
- What should be done about the media's ability to generate copycat crimes? Why. (S:154)
- What should society's policy be regarding sexual media, violent media, sexually violent media? (S:154)
- Discuss whether copycat crime is increasing. Why. (S:154)
- Discuss how to best handle an ongoing terrorist hostage-taking event. What information should be released, and what access and restrictions should be imposed on the media? Why. (S:154)
- What factors do you feel are more important than the media as causes of crime? Do you think the media will become more or less important as a cause in the future? Why?
Suggested Creative Activities:
- Trace a recent example of a copycat crime. Why is this example considered a copycat crime? What case was copied? Why.
- Are there any movies or television shows which were mentioned as being "copied" by an individual or group? Why.
- Is the media doing anything about preventing copycat crimes? Provide some examples to illustrate your point.
Recommended Readings:
- Sheila Brown. Crime and the Law in Media Culture..
- Ronald Akers. Deviant Behavior: A Social Learning Approach.
- A. Bandura.Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis.
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