Media And The Criminal Justice System

Americans have given up some of their freedoms to be protected by the United States, so they have a right to be informed. In the majority of the all the discussion boards, the classmates agreed that the media creates problems. By giving stories more attention than others, the media creates problems. The media tends to focus more on seriously violent crimes more than missing, or kidnapping cases. According to Champion, in the portrayal of both offenders and victims of crimes in the media there is a "significant focus on high profile crimes as well as societal ills related to crime and victimization" (Champion 2007). In addition, the media reports stories that can make money, and to draw viewership. These are important to the media because without the funding the media wont be able to report from different places across the U.S., and without the support of the public looking them, the media will lose its only audience. The media plays a significant role in public safety by keeping the public aware of crime increase, violence, and fugitives. This allows the community to take action to promote their safety. Americans put a lot of trust into the media in hopes that everything they report is honest and fair.

What is the role of the media in crime and victimization? Describe your views on the benefits, as well as the damages created by the media. Provide examples.

Criminology is continuously changing and developing. Advances of technology have made media our primary news source for crime. We believe the stories told by our local news media, not doubting a word because these sources are supposedly reliable. Nevertheless, they sometimes do spread false information. It may be intentional or unintentional. According to Cohen, media presence amplifies a problem which did not previously exist (Steeves and Milford, 2015) thus creating a moral panic. As media influence increases, it is necessary for criminologists to study moral panics, such as the Columbine School shootings or the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Since the up-climb of social media began in 2003, law enforcement has greatly adapted to the social media network in order to better communicate with the public and to improve their protocol. Much of police work is unappreciated and unknown of. Therefore, some departments have taken it upon themselves to educate the public via social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. This is done in order to inform the community of what their department does, and to build confidence and trust towards their agency. Around the country, law enforcement agencies see social media as both beneficial and damaging. Thus, with the awareness that social media is here to stay, law enforcement has chosen to adjust to these social changes and to use them in their benefit.

The use of social media in law enforcement has been on the rise throughout the U.S. over the past few years. According to the LexisNexis 2014 Social Media Use in Law Enforcement report, eight out of every 10 law enforcement professionals use social media as a tool in investigations, and 25 percent use it every day. The use of social media to help obtain probable cause is widely accepted, the survey shows. Three out of four respondents, or 76 percent, said that, when they used social media as probable cause, it has never been challenged. The percentage is down from 87 percent in 2012.

The media plays the role as entertaining and a source of information to its viewers, however, with the current crime trends, most viewers have the perceptions that our criminal justice system is lacking in areas of proper sentencing and protecting the viewers. All this is based upon what we see in the media is the information reliable or not? I say this because of hearing about news personality lying about their experience only to booster the networks rating. When the criminal justice system has contact with the media, most will withhold information or give misleading information to justify the capture or conviction of a criminal. So not only are we questioning the efficacy of the criminal justice system but the media as well.

1. If it wasn’t for social media the truth of these cases would not be seen and once again silenced by a bias police report. (“Police brutality raises social media shock waves.”)

Different forms of media, such as television, films, books, and newspapers, have similar ways of portraying the criminal justice system. The media constructs representations of crime and justice and in doing this, it presents an often dramatized representation of the criminal justice system; and this does not just influence on the public’s lay view of crime but also for criminal justice experts (Marsh, 2014). In the media it is commonly known that they are a business, and businesses need to make a profit. Because of this, the media’s portrayal of the criminal justice system has been very negative. With the news, their main purpose is to produce what sells. So many of them would edit the information they have gathered and make a story that will sell. Also the media does not show the full process of the criminal justice as a quick process, while in fact it is not. For example, last year, Netflix released a short series called “Making A Murderer”. Most people claimed that they feel like they can solve a crime when they finished watching a series. While that series is very factual, it does not hit every single step of the criminal justice process.

The majority of people in the United States receive much of their information and understanding of the criminal justice system and its problems through various media sources. Many are unaware there are purposeful inaccuracies and intentional and unintentional

The consumption of mass media coverage has invaded every single aspect of our everyday life. At places of business, there are often televisions hanging on the wall broadcasting breaking news stories or high profiled cases across the screens. In addition, it is highly common to observe people using their cell phones to view articles or videos of police related shootings after there has been breaking news. Studies have shown that individuals devote approximately 30% of their free time observing some form of media (Burkhart, 2013). The media have been thought to impact the legal process through sensationalizing a variety of issues. This paper will examine the effects of media coverage on the legal process.

Despite the numerous positive roles played by social media in modern policing, there are also related negative roles in the process . The most common problem involved in modern policing is the security threats that are incurred by the officers

Cases such as this one shows the increasing use of social media in criminal investigations. Just how often do law enforcements use social media in their line of work? “A nationwide survey conducted last year of 600 law enforcement agencies found that 92 percent use some form of social media. Of those plugged-in agencies, 90 percent use Facebook, 50 percent Twitter and 37 percent YouTube, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Center for Social Media findings”.

The social media has become a way for criminals to contact each other and coordinate their criminal acts. By this happening it creates another place that police departments around the country have to find ways of policing it. While this becomes harder for law enforcement, luckily they have technology out there that will help in doing this. When criminals use the internet they leave a trail that law enforcement can follow in the apprehension or conviction by using their trail as evidence against them. The police can also identify threats and patterns of the criminals using the internet. Even though technology has its benefits within policing by helping with programs, the field officers, investigations, community relations and their safety and the wide spread of sharing information between different law enforcement. Law enforcement has to be able to come up with new technology to keep up with the advance technology the criminals come out with to use against society. This can become costly to police departments that now days have a very tight budget to work with and have to find new ways of coming up with the money to keep up to protect their

According to our textbook there are two possible scenarios into what future media crime and justice reality could look like. They are driven by crime and justice media currently available and rely on visual image (Surette, 2015). The first emphasizes on crime and justice spectacle, the other emphasizes on surveillance. The new media plays roles in all aspect of crime and justice. From criminalization, crime planning, committing crimes, identifying suspects and victims, pursuing and capturing suspects, locating evidence, and communicating with the public (Surette, 2015). Furthermore, contemporary crimes are extracted from one context and then it is reused, reframed, and employed to create new, fully mediated realities of crimes (Surette, 2015).

The media is like a mirror to law enforcement; they can point out the flaws in law enforcement and the justice system. However, since the news media stands behind the glass holding the mirror, they are not able to see their flaws. There is a proper way to allow the media and the criminal justice system to work together and build on each other 's strength without paralyzing people 's rights. There have been so many problems