Media is an important tool in today's society, it is how many people get their information and stay up to date with what is going on in the world. Not surprisingly though, the media has become increasingly picky with how it presents its information throughout recent years. This is called media bias; it is when a media source guides its readers to agree with the article they are reading or the news they are watching. Media bias is used to keep readers engaged with the story (for mostly money-related purposes), but that does not change the fact that media bias is dangerous to the people and the world they live in. Throughout history, instead of using factual representation of people going through the criminal justice system and its reform, mass …show more content…
How the media portrays people who have been convicted is also a huge problem. They use terms like “convicted,” “inmate,” or “criminal” without including the words “person,” or “people” which rehumanize the person being talked about. The media often does not realize what those words alone are doing, but portraying someone as poorly as the media is, cannot possibly be an accident (Elderbloom). According to a selection of surveys done by the People First Narrative, the way that people see convicted people is in such a horrible way that “many never leave prisons and they die as ‘inmates’” (Towns). Even though the media tries its best to seem impartial, “complete objectivity is impossible” because “interests interfere with how an event is reported” (“Media Bias”). Without knowing, readers and “consumers are more likely to trust news sources that reinforce their political beliefs” (“Media Bias”). Media tries too hard to make readers engaged for its benefit, and in the end, it’s hurtful to the people involved. Media outlets have shown negative impacts on public involvement in the criminal justice
The mass media loves a scandal; it focuses on the most outrageous cases in order to make profit and often blows things out of proportion in order to make a better story. The media coverage of Debra Lafave’s case is a perfect example. The mass media not only hindered the court in leading a fair trial, exposing the teenager at the center of the case by publishing his photo and name in European newspapers, it also allowed the offender to receive a lighter sentence. The crime that Debra Lafave committed, having sexual intercourse with a minor, who was also one of her students, is deviant not only criminally but socially in the United States. Yet the media coverage partially helped her receive a lighter sentence because of the focus on her looks,
Through media, our judgements, our beliefs, our minds, are developed by the constant stimulation of a biased society. The shadows presented to the prisoners may not be reality, but a generalization of what exists on the outside. The media does the same to us. We are only exposed to controlled material, which is presented to motivate us to believe, buy, or participate in a desired
If given this prompt at the beginning of this semester I would have answered with a resounding yes, the criminal justice system is racist. The classes I have previously taken at LSU forced me to view the criminal justice system as a failed institution and Eric Holder’s interview in VICE - Fixing The System solidified that ideology. The system is man-made, created by people in power, and imposed on society, so of course there will be implicit biases. The issue is that these internally held implicit biases shaped the system, leading the racial and class disparities. VICE – Fixing The System addressed heavily the outcomes that we see in today’s society based on these implicit biases. Additionally, this documentary focuses on the ways that mainly
Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.
Over seventy percent of Americans believe news is purposely biased(SPJ Code of Ethics). This shows that the people in America know their news is biased and are okay with it. Media bias is hurting the way people view races, religious groups, and certain jobs. Before investigating the situation wholly, people tend to believe what the media is saying which could be a stretch of the truth or even a lie. This essay is about Media Bias and all of the important information surrounding this controversial topic: journalism ethics, the “myth” of liberal media bias, and police department controversy.
In today’s society, we often find people who have a bias against the correctional system. We find these people to have no credible source besides the information the media proposes, third party information, or if they themselves have been locked up. Whether we sit and listen to them preach about the corruptness is up to us.
The media is often considered to be biased. The reason for this is because they do not act neutral on the things that they report on. They usually give their point of view and tend to warp the information so it’s easily digestible by the average person. This type of “nugget feeding,” can influence the judgment of some one who has no idea what is going on. The media tends to sensationalize the news by making it seem dramatic, and compelling. This hooks the viewer, and keeps them tuned in. The purpose of this is for ratings, and most importantly money. The media has become less professional, and their morality has gone down hill. The editors/gatekeepers decide what information is sent out for the public to see, and hear. This is another way that the news is shaped for our viewing pleasure.
Research also suggests that the media is a major decider in what crime cases get chosen to air on the news. While it was previously thought that what went on the news was arbitrarily picked or based on the most interesting cases, it turns out that it is not quite the case. J...
In the last couple of years, many Americans including political leaders have agreed that our criminal justice system is deeply flawed, unsustainable and inefficient and needs to be reformed. Our criminal justice system was “created to keep communities safe, to respect and restore victims and to return offenders who leave prison to be self-sufficient and law-abiding” (DeRoche, 2012). However, it is not only the offenders but the criminal justice system itself. There are five major problems within our criminal justice system. The first and biggest problem is our overpopulated prisons. Each year millions of people are incarcerated in local, state, and federal prisons. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Color People
Throughout society there are both individuals and groups of people with a wide range of perceptions about crime and justice. These perceptions are influenced by the media and what the media presents. Media presents crime stories in ways that selectively distort and manipulate public perception, thus creating a false picture of crime. Therefore the media provides us with perceptions and social constructions about our world. Firstly I will be discussing the role of the media in constructing knowledge about crime. I will begin by explaining why the media is important, and go further to explain that media representations construct knowledge of crime and since knowledge about crime is constructed it does not necessarily capture reality in fact crime stories are often sensationalised. I will then link this to my central argument that the media shapes people’s perceptions of crime and how this is important as it can lead to changes in the law. I will then explain what it is that the public or society needs to be aware of when reading and watching media reports about crime. We need to be aware of bias and moral panics that are created by the media and how the media shapes or influence’s public perception through this, it is important for us to be aware of misleading or false crime stories so that we are not swayed by the media in believing what they want us to believe.
In today's society, we are facing many changes. Our own family, neighbors, and countrymen are afraid of many dangers which influence their lives. Although many people have fear which resonates in their consciousness and unconsciousness, the United States has a comparatively low crime rate. Despite this low crime rate, America incarcerates it's citizens five times the rate of Canada and seven times that of most European democracies.(Slambrouck, Paul. 24) Our society needs to be changed. We cannot blame the individuals involved in wrongdoing but we can blame our society who raised these criminals. Of course someone who kills another human being needs to be put away in some form; but we need to make changes. We need to help as many maladjusted people as we can. There are some steps which really seem to work. There are many prison inmates who come from broken homes and have low self-esteem. What needs to be done to help these insecure people, who are at war with themselves and society, is to rehabilitate them. The problem is the prison officials do not try to teach the prisoners how to learn from their mistakes.(McGovern, Celeste. 42) What actually happens is that criminals tend to be better thefts, and have the ability to out smart the police. Our politicians need to stress how important vocational, educational, drug-treatment, and religious programs are, in order to improve the attitude and demeanor of these convicted felons. This is the only way to keep ex-con's from jail.(DeLuca, H.R. 38) Another problem with America's prison system is overcrowding. There is a huge amount of young conscienceless offenders who are entering today's prisons. Imagine trying to compact eight gallons of water in a five gallon con...
More than 600,000 prisoners are released into the main population of the United States every year. Of that 600,000, 30 percent end up back behind bars within six months of their release, and 70 percent end up returning to jail within three years (Reisig, 409). Upon release, many criminals find that life on the outside is harder on them than it was when they were convicted, sentenced, and locked away. People who know them may become just as prejudiced as the interviewers and landlords who deny them the chance to earn a living or a place to stay. Through the continued use of labels like criminal, thug, crook, and felon, many released offenders feel ostracized and isolated. Their friends and families may turn their backs on them, taking away the few things they have left...
Atticus Finch is the perfect teacher of respect and dignity to his children. Atticus teaches Scout to have respect for others, even those who she does not like. Towards the beginning of the novel, Scout goes to school and has a new teacher who tells her she should not read at home. Miss Caroline Fisher, Scout’s teacher, is starting to teach in a new way. Scout does not like her because of this.
Most people have no idea what it feels like to be in prison, statistically only one out of every five people will know what its like to be in prison. Approximately 1.4 million people out of the U.S.’s 280 million people are in prison. (Thomas, 2) The only reason people know about prisons is because of the media. The news, movies, and books all contribute to people's stereotypes about prisons. Prisoners receive three meals a day, workout facilities, a library, as well as other things. People are also given the idea, through the mass media, that prisoners are free to walk around certain parts of the prison. All of these ideas are cast upon prisons so that people will not be afraid of them. Society has been given the idea that prisons are not very bad on the inside. What is prison life really like?
In society today the media’s has an extensive influence on the public by mediums such as the internet, television news, newspapers and radio. In addition, crime is often considered both a source of news and entertainment with such programs as CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds being some amongst many others that also influence public perception on crime (Hayes & Levett, 2013). Evidence shows that the medias portrayal of crime can indeed affect the public’s perception although evidence will demonstrates that crime perception can be unique to each individual. Evidence shows that media reports have the potential to strongly influence people’s daily activities (Weatherburn and Indermaur, 2004). When the media reports on a crime it triggers an effect