Social Media's Influence On The US Criminal Justice System

The media can be an effective tool for exposing injustices in the application of criminal law, however it can also be used to create unfair bias against the alleged offender therefore, causing an imbalance between the rights of the accused and society. The media attempted to vilify Loveridge to create prejudice

In tune with the worldwide development and popularity of Hip Hop music, “a symbiotic relationship between culture and law”1 has emerged. “Culture shapes the law, and law is a product of culture”.2 Our society is reminded and alerted to daily neighborhood, state and national crimes via not only online and television news forums, but the various social platforms now heavily relied on: YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. However, it can be argued that these new advances in technology and

Grimes, J. N. (2010 January-December). The social construction of social problems: "Three Strikes and You 're Out" in the mass media. Journal of Criminal Justice and Law, 2(1-2), 39-56. doi:Ebscohost database

Media is everywhere nowadays. Whether it’s billboards, radio, commercials, trailers, or product placement, the media has spent the better part of a century perfecting the ability to sway public opinion. How could this not have an impact on the Criminal Justice System? There is an old saying, perception is reality. This clearly applies to the narrative shaping abilities that the media poses. Although not explicitly resulting in an effect on Criminal Justice Policy, Communication Theorist George Gerbner proposed Cultivation Theory, also known as mean world syndrome, which refers to the phenomenon that a viewer experiences when they consume too much violent media content, where in that, they begin to perceive the world as more dangerous than it actually is.

Chavis, Benjamin F., Jr. "U.S. Criminal Justice System Needs Urgent Reform." Washington Informer, Mar 2015, pp. 24-24,41, Global News stream; ProQuest Central, http://ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.gsu.edu/docview/1669733723?accountid=11226.

Social media is especially useful when it comes to investigations. Police officers have learned that, in using social networks to spread certain cases to the public, more information is retrieved. For instance, sending out an image of the criminal to news stations that later display it to the public often leads to feedback about the whereabouts of the criminal as seen by a citizen. Likewise, through social media accounts, we are more capable of seeing things such as who the criminal associates themselves with, as well as their whereabouts, or places they are likely to go through photo geotagging.

For the past 50 years, America’s criminal justice system has encountered several significant changes dealing with courts and policing. According to Marion and Oliver (2006), the historical Supreme Court rulings like Mapp v. Ohio and Miranda v. Arizona mold the way courts and law enforcement handle individuals charged with committing crimes. This paper will discuss the evolution of courts and law enforcement reflects the diverse and changing need for today’s population which is first importance, the urgency for cooperation and communication among criminal justice agencies and law enforcement within the country. Individuals must

Thanks to the current increase of new technology that has helped to shape our societies in different ways. However, with the current increase of online crimes, emerging of radical groups and gang related groups have posed a major and critical balance between public safety and concerns of privacy. But with proper procedures and neutral grounds between the law enforcement and the public, can help to control the situation without any party feel being cheated.

Social Media has become a huge part of our lives. It is a way to connect to those far away, or to share things that we find interesting or exciting and can be a very personal presentation of who we are. But in both positive and negative ways we can share our opinions and our view on certain events in the world. These can lead to rallies, protests, uprisings or in some cases revolution, the internet has become one of the most influential forces in this world and a large part of that is due to social media. In the case of the Michael Brown shooting, social media focused on the positive and negative relationships between minorities and cops in the United States of America. Sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Vine were all used to show

The news media has a habit of showing only the sensational crime stories, to draw the public to view, listen, or read their articles (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The unbalanced media coverage causes the criminal justice system a rough time while investigating, prosecuting, and convicting the subjects/defendants of their crimes, by only talking to victims or lay people willing to tell their story whether right or wrong.

This can cause serious problems within the criminal justice system. Social media plays a massive role in the way that news is allocated within society. However, because of this large role it plays, it also interferes with the investigation and results of a particular criminal action. One can imagine how swiftly he or she learned about the horrific shooting incident that happened in Sandy Hook Elementary School or the unfortunate killing of Trayvon Martin and how George Zimmerman was prosecuted based on the public’s online response.

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.

Social media can be seen from completely different aspects and points of views. A major role in these different opinions plays mostly the age of the beholder, because social media made an enormous change in the last 50 years. One very important aspect in our today’s society is to get as many information as possible in a very short time period ("Impacts of social media”) Through social media and especially social networks such as twitter and Facebook, the information gets spread extremely fast. There are for example reporters who search on those networks to get information for their news and articles. (“Impacts

Most cases that have festered can be revitalized by having access to the concerned individuals and have they brought to book. This is among the positives that can be drawn from the use of social media

There is much controversy over whether or not the risks of social media outweigh the benefits. While it can be used for numerous types of criminal activity, it can also be used to stop these crimes and other criminals. Just a few examples of occurrences that can negatively affect or even inflict physical harm on people through social media usage include things such as cyberbullying, sexual predation, robbery, etc. These things can permanently affect people’s lives or even, in some cases, kill them. Given these risks, there are also many strategies the police utilize to catch criminals, which would not be possible without social media. So, which is it? Does the amount of predators or cyberbullies online and on social media give ample enough reason to consider social media more help than harm, or are there enough good things that result from social media usage to consider social media a valuable asset? Social media can be used as a tool in law enforcement, but there are too many negative factors, like crime and cyberbullying, that were directly caused by social media to consider it much of an asset.