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How about the case of Jon Bent Ramsey? The media publicized that case continuously because she was a young beauty queen. Her parents were accused of killing her and later cleared of all charges. The people are influenced about how they feel about the justice system because of the way the media portrays crime (2007). Society as a whole has a fear of crime and it is mainly due to reporting of crime in several sources (2007). People tend to believe what they read in newspapers, magazines, news articles on the Internet, radio, and television.
It is hard to believe there are any positive factors regarding the media and the criminal justice system. There are in some cases: Toby Cohen, a reporter for Post-media News in Ottawa, Canada has reported some victims had rather liberating experiences with the media. Ms. Cohen has reported that: Conversing with the families of victims and looking through photos of their loved ones that were victims of crimes has at times been very healing for the families. Also the media can help police get involved in some cases where law enforcement was reluctant to help.
An example Of one case was a teenage girl went missing and the police were not concerned and offered little help in finding her. A friend of the family notified a few friends in the media and the missing girl’s parents were on the evening news pleading for the return of their daughter. The next day the police began an official search and 10 days later they found her body; she had been murdered. (Victims of Violence Research-Media and the Criminal Justice System 3) There are some negative aspects to this issue as well.
Debbie Mayfly mother of ruder victim Leslie Mayfly made several requests to the media to stop calling her daughter the “mutilated victim” but it fell on deaf ears. Also in the case of the families of serial killer Clifford Lesson’s victims’ faced relentless harassment from the press and reporters would hide just to snap a photograph of the murdered victim’s families, media would also follow the victim’s acquaintances to school trying to get information about the murders. Families would occasionally hear about the details of their loved ones’ murders from media bulletins.