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: November 20, 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 13: Week of November 23, 2008
Friday, November 28th -- No Class (Thanksgiving Break) .
Monday, December 1st through Wednesday, December 3rd -- Second meetings
Topic: Media and Crime Justice Policy
Preparatory Readings:
Lecture related links:
Concepts to be covered:
- backwards laws
- episodic format
- thematic format
- mainstreaming
- echo effect
- illocutionary discourse
- the Other
- social construcitonism
- definition of the situation
- perception v. reality
Discussion Questions:
Note: Incorporate the documentary, "Obsession" into your answers.
- What is the connection between "Media, Crime, Criminal Justice" and the documentary, "Obsession"? How does "Obsession" relate to some of the major concepts introduced in this course. Provide examples to better illustrate your point.
- Discuss a recent local crime or criminal justice event that resulted in heavy media coverage and calls for a change in a criminal justice policy. Discuss how the competing constructions of the issue are being framed, whether the event is becoming a symbolic crime, and whether a policy change is likely to occur. [Surette, p. 221]
- Which component of the criminal justice system adheres most to the law of opposites (is portrayed in the media least like its actual reality)? [Surette, p. 221]
- Does the media have too much influence on society? What should be done in the area of crime and justice concerning the media? Why. [Surette, 1998, p. 238-239]
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" or a card that focuses on this week's topic, "Media & Criminal Justice Policy ."
Watch the film Bonfires of the Vanities (1990) or Natural Born Killers (1994) and discuss the media construction of the news media's role in crime and justice. [Surette, pl 221]
Select a recent criminal justice issue (i.e., gangs, death penalty, terrorism) and trace the public attitudes and beliefts.
Explore how much time people (i.e., children, teenagers, young adults, older adults, the elderly) spend time watching television? surfing the Internet? going to the movies? listening to the radio?
Research the War on Drugs and other drug related measures. Who is winning this war?Why.
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). Describe the small item that you made for visitors to your visual project to "take away."
- 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:
Samuel Walker. Sense and Nonsense about Crime and Drugs: A Policy Guide.
J. Carlson. Prime Time Enforcement.
Ray Surette. Justice and the Media.
Ray Surette. The Media and Criminal Justice Policy.
Charles Derber. People Before Profit.
Paul Klugman. The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century.
Robert W. Chesney. Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times.
Gaye Tuchman. Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality.
Bernard Goldberg. Arrogance: Rescuing America from the Media Elite.
Bernard Goldberg. Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News.
Steven Levy. The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness.
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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