Essay On Crime And Crime

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Recommended: The Media and Public Perceptions of Crime

Crime in Popular Culture: Criminal Minds
The media is a dominating aspect of American culture. The way the media depicts crime and criminal behavior has an effect on the way society views crime and criminals. Television series such as CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, Criminal Minds and countless others, have become very popular in our society today showing that our culture has an immense interest in crime. It is clear that there is a fascination with criminals and why they do the things they do. To analyze the way crime dramas represent crime and criminal behavior, I completed a content analysis of one episode of Criminal Minds. The episode I chose was season one; episode eight, which first aired in 2005, titled ‘Natural Born Killer’.
The episode …show more content…

The crime was not contributed to broader social or structural forces. Vinny was simply deemed antisocial. Using the theories presented in class we can predict that Vinny had antisocial personality disorder because he did not experienced positive socialization or moral development. A key aspect of socialization is family relations, and his Father was the key player in determining his path to murder. Individuals progress through stages of moral development that foster self-control. Anti-social behavior is a consequence of incomplete moral development (Kohlberg). Vinny was unable to make reasoned ethical judgements due to his lack of moral …show more content…

The neutralization theory (Sykes and Matza) explains that before committing crimes, individuals develop techniques of neutralization or personal rationalizations to lessen any guilt they may feel from breaking the law (Burkan 150). The neutralization process includes denying the victim, denial of responsibility, denial of injury, appeal to high loyalties, and condemn the condemners. Vinny was able to deny that his victims were the victims, in other words, he believed they deserved what he did to them. Vinny was able to deny his responsibility by saying that his father made him the way he is, and made him do it. Vinny was working for Ali, a gang leader, so he was appealing to his high loyalties. The murders went on for so long because Vinny was able to completely neutralize and rationalize his actions and the consequences of

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