CRMJ 490-01: Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice.

A Justice Site

Media, Crime and Criminal Justice Preparations
Fall 2003
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 15, 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.
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Week 14: Week of November 30, 2003

Topic: Crime-and-Justice Attitudes and Policies
Preparatory Readings:

Surette. Media, crime, and criminal justice. -- Chapter 7.
Merlo and Benekos. What's wrong with the criminal justice system: Ideology, Politics and the Media. -- Chapter 6.
Potter and Kappeler. Constructing crime. -- Epilogue.

Lecture related links:

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

Concepts to be covered:

fear of crime
public and media agenda
echo effects
drug courts
crime reduction
federalization

Discussion Questions:

Discuss a local criminal justice policy that has been influenced by news media coverage or a media-based lobby effort to pass crime-related legislation. (S:238)
Discuss the implications of the increasing entertainmentization of crime-and-justice media. (S:238)
Discuss how the media have influenced your social construction of crime-and-justice reality. (S:238)
Does the mass media have too much influence on society? What should be done in the area of crime and justice concerning the media? Why. (S:238-239)
What specific aspects of content of the media do you find most troubling? Why. (S:239)
Explain the reduction in officially reported violent crime in the United States. Who is to be partly credited for this decrease: back-enders or front-enders? Why. (M&B:186)
Provide an argument of guarded "optimism" regarding the criminal justice system and its crime policy in the next century. Now, prepare an argument of "pessimism" regarding the criminal justice system and its crime policy in the next century. Which view do you expect to predominate? Why. (M&B: 186)
What's "right" with criminal justice? Respond to the criticisms of the system. (M&B:186).
Identify a current serious criminal justice problem or issue. Evaluate the influence of ideology, the media and politics on it. What is the current approach being utilizaed? What do you recommend for the future? (M&B:186)
Do you agree or disagree with Potter and Kappeler's conclusions? Why.

Suggested Creative Activities:

Trace a recent criminal justice issue (i.e., gangs, death penalty, terrorism) and trace the public attitudes and beliefs.
Explore how much time people (i.e., children, teenagers, young adults, older adults, the elderly) spend watching television? surfing the Internet? going to the movies?
Research the War on Drugs and other drug wars. Who is winning and who is losing? Why.

Recommended Readings:

American Bar Association. The Federalization of Criminal Law.
Geoffrey Canada. Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America.
Elliott Currie. Crime and Punishment in America.
Samuel Walkerl. Sense and Nonsense about Crime and Drugs:A Policy Guide.
J. Carlson. Prime Time Enforcement.
V.E. Kappeler et al . The Mythology of Crime and Criminal 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

Minimum Requirements for Week 14:

Basics:
---You should be familiar with the various issues discussed in this week's readings. In other words, you should be able an active discussant in class, especially when we focus on the week's discussion questions.
--- 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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