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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: February 22, 2007
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ/SOCA 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.

* * * * *

Week 7: Week of February 25, 2007

February 26th - 28th - First Meetings. If you don't have a meeting date/time scheduled, see me ASAP!

Topic: The Media and Police

Preparatory Readings:



• Rafter. Shots in the Mirror. Chapter 4.
• Surette. Media, Crime and Criminal Justice . Chapter 4.
• Potter and Kappeler. Constructing Crime . entirety.
• Documentary: "End of the Night Stick" (to be shown in class).
  
  
• Read "Law Enforcers: A Profile" at Ray Surette's website.

Lecture related links:



• Join the Yahoo Discussion Group with CSUDH students
  
  
• Ray Surette's website
  
• W.I. Thomas "Definition of the Situation
• Metaphor and Theory. Read the Blind Men and the Elephant fable. Think about how this fable relates to the course.




Concepts to be covered:



• War on Crime
• G-men
• "CSI effect"
• police reality programming
• citizen crime fighters
• ultraviolence
• good cop/bad cop
• "supercop"
• community policing
• SWAT
• racial profiling
• "techno cops"



Discussion Questions:

Note: Be sure to incorporate the documentary, "End of the Night Stick" in your answers.

1. "There's more law at the end of the night stick than all the Supreme Court decisions." Why does the documentary, "End of the Night Stick" begin with this quote? How does it relate to the portrayals of police in the media?

2. Discuss the connection between the portrayal of guns, violence, and victims and the crime-fighting policies that are implied in these portrayals. (Surette, p. 114).

3. Discuss some of the possible reasons that civilians are portrayed so often as successful crime fighters and the traditional police are portrayed as unsuccessful in the entertainment media. (Surette, p. 114)

4. What are the policy repercussions of the media portraying crime fighting as an individual battle between good and evil? Support for what types of policies is encouraged and discouraged by this portrait? (Surette, p. 114)



Suggested Creative Measures:




Note: You should be well into the process of researching your creative measure/visual presentation topic, (i.e., reviewing the scholarly literature).


Your creative measure/visual presentation: 1) must relate to "media, crime, and the criminal justice system." 2) must be approved via email before starting. 3) cannot be something that you are doing or have done for another course. 4) research cannot be 100% online (i.e., google, askjeeves). Must conduct library research using scholarly works, (not the popular press -- Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated). No term papers! 5) Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measure in class (preferably before the March deadline).



• Make an "explosion box/card" that focuses on this week's topic, "The Media and Police."
• Watch the film Dirty Harry and discuss the law enforcement stereotypes and narratives portrayed. If all someone knew abou the crime problem was based on this film, what criminal justice policies would be advanced? (Surette, p. 115)
• Watch an episode of the show COPS and discuss the use of editing, formatting, and the portrayal of police work, offenders, and victims. (Surette, p. 115)
• Watch a different crime-fighting show for five consecutive nights and summarize the portrait of crime fighters shown. (Surette, p. 115).
• Listen to an old-time radio program about police, crime and criminals. (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 police and policing with today's television images.
• Trace the origins and development of community policing. How effective is community policing in your city? Why. Describe how the media depicts community policing.
• Select a law enforcement related television program, past or present, (i.e., "Law and Order," "CSI", "Cops," "NYPD Blue," "Dragnet," "Car 54 Where are you?" ). Find out how and why this particular program was created. How popular is this program? Why. Who are some of its competitors? Why.
• How are police and other law enforcement agencies depicted on television and on the silver screen? Trace the changing images of police and policing. What accounts for the changing images? Why.
• How many different law enforcement related programs are currently broadcasted today? Which one is the most realistic depiction? Why.
• Trace the origins and development of community policing. How effective is community policing in your city? Why.



Recommended Readings:



• Regina Lawrence. The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality.
• Frank Leishman and Paul Mason. Policing and the Media.
• Aaron Doyle. Arresting Images: Crime and Policing in Front of the Television.
• Kenneth Meeks. Driving While Black .
• Kenneth Bolton & Joe Feagin. Black in Blue.
  
  
• 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.
• Internet Movie Database
  

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