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Crime and the Media Paper (Rough draft) Andrew J Dwyer 1355/MCCABE Section 2 Realities of Crime and Justice Professor Rasmussen College The media has a right to report cases of criminal activities though different opinions have been expressed against this tendency by the media. The opinions argue that media is fond of creating moral panic and this ethical fear has a great impact on the public behavior. However, the opinions differ because some opinions are for this tendency while others are against this tendency.
Most of the reactions of the public towards cases reported by the media have been known to create panic ND the panic created always tends to exaggerate statistics while at the same creating bogeyman. In this paper two criminal cases have been tackled to see extend to which media impacts on the criminal Justice system. The two cases under comparison in this paper are Oklahoma City Bombing and Jean Six case. The first case that is Oklahoma City Bombing had a lot of media coverage while the second case which is Jean Six had little media coverage.
Oklahoma City Bombing This was a case of Alfred P Murray Federal Building Bombing in Oklahoma State in the year 1995 and the attack type was rated as domestic terrorism. In this case, 168 people died and the number of people who sustained minor injuries was assumed more than 680 people. The perpetrators in this case were Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh (Wright, 2007). Jean Six case This case took place in Louisiana area in Jean High School, the case involved six teens who were black from Jean High School as the perpetrators and the offended was a white student (Franklin, 2007).
This case happened in the year 2006 and it was reported by some sections of abundant commentators who argued that the case was a ethnic prejudice. In the two cases, the perpetrators were found guilty and invoiced for the offense; however, the involvement of the media in the two cases sparked a lot of panic to the public. The residents of Oklahoma for some days after the domestic terrorism attack were reported to be out door most of the time.
In the second case, the allegations by some substantial observers that the case was an ethnic prejudice also received different opinions from the public. Impacts of media on crime and the criminal Justice system The coverage of the crime and criminal injustice by the media can be said to be a double edge sword because their reports to some extend creates heated opinions, which can spark instability. The reports on crimes by the media in America have a great significant importance to the public.
Some of the impacts of the media on crime and the criminal Justice systems are Creation of criminal and Juvenile Justice system The media has enabled the public to have an overview of the whole Justice process surrounding some misconducts and criminal activities. The various Justice systems that the public get to know are law enforcement, prosecution, probation, corrections, and parole. Changes in the Judicial system have been facilitated by the media reports and these have been realized through the different opinions that the public always give concerning a particular case aired on the media.
Many myriad intricacies that forms the Justice systems have been known by the public through the various media cameras and the TV networks in courts. Creation of media profession Drastic changes have been witnesses on crime coverage and factorization by the media over the recent years. Many outcries from the public was reported in the year 1985 concerning coverage of bodies also known as body bags on the various networks which served the public. Many professionals for the last 1 5 years have been reported to be seeking sensitivity and training that is more critical.
Most of the trainers have been reported to be training in criminal Justice in order for them to be able to adequately cover various stories and crimes that causes psychological problems to the victims. Various service providers and offense sufferers of late have been reported to be seriously giving training and other programs to the newsrooms, journalism classes among others. Changes in the demand for the Job have also prompted Journalists to seek further training.
Most of the Journalists who cover trauma and other horror scenes must therefore, be trained on how to deal with the different cases that they meet. Creation of victim service providers Use of media on crime and criminal Justice has created specialized discipline that tends to advocate for the various victims of crimes. The involvement of media in crime and criminal Justice has resulted to creation of various programs that tend to help various service providers in making their services better. The programs involved use of various guidelines that tend to foster on building of the relationships in profession.
Creation of forum for vital dialogue The use of media has resulted into creation of important dialogue among different groups who are desperate. The recent discovery of the use of DNA in testing of different cases, that involved genes have helped many inmates to be free more so the inmates who were wrongly accused. The media has played a major role in the teaching of the public on the use of DNA for testing; use of DNA evident has also freed many inmates from prison since the evidence presented by DNA testing has helped in determination of the sexual assault cases (Thompson & Laurence, 1994).
The more airing of DNA testing has enlighten many people more so people who were once ignorant to be on the limelight and to know various ways of gathering evidences such as the use of DNA testing (Thompson & Laurence, 1994). Creation of healing to the crime victims The use of media has provided some helpful healing processes to the crime victims, the coverage to the crimes by the media nave always detected the crime victims since some of the coverage have bee reported to be insensitive though some have been reported to be helpful.
Most of the crimes victims will never be open in news media to narrate the crimes committed against them by their offenders (Greenfield, 1986). Some of the victims might not be in a position to follow their rimming cases maybe due to lack of funds to file the case and in some cases the media has helped these victims to get Justice through making a follow-up on behalf of them. Some criminals have also bribed some Judges thereby making their cases very easy against their victims and in such scenarios; the media has always offered a helping hand to the victims (Grotto, 1986).
The help by the media has significantly brought happiness to some victims who initially were unable to follow-up their cases. Creation of public safety The use of media in crime and criminal Justice system has helped many citizens o be aware of the decrease and increase in crimes rate, factorization and violence trend, and the various safety measures. The constant creation of awareness by the media has greatly helped the public in being safe since the media has information on the various crime rates of a given city or town.
Media on the other hand, has also influenced the public on the various prevention measures for crimes and the various ways to reduce crimes among the citizens and other members of the public. The measures provided by the media also take considerations the various measures that the whole community can take to reduce crime and criminal activities. References Franklin, C. (2007). Media myths about the Jean 6. Christian Science Monitor, 2 (1): 1-3 Greenfield, J. (1986).