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Social Media's Influence On The US Criminal Justice System

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Media and social media have a strong influence on today’s society and the criminal justice system. Is social media so powerful that it could effect the U.S. criminal justice environment? The answer is yes, the world revolves around media and social media. People are using it for recreation and entertainment purposes. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube have such a high impact on today’s society and has transformed how people understand crime and the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, media has it advantages and disadvantages dealing with criminal cases, but it also effects the way the criminal justice system is viewed. On the other hand, interaction with social media allows opportunities to solve crimes, creates more ways to commit crimes, and create bias within our American society. In general, the word …show more content…

The public has a fascination and obsession over crime and criminals, but people want to know how those crimes are dealt with in the criminal justice system, in court and on the streets. “Now that the penal system has forsworn the former, and confined the latter within prison walls, the public turns to the news media. Stories relating to criminal justice are never far from the front pages and from the collective consciousness” (Roberts 99). We as American citizens have no choice but to watch the news or read the daily newspaper and get the latest crime right across the headlines. Learning about the new political and economic burning topics of the day seem to be at the majority of peoples interest. This can be a positive update given to the world that can lead individuals to have a certain opinion, or bias against the criminal justice system. In some cases this may become a problem when exploiting or convicting someone before a trial has even started. For example John Cloud, writer of the “How the Casey Anthony Murder Case Became the Social-Media Case of the

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