CRMJ/SOCA 385: Media, Crime, Criminal Justice.
A Justice Site
Media, Crime, Criminal Justice
Fall 2008
Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: October 23, 2008
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
CRMJ 385 Media, Crime, Criminal Justice
You will be held accountable for the readings and discussion questions listed here. There will be no "testing." That means that you will not have to live in anxious anticipation of what we will ask and how much you will have to know. Instead, we will provide weekly discussion questions, lectures, essays, and concepts we feel that you should know as a result of having taken this course. You will assure us of that learning and receive your grade for the questions and concepts about which you choose to write and talk with us. In addition you will find detailed explanations and examples on our grading policies in the first week's reading.
"Media, Crime, Criminal Justice" Cards
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Week 9: Week of October 26, 2008
Email me your second visual project topic ASAP!!!
Topic: Media and the Courts
Preparatory Readings:
Lecture related links:
Concepts to be covered:
- echo effect
- prejudicial publicity
- Freedom of Information Act
- Government in Sunshine Act
- closure
- restrictive orders
- protective orders
- Voir dire
- continuance
- change of venue
- sequestration
- jury instructions
- shield laws
- due process
Discussion Questions:
Note: Incorporate this week's documentary into your answers.
- How is the jury trial process of determining guilt or innocence a small-scale example of social constructionism? {Surette, p. 147]
- Is the law shown in a positive or a negative light in the media? [Surette, p. 147]
- In that the courts actually determine what happens to offenders, why are media portraits of the courts fewer in number than those of law enforcement? [Surette, p. 147]
- Can media trials coexist with fair trials? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]
- What aspects of contemporary news coverage do you feel are the most damaging to fair trials? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]
- Should live television coverage of criminal trials be allowed? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]
- Is it important that reporters be protected from testifying and that their files and notes be protected? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]
Suggested Visual Projects/Creative Measures:
Note: Your visual projects/creative measure: a) Must relate to "media, crime, and the criminal justice system." b) Must be approved before starting your creative measure. c) Cannot be something that you are doing or have done for another course. d) Research cannot be 100% online (i.e., google, askjeeves). e) Must conduct library research using scholarly works, (not the popular press -- Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated). No term papers! Email me your visual project idea/topic.
Make an "explosion box/card" that focuses on this week's topic, " Courts."
Attend a session of first appearances at the local courthouse and compare the processing of cases there with judicial processing shown in the media. [Surette, p. 147]
Watch a week's worth of crime shows and note violations of and adherence to due process protections. Also note and summarize pro and con comments on civil liberties, judges, attorneys, and the judicial system. [Surette, p. 147]
Find out how and why Court TV was created. How popular is Court TV? Who are some of its competitors? Why.
View one of the following movies: "Twelve Angry Men," "Judgment at Nuremburg," "Witness for the Prosecution," "And Justice for All," "To Kill a Mockingbird," or "Runaway Jury." Compare and contrast the media construction of the courts with how courts really operate.
Listen to an old-time radio program about crime, criminals and criminal justice. (Every week-night on 780 AM from midnight to 1 a.m. or Sunday evenings on 90.7FM, from 9-11 p.m.) Compare and contrast the radio image of crime and criminal justice with today's television and/or movie images.
Self-Assessment Questions for each Visual Project:
- List the names of the individuals in your group. What did you do exactly for this visual project? (If in a group, explain the division of labor and your individual contribution to this visual project).
- Explain in depth, how your visual project specifically relates to "media, crime, criminal justice" (i.e., the readings, the documentaries, class discussions, major concepts). Explain how the interrelationship of "theory, policy, practice" applies to your visual project. What did you learn?
- Assess how the 6Cs apply to your visual project, with special attention on competence and creativity. What is your visual project self-assessment (provide a letter grade) ___ ? Explain why this particular grade.
Recommended Readings:
Frankie Bailey and Steven Chermak. Famous American Crimes and Trials.
Hedieh Nasheri. Crime and Justice in the Age of Court TV .
William Haltom. Reporting on the Courts: How the Mass Media Cover Judicial Actions.
Janice Schuetz & Lin Lilley. The O.J. Simpson Trials.
Edward J. Gerald. News of Crime: Courts and Press in Conflict.
Internet Movie Database
Lawrence Lessig. Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University, has made his book free online.
Course Syllabus for CRMJ 385 "Media, Crime, Criminal Justice"
Media Sources:
Left/Right Perspectives - Cursor - New York Times
Arts and Letters Daily - The Economist - The Guardian
Wall Street Journal -The Weekly Standard - The Nation
Los Angeles Times - Chicago Tribune - The Washington Post
Cursor's Al Jazeera Archive - Ha'aretz - Palestine Monitor
Indymedia - BBC News - New Profile - Progressive Sociologists Network
takata@uwp.edu
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