The majority of people in United States get much of their ...



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THE EFFECTS OF THE TELEVISION CRIME DRAMA ON ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION

The majority of people in United States get much of their impressions and acquaintance about the criminal justice system from movies, books, newspapers, magazines and in particular through television crime dramas. The mass media plays a very significant role in the interpretation of criminality and the criminal justice system.

Crime, and criminal justice system has always been a subject of major attention in the United States. There have been thousands of books and articles written on the subject in the newspapers and magazines. A large number of media corporations are indulged in the representation of the criminal justice system and the crimes taking place each day. Media plays a significant role in developing public’s concepts toward certain things. Research has proved that majority of public’s perception of the criminals, jury, law enforcements, prison and victims is derived from the mass media. Therefore, it is imperative to examine the effects that the mass media have on attitudes toward crime and justice. Among the media, television affects the system most by providing people the visual representation of the actual system and crime taken place. It is the most effective way to influence peoples’ perceptions and attitudes towards the criminal justice system through crime scene dramas and forensic T.V. shows. The purpose of this research is to examine how the television crime dramas influence peoples’ perceptions of the criminal justice system and observe the results arising from the effect.

The way people learn about the justice system is by observation. But the point is that most of the people observe from television dramas like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. “The most dominant message of prime time crime programs is that ‘crime does not pay’ and that criminals are highly undesirable and unworthy characters” (Carlson 1985). This, results in misconception regarding the crime scene and the justice provided to the criminals and the victims in those T.V. dramas. The forensic science is much more complex and multifaceted. Television programmes are not chosen for demonstrating the exact crime scene but they are used to produce thrill and suspense in the public regarding the scenario exhibited. The original circumstances are made much more attractive to get the public involved in the drama. What people don’t realize is that there is a difference between what happens in the real world and on the television. T.V. crime scene dramas are fictions made up on real situations; however, they are given a touch of reality to make it look realistic. But, fictions don’t need to be real and people should not be relying on them for the knowledge they acquire from a particular fiction drama.

Recent researches in the United States have proved that, most of the people get receive much of their knowledge and idea about the criminal justice system through media especially television programmes. “We know that the average household in the United States has a television turned on for almost eight hours a day, with the average individual watching it for approximately four hours a day” (Papazian 1988; Roper Organization 1983) Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara surveyed the public about what they know about the local crime scene and the criminal justice system. This research is developed to inquire people about what concept they gain from the television dramas about crime and law enforcements and observe their perspectives and their opinions about the general law enforcements and criminal justice system.

People would observe and learn from what actually is in front of them. Not many people here have direct interaction with the crime scene, so those who might have to deal with such situations in their everyday life may have correct and exact idea of what happens. However, majority of the United States public have access to the crime and justice through television programmes or other media. They observe the television dramas and grasp knowledge and learn new concepts through them.

The television programs give a cultural representation of the criminal justice system and provide people with the information and guidelines about it, whether facts of fiction. Although this information is contextualized through various related aspects of television production, they somehow are capable of producing an image of the criminal justice system among their audience.

Criminal justice System

Laws, which are passed by the United States, are Criminal laws whose violation represents a crime. This can result in imprisonment, fines or even death. It is not like civil law in which private citizens exploit the courts to hunt for redress or enforce their rights, a criminal trial engage either the State government or the Federal government seeking to obtain a guilty verdict against an individual. The government it self uses the legal system rather then the individuals to seek to enforce the laws and panelize the individual for the protection of the nation.

“Number of research studies focus on whether media depictions of crime influence public attitudes towards criminal justice policy. They find that presentations of crime news increase public pressure for more effective policing” (Garofalo, 1981a)

Different states as well as federal government, have their own criminal laws therefore criminal trials can take place in either forum depending on which law is violated. Criminal trials involve state laws by far most, since the Federal government is constrained in its influence on particular types of crimes. However the state courts occur around ninety five percent of all the criminal trials.

Causes of Crime

It is found that most people in United States commit crimes for free will, which means that the offenders have a choice to whether commit a crime or not. Mass media is frequently presenting the free will crime but the reality is far more complex then it seems. There are a number of criminals who commit crimes because of their antisocial personality disorder.

Use of drugs is also a major dilemma in United States. Drug purchasers can be even more threatening then the property criminals like burglars, car thieves, credit cards and savings swindlers who stole millions.

Average people who do not have a sufficient amount of money are mostly accused of crime. Studies have established that in the United States the average criminal defendant is poor, black, and a regular offender. Predictably those persons are protected by the public defender's office, which has very better lawyers but is badly overworked and understaffed. When the district lawyers are also busy, they can pick and chose which cases to prosecute, have police witnesses who are both reliable and compensated by the state to appear, and the state also pays to the exceptional experts.

METHODOLOGIES

The survey examines the effect of television crime dramas on general publics’ perceptions and their views on the crime scene in the United States and the criminal justice system. To conduct the research survey following methodologies will be exploited:

Sample

A sample of 150 people will be derived for the survey and to observe their perceptions and views regarding the criminal justice system in America. Out of these 150 persons, 50 will be households, 25 college and high school students each. The remaining 50 persons will be business people who are related to the on going business life in the United States.

The weighting process for the survey will be consisting of two main steps. First, respondents will be weighted to compensate for their different selection probabilities. Then rim weighting will be applied to align the survey results with known population figures for age, sex and ethnicity.　

Survey Questionnaire

The people under the survey will be provided with a questionnaire to which their responses will be observed. The questions will be open-ended as well as close-ended, according to which the respondents’ opinions and responses will be observed.

The respondents would have to answer the open-ended/close-ended questions and will not be provided with a ‘don’t know’ option as a response. Such responses will be excluded from the survey results.

The questionnaire will also contain comparative study related questions to gain information about what people perceive from television dramas about actual crime situations and criminal justice system.

Observation of Television Dramas

A direct observation of the television crime dramas will be made in order to get the direct results and then a comparison be done with the opinions provided by the sample respondents. Our initial focus will be on the television programs and the information they provide will be tracked and documented regarding the crime and criminal justice in the continent. The dramas in which the main themes are crime and the justice system will be of main attention.

Secondly, a list of dramas will be maintained which are viewed by most of the respondents in our sample and their effects will be observed on the people’s attitudes and opinions regarding the criminal justice.

Comparison of the facts with the fiction

The public’s perceptions and opinions about criminal system is what the people observe from the television crime scene programs. This information will be compared with the actual law enforcements and regulations. This will be a combined comparative examination and will provide an integrative relational model that would link T.V. crime dramas portrayals of the criminal justice system to general public perceptions.

This examination will help us in getting direct and positive results regarding the actual regulations and information about the criminal justice system and what the television media portrays.

Measures

Effect of television crime dramas on people will be observed on the basis of certain measures:

Fear of Crime

An important concern regarding the effect of television dramas on public is the fear of crime. The factious situations played on the television may arise fear of being victimized by such situations among the mass. The observation will be drawn will be drawn on the respondents’ fear/worry toward crime. The people will be inquired about what kinds of crimes are they worried about, like, sexual assault, car-hijacking, getting mugged, being burglarized while at home and being a victim of a bank robbery.

Each question on worry/fear of crime has a four-category response ranging from very frequently, somewhat frequently, seldom, and never. The responses will provide us sufficient information about the scale of fear the respondent has regarding the particular crime.

Perception of Police Effectiveness

At times in the television programs, the cops are represented as hypothetical characters. However, some may not relate to the actual responsibilities of the police at all. Peoples’ attitude and perspectives towards the police force and their effectiveness in demolishing the crime sector in the society are affected by the television crime programs. In the research, public’s perception towards police effectiveness will be viewed and measured accordingly with particular options given to the people in the form of questions. The questions address the respondents’ confidence in the police ability and how much they think they are capable of, while performing their duties.

Crime-Show Viewing

The intensity of affect depends on how much the particular thing is observed. Same is the case with the effect of crime dramas. The more people would watch it, the more it will have its effect on them. The research will include a study of the frequency of the crime show viewing among the mass. People will be asked questions about which T.V. crime shows they watch and how frequently do they watch them. Television hours will be measured as their responses to particular questions asking them about their frequency of television crime show watching.

Primary Source of Crime News

Finally, the respondents will be asked their primary source of crime news. This would help us in finding which media corporation they trust and how much a particular resource has an effect on them. There will be questions regarding the subject and to which they will have to respond with their views and options. The categories will be television, newspaper, radio, Internet, and friends/neighbors. Specifically, the intention is to examine the television dramas’ effect on the peoples’ perception of crime and criminal justice system in the country.

EXPECTED RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH

From a detailed study of the effects of television crime dramas on the mass and of the other recent researches on the topic (references), an estimate of the results can be drawn. The results would be drawn on the basis of certain affects the television crime shows have on people.

Fear of Crime

Most of the households have fear developed due to frequent viewing of the television crime shows. They feel insecure and perplexed while at home. Since the T.V. shows portray the burglars and criminals equipped with advanced tech gadgets, this portrayal affects the viewers badly. They fear about being burglarized when no-one is at home, their car being hijacked on gun point and their children getting kidnapped, etc.

Urge to commit crime

Although some people might develop extraordinary fear of crimes and feel insecure. Some might find the idea of burglary fascinating the way it is depicted on the television. They might try their luck to get into some sort of crime and get themselves in trouble. This kind of misconception is usually developed in college and high school students who take the television crime shows too seriously and might want to be a part of the thrilling story they watch on one of these shows.

Misconceptions about Police Force and Investigators

The television programs like, NYPD BLUE, and CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) may misguide people about the responsibilities and affectivity of police and investigating forces. Patricia McFeely, a forensic pathologist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, said she was particularly put off by the way the TV investigators always seem to be able to figure out exactly what happened when, right down to determining the time of death to the minute.

"They never have to go to the literature, as we do," she said.

People actually believe the way the investigators in thriller movies and television dramas work and figure out everything in a jiffy. This is how the real situations are fantasized to get people’s attention towards the program.

SUMMERY AND CONCLUSION

When we consider the effect of television drama it can provide us the images of reality but forensic science is much more complex and multifaceted. These reflected features contain more than just the characters, their distinctiveness, and associated story lines. They comprise precise subject, matter, format and scheduling and duration conventions, therefore contextualizing the images that are exhibited. All of these aspects grant specific information from which we can determine the knowledge and social images.

The portrayal of the system that is observed on television is that which is most widely presented and accessible to the viewing public and therefore to the whole population. Thus, it is a image of legal system that we might fancy to be most prevalent among the public and most dominant in their perception and knowledge of how it works.

The United States is going through with some rapid changes at present in many areas in which knowledge of criminal justice system is also an imperative concern. There is a large amount of remarkable and important research addressing the topic of violence on television and its effects on the viewing people. In this area most of the work ponder on the question of whether or not depiction of crime and violence influence viewers in terms of producing, rather than merely reflecting the similar behavior and attitudes.

This study shows that the viewers, who regularly watch crime dramas, fear more with the crime. There are also few limitations related to the measure of media utilization. There are several types of crime dramas that may focus on different phases of the American criminal justice system. For example, these crime dramas may concentrate on private investigators, police, defense lawyers and courts. Some Television dramas are more realistic and practical, but other usually depict violence, and often misinform viewers about the nature of criminality and the criminal justice system. It is very important to know that which dramas are being viewed.

RECOMMENDATIONS

No wonder the crime scene dramas are the most viewed among the television shows. They contain abundance of violence, which if in large quantity is harmful for anyone who may watch it. These dramas are mostly watched by adolescents and young adults who are very much into thrillers and action movies.

Adolescents and young people are among the fastest-growing demographic groups in America. Without strong action against the ever increasing levels of violent entertainment to which they are exposed, the levels of violence already linked to this age group; in terms of both victims and offenders can only be expected to increase.

The T.V. crime shows have themes based on house burglary, sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, robberies, and the likes. This kind of portrayal towards the harsh realities of the society is not of any good, especially for the young people. Positive information is always welcomed and appreciated but there should be a scale on which the violence, and other parameters of these shows must be rated in order to be put on air.

Some practical safety measures can be taken and also regulations can be put on the corporations who are producing and distributing such sort of media and think that they are giving the public what they want. In a survey commissioned by the American Medical Association, two-thirds of all adults and 75% of adults with children have walked out of a movie or turned off the television because the content was too violent.

Clearly, the public doesn't want what the media thinks it wants. While fiercely protective of free speech, Americans still want to be informed about the levels of violent or sexual content in television programs, computer games, music, and movies to which their children could be exposed.

Special Recommendation for Children

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be exposed to no more than 1 or 2 hours of television a day. Particularly where young people are concerned, limiting exposure to violence in the media, limiting overexposure to the media in general, and teaching and encouraging critical viewing, listening, videogame-playing, and reading habits can help set the pattern for more positive values, and, ultimately, a less violent, more humane society. Media literacy skills are vital. Rather than allow the media to promote unchallenged the quick fix of violent solutions, conflict resolution skills involving patience and negotiation should be taught.

Works Citied

1- The color of Justice



2- Surette, R. (1992). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images and realities. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole.

3- PERCEPTIONS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: Television Imagery and Public Knowledge in the United States by Connie L. McNeely Department of Sociology, University of California

4- The Daily Cardinal: America falls for the 'CSI Effect' By Josh Gildea

5- K. Ahmed, `Film violence linked to crime', Guardian Weekly, Sunday, 18 January 1998

6- Crime sleuths cope with ‘CSI’ Effect By Alan Boyle (Science editor), MSNBC,

20 February, 2005

7-How does the media affect what people think? ()

8- Into The Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs by Mike Carlie, Ph.D.    ()

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