Naming Names

Victims, through news reports and social media, often become celebrities overnight. Victims of crime are instantly thrown into the public eye and are fair game when reporters are rushing the scene for a top news story. The media frenzy creates a chaos that magnifies the victims pain and suffering to acquire viewer’s attention, and the reports are usually more gruesome, violent and more sexually charged than the truth. Sexually violent crimes are often a top news focus, re-victimizing the survivor of the sex crime. Research shows that “84% of prime-time television shows contain at least one episode of sexual harassment, which perhaps accurately reflects the commonplace nature of this violent crime”(Beirne, 2011, pg. 11). When a crime has been committed, victims are at a vulnerable time in their lives, which is when the media takes the opportunity to move in and overwhelm them even further while distorting the facts, asking questions, and snapping pictures looking for a news story. Victims are often even re-victimized as the media picks through their past, nothing is private, all information received, whether through a dependable source or just another citizen, is displayed for all of society to make their judgment. This can lead to society thinking the victim deserved it, it was their fault, or they weren’t a good person. This type of treatment has a greater devastating emotional

The 2006 Duke Lacrosse Case brought to light many of the issues and divisions currently plaguing our media sphere. This terrible act of injustice, which blamed three innocent Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, for the rape of an African-American stripper, garnered extensive media attention that gripped America for almost an entire year (Wasserman, 3). Today, many scrutinze the media’s methods of covering the case, and deem that certain codes of ethics were not adhered to. Rather than remaining neutral, newspapers and TV outlets allowed themselves to “be used” by Mike Nifong, the former District Attorney for Durham and prosecutor of the case, by reporting

When it comes to the media and its relations to victims, the media can and should be viewed as a form of victimization. This is because victims want privacy and the media threatens that or rather disregards it whoever. In terms of law, it can be seen as a violation of there basic right to privacy. Although the general public has the right to what is occurring in their neighborhood, the real question is how much detail should the public get to know? The public should be satisfied knowing the crime and a general description of victims, but the media broadcasts personal details of the

American’s encompass diverse opinions on whether a convicted sex offender’s name should be made public. “Although passionately espoused arguments exist on all sides of the issue, very little academic or policy research has been conducted on the actual positive and negative effects of Internet notification” (Irwin, Delson, Kokish, Tobin, 2004, p. 4). According to the research, several causes exist for keeping convicted sex offender’s names private. However, for the purpose of this essay, the writer will investigate the following:

In “ ‘A Steep Price…’” it analyzed the opinions of the public, media, victim, and aggressor in defending their particular take on the case. The article offers mild bias, so it does not completely report the events of the case, because it mostly focuses on the opinionated effects and not so much the facts. In “Feminist Put Judge...”, major bias is introduced by claiming to be in support of the feminist cause; however, the article uses a stronger ethical appeal to attract a broader, more unified audience. In “Here’s the Powerful Letter…”, the author recants the letter the victim wrote to her attacker, Brock Turner. She not only aims for the audience to feel the distress and havoc the case has relinquished on her life, but also a chance to spread a more positive message to thank her supporters while encouraging her audience to stand up for themselves and their self worth. The overall purpose of analyzing all these different media sources is to be able to recognize how the multiple points of view that a story can be told from will alter the objectivity of the event. A society’s culture will emphasis bias or certain point of views to get the public to believe one interpretation of the story based on the

“Finally, I 've come to believe that the true measure of our commitment to justice, the character of our society, our commitment to the rule of law, fairness, and equality cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated,” (Stevenson 18). Within Bryan Stevenson’s novel, Just Mercy, the truths of social inequalities in our criminal justice system are confronted and assessed. Discoveries are made on how the social status of a person impacts the way society perceives them. Despite actions made towards others in the majority, an individual’s character will be measured by how they behave towards people in the minority. Through Harper Lee’s portrayal of hostility that various characters possess towards minorities in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Stevenson’s unforgettable descriptions of social inequalities that the incarcerated face, a similar theme is exhibited. The social status of an individual will influence society’s behavior in a negative or positive way and provoke inequality within a community.

Shame, victim blaming, and the feeling of being powerless were all factors that the perpetrators victim would face. To make it worse, more often than not, the perpetrator was someone the women was familiar with. These men were members of the cherished football team. This program is considered to be the centerpiece for the Missoula community. Thus, this makes all members involved in the program, especially players, considered prized possession that was perceived to be significant members of society. Krakauer’s findings support that the towns reflection of the program influences many individuals. This includes and doesn’t limit to the law enforcement and Justice system of Missoula.

The students never asked consent of the adult to publish the story. Since it is a private matter the school might get sued because the newspaper is under the school’s responsibilities to censor it or publish it.Some people might take offense and the responsibilities would fall onto the school not the students. The article could have distracted the students opinion and not focus on school curriculum. Changing the name of the students was enough because it didn’t make it private. Rumors will spread since schools are small and it’s obvious which people are pregnant in the

2. Identify two victim resources available locally and nationally. Include the organization’s name and website, and a summary of their services.

The media neglected an important code from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) under the section of “Minimize Harm”: “Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.” The media did basically the opposite and identified the entire lacrosse team, which consists of forty-six players—some of them still under 21—and the supposedly “victim” of a sex crime. Although, not the entire media news reporting disclosed Mangum’s name The N&O did after the attorney dropped the changes on April 11th, 2007. One of the factors that contributed to why Mangum was identified by the media was her race. It elevated the volume of publicity and public outrage, and it led to collective and social hatred to all the lacrosse team.

The victim wrote a 7000-word letter to the judge, in which she described how she felt that night, how she felt afterwards and how her life has changed since this incident. The letter also spoke up for sexual assault victims, advising them to speak out about their cases and to seek justice. Despite the victim giving harrowing details of that night, the suspect was only sentenced to six months instead of six years (what the Prosecutors requested), because of the “severe impact”, it could have on Brock Turner (Alexandra,

Continual support to victims of crime is a necessary service in any just society; this support is especially needed in the event that a convicted offender is exonerated. In the United States when a crime is committed the state, not the victim, owns and prosecutes the case so historically the victims’ rights have been neglected. In the modern era victims’ rights are being improved during the trial and sentencing phases of the criminal justice process; however in the event of an exoneration the victim is routinely revictimized and this problem needs to be corrected.

Packingham, the registered sex offender in this case, found this law to be in violation of his constitutional right to freedom of speech. In the PACKINGHAM v. NORTH CAROLINA case, the Supreme Court ruled that the North Carolina state law was unconstitutional, and in direct violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution (PACKINGHAM v. NORTH CAROLINA). This case shows that the supreme court will defend the civil liberties of all people, no matter the situation, and without regard to the individual’s character. That no matter what opinions other people have of us and no matter what we do or have done, we can be sure that our rights will be protected.

Along with television shows, news stations are accused of trivializing rape aswell. How many times have you heard, “She asked for it.” or any other type of victim blaming, or a derivative of,“Boys will be boys.” to make rape seem like not such a big deal (1a)? News channels will even go as far as scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives and history to make the victim seem in the wrong about their rape (1a). Some channels will inflate the fake rape statistics to make rape seem like a less

The history of victimology travels further back in time than most would realize. The concept of the victim emerged from the many attempts of many societies and peoples to explain both the reasons behind victimization and the appropriate action to be taken as a result of it (Burgess et al., 2013). As a concept, it can be difficult to define victimology, since each individual defines the term differently. According to the text utilized for this class, victimology is defined as being the study of the victim, including the offender and society. It is also seen as being a social-structural way of viewing the relationships between crime and the law as well as the criminal and the victim (Burgess et al, 2013)..