Criminal Justice Myths and Facts

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Compare and contrast crime "myths" and "facts." The media plays a huge role in forming people's perceptions of crime. Without the media we would remain ignorant to occurrences outside our direct social groups. The media and especially news coverage therefore provides us with an important point of contact with the rest of society. In evaluating its effect on popular perceptions of crime it becomes important to consider where most of the information comes from and how representative it is on actual criminality. If it takes "facts" (the truth, the actual event, a real thing) or if it is heightened to a crime myth. With a myth being based upon "exaggeration" or heightening of "ordinary" events in life. Crime myths become a convenient mortar to fill gaps in knowledge and to provide answers to question social science either cannot answer or has failed to address. Myths tend to provide the necessary information for the construction of a "social reality of crime (Quinney, 1970)." As crime related issues are debated and re debated, shaped and reshaped in public forms, they become distorted into myth, as largely seen in the mass media. The social construction of myths of crime and criminal justice seems to follow a series of recurrent patterns. These patterns allow for an unprecedented amount of social attention to be focused upon a few isolated criminal events or issues. This attention is promoted by intense, but often brief, mass media coverage of a select problem. Intense social concern of an issue is achieved by a variety of means from the mass media, government, law enforcement officials, interpersonal communications, and the interests of reform groups whom all play major roles in focusing the publics attention on select so... ... middle of paper ... ...ime myths thus begin to take shape. Whether it be through criminal acts being heightened to a crime myth or exaggerating ordinary events in life. Crime myths fill in the gaps to provide answers to questions for the public. Prooving that crime myths and facts can be intertwinned to make a socially accepted answer to crimes across Australia. Bibliography Blumberg, M, Kappeler, V, and Potter, G. 1993, The Mythology and Crime and Criminal Justice, Prospect Heights, I11.: Waveland Press. Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co. Healey, Justin. 2001, Issues in Society, Crime and Justice, The Spinney Press. Healey, Kaye. 1998, Issues in Society, Youth and Law, The Spinney Press. Williams, Katherine S. 1991, Criminology, Blackstone Press Limited, Great Britain.

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