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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: March 15, 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 10: Week of March 18, 2007

If you have not emailed me your self assessment for your "midterm" visual presentation, which is worth 10% of your course grade, you are falling behind. You need to email the sources cited and your self-assessment. Unresolved grades will become an "F" by Friday, March 23rd.

Topic: Media and the Courts

Preparatory Readings:



• Rafter. Shots in the Mirror. Chapter 5 .
• Surette. Media, Crime and Criminal Justice . Chapter 5 .
• Potter and Kappeler. Constructing Crime . entirety.
• Documentary: "Inside the Jury Room" (to be shown in class).
  
  

Lecture related links:



• Ray Surette's website
• W.I. Thomas "Definition of the Situation
• Metaphor and Theory. The Blind Men and the Elephant fable.
• Join the Yahoo Discussion Group with CSUDH students
  
  




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: Be sure to incorporate the documentary, "Inside the Jury Room" in your answers.

1. How is the jury trial process of determining guilt or innocence a small-scale example of social constructionism? {Surette, p. 147]

2. Is the law shown in a positive or a negative light in the media? [Surette, p. 147]

3. 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]

4. Can media trials coexist with fair trials? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]

5. What aspects of contemporary news coverage do you feel are the most damaging to fair trials? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]

6. Should live television coverage of criminal trials be allowed? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]

7. Is it important that reporters be protected from testifying and that their files and notes be protected? [Surette, 1998,. p. 113]



Dates and Deadlines




Friday, March 23rd -- Deadline to resolve your "NG" and/or Visual Presentation I grade (worth 10% of your course grade). After this deadline, your grade will become an "F".



Friday, April 20th - The Final Absolute Deadline.

Friday, May 4th - The Last Day of Class.




Suggested Creative Measures:




Note: 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 a review of the scholarly literature in the library, (not the popular press -- Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated). Go beyond the required readings in this course. YOU MUST CITE YOUR SOURCES that backup your visual presentations. No term papers! 5) Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measure in class (preferably before the deadline).



• Some reference sources that you might find helpful:

  new Evaluating Authority
  new Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. An excellent resource for juvenile justice related issues.
  new National Criminal Justice Resource Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
  
  

• 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.



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.
  
  
• 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.
• 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