Criminal Justice
Media coverage of crime and criminal justice affect public perception of crime, often leading to misinformation and bias. Describe three of the problems/effects that arise from media coverage of crime.
ANSWER
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Media refers to the communication tools used to store and deliver various information like news, music, and data. Media include newspapers, television, billboards and radio. Media influences the public in different ways by how they perceive the information. Media coverage on crime leads to various problem like; Perception biasness, injustices and social movements.
Perception biasness occurs when the media covers on crime and favours one side. This leads to the public being biased and forming stereotypes and assumptions of one group. For example in the United States, the black Americans have a larger population in prison according to the media and thus they are viewed as criminals by the public and even the police. A black American can walk in a shop and the security guards will follow them around to check if they are armed or they will still because of how the media has portrayed them.
In addition, Media coverage on crime creates distrust between the public and the criminal justice system. This is because in some cases police and even the higher authority are involved in the crime activities. Moreover, the police that are supposed to protect the citizens are involved in killing of innocent citizens like during the case of George Floyd. Thus misconduct of the police ruins the relation between them and the public.
Social Movements often occurs when the media airs crime activities with the aim of achieving a certain goal or because the public misinterpreted the information. The social movements are aimed at seeking justice too and sometimes they can be destructive or even peaceful. The social movements creates awareness about crimes that may contradict with what the media is giving the public.
