CRJ 201 - Mass Media, Crime, and Society

Semester Hours: 3
Mass Media, Crime, and Society will examine the interrelationship between mass media, society, and crime and criminal justice. Television, film, newspaper, and electronic media intersect with crime and the criminal justice in a number of important ways. We will explore how the media represents, distorts, and/or filters crime and justice issues; and to consider the culture of crime in relation to conventions of news and entertainment in the mass media, and its larger social and political context. Topics covered will include: the social construction of crime and criminal justice, media effects on attitudes toward crime and justice, competing theories in criminology, crime reporting, the role of place in crime stories, moral panics and fears, news media and the courts, and the use of media technology in the judicial system and law enforcement.

Pre-requisites: CRJ 140 - Introduction to Criminal Justice.

Offered: occasionally.