Crime and Media Syllabus: Graduate Class

Textbooks can be ordered from the USF Bookstore in person or via phone at (813) 974-5029 (Arthur) (Books are in lifelong learning section of the bookstore not the crime section), or by FAX (Attn: General Book Department) at (813) 974-0513.

In order to take this course you need the Netscape browser. Version 2.0 includes e-mail, news reader, and support for JAVA applets. Netscape 2.0 Beta 5 is available via FTP at www.netscape.com. You may also wish to install e-mail, a news reader and an FTP program. Recommended are Eudora, Forte Agent, and Cute FTP. You may find Real Audio, and live video useful as you navigate some sites. If you intend to print out the lectures (or any Web pages) you may want to get Surf 'n' Print, a printing utility which will save you a ton of paper. It will print out Web pages as two-sided booklets for portable use.

The overall purpose of this course will be to analyze the images of crime and the criminal justice system that are presented through the major mass media within America. In particular, crime movies, television crime dramas, plus television news and newspaper crime coverage will be the major sources of data for uncovering how the media portrays the society's struggle with the crime problem. In the first section of the course the fundamental role played by the media in defining what constitutes deviance and criminality in American society will be discussed.

A major topic that will be covered is the media's image of crime. What types of criminal behavior and criminal offenders does the media focus upon? Comparisons will be made with actual crime statistics to discover whether certain types of criminals or crimes are underrepresented or overrepresented by the various media. For example, are minorities and ethnic groups singled out by the media as criminals at a rate higher or lower than their actual participation in crime? Or, are "hate crimes" against minority groups given far more exposure than warranted? Are serious crimes such as murder and rape given exposure at a rate that is so out of proportion to their actual occurrence that the public is unnecessarily alarmed? Has the media in fact created crime panics in such areas as child abductions and child sexual abuse? We will examine several high profile news stories such as the Bernard Goetz subway shootings, the McMartin preschool and other ritual abuse cases, the Stuart murder in Boston, the OJ Simpson case (with a special emphasis on Internet coverage of the trial), and several white on black murders in New York City (Howard Beach and Bensonhurst) to analyze how the media covers such stories.

In the next major section of the course, the issue addressed will be the criminal justice system itself. How does the media portray the police, the courts and the administration of criminal law, and the American correctional system? A full section will be given to each of these three major components of the justice process. In each case media images will be compared to empirical studies of policing, the adjudication process, and punishments actually delivered. In addition, we will discuss the use of new media technologies within the criminal justice system itself. How have technological innovations such as video cameras and multimedia computers changed the criminal justice system?

The final portion of the course will examine whether the media coverage of crime is in itself a cause of criminal behavior. Do copycat criminals view portrayals of heinous crimes or new crime techniques in the media and then decide to repeat them? Has the constant emphasis on criminal violence in the media produced an even more violent society? Does repeated exposure to pornographic materials such as magazines and X-rated video tapes lead to additional sex crimes?

Throughout the course one of the major issues to be discussed is whether the media portrayals of crime that are accepted by the public make it difficult for a more honest account of the crime problem to be heard. Is reform of the system being impeded by a less than adequate knowledge of the criminal justice process among the public? How can criminology aid in presenting the public with a more realistic understanding of crime? We will cover the role "newsmaking criminology" has to play in this process.

The course will consist of the following components: texts, on-line lectures, guest e-mail lecturers, on-line discussion, a term paper, and a final take-home exam.

The reading schedule for the texts appears below. Discussion forums for the readings will be set up each week. We will be using NetForum. All students are expected to participate in the discussion of each question. You may either respond to the instructor's question or direct your comments to other classmates' postings. More specific directions follow below:
1. You must be on-line.
2. Go to the part of the syllabus or lecture where the questions appear.
3. Click on the hypertext link e.g. Question 1 or Chapter 1
4. NetForum will appear as a web page taking you directly to the area to post your response.
5. Read the previous posts by other students.
6. Use "add message" or "respond to message" button to add your thoughts to the discussion. Make sure to include your e-mail address.
7. Preview and then post your message.
Note: You can prepare your responses off-line using a word processor and then copy and paste your responses to the appropriate NetForum location.

On-line lectures will be posted each week. Lectures will consist of HTML text, graphics, with links to sources of additional information. Discussion questions will be posted on NetForum. Again, all students are expected to participate in class discussion.

Guest e-mail lecturers (most likely reporters, media production personnel, and criminal justice media spokespersons) will post as Web pages information related to their careers and thoughts on interaction between the media and criminal justice system. They will pose questions for the class as well. Students will be able to interact via e-mail or NetForum with the guest lecturer for one week.

The final exam will be posted during the last week of class. It will be due back one week later. The exam can be returned via e-mail.

We will attempt to cover 3 to 4 chapters a week of the required reading. Study questions can be previewed below and will be posted to NetForum weekly. Students are expected to respond to the questions during the appropriate week.

Week 1	Nathan, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4
Week 2	Nathan, Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8
Week 3	Nathan, Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12
Week 4	Gilbert, Chapters 1, 2, 3
Week 5	Gilbert, Chapters 4, 5, 6
Week 6	Gilbert, Chapters 7, 8, 9
Week 7	Gilbert, Chapters 10, 11, 12
Week 8	Ericson, Chapters 1, 2
Week 9	Ericson, Chapters 3, 4
Week 10	Ericson, Chapters 5, 6
Week 11	Ericson, Chapters 7, 8
Week 12	Ericson, Chapters 9, 10
Week 13	Paper Presentations
Week 14	Paper Presentations

Lecture Eight: Hollywood Lawyers: Defense Attorneys, Prosecutors and Judges Bend the Law

Student Papers

There will be one examination in this course, a take-home comprehensive final to be posted one week prior to final exams week. It will be worth 1/4 of the student's final grade. The exam will cover all of the following: readings, lectures, and guest speakers. Questions will be essay type. A sample preview of the final is available.

The final fourth will be based on class participation as measured by on-line discussion.

Due by April 17th. Late papers will receive a one-half letter grade penalty for each day they are late. Missing any of the deadlines will result in half letter grade penalty on the paper grade.

The goal of the paper is to complete a comparative research project. The first step is to choose a topic. Your topic should be one that is of interest to both criminologists and the media. The comparison will be between how the media covers the topic and what is currently known about your topic from criminological research. Only scholarly journal articles and books (no undergraduate text books) should be consulted as criminological sources. A minimum of 15 scholarly sources must be included. Reference materials can also be obtained from Internet sites. The additional bibliography below is the best place to start for scholarly studies of media.

An important choice is to decide which media source(s) you wish to analyze. The choices may include any of the following: local television news broadcasts; network news shows (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN); a newspaper (local, regional, or national) or news magazine (i.e. TIME, 60 Minutes); a primetime crime drama currently being broadcast or in syndication; TV crime documentaries (i.e. "America's Most Wanted," "Cops"), a series of crime movies that deal with your particular theme (i.e. juvenile delinquency, organized crime, police corruption, women's prisons, courtroom leniency, etc.); talk radio programs; or crime literature (magazines, comics, short stories, or novels). Many of these sources now have Internet sites. Links to Internet media mega-sites are below. The number of media sources you must cite will vary depending on the topic and the medium selected for analysis, however, you must obtain a representative sample. In general, 10 media sources should be the minimum, but media sources which produce daily content may require more. All media sources must be included in your bibliography.

The paper must be submitted in a standard word processed format (Word Perfect, Word, or Word Pro), double-spaced, with standard margins (approximately one inch), and consist of a minimum 15 pages of text, not including title page, bibliography, illustrations, etc. The paper must include pagination. The system of citation and referencing detailed in the accompanying handout must be followed. Additional questions concerning bibliography, etc., should be referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th edition, 1994). Crib Sheet is also available. For Web resources, see the Web Extension to American Psychological Association Style page. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade in the course.

The first paragraph of your paper is most important. The major theme or topic of your paper should be stated in the very first sentence. Each following sentence in the first paragraph should introduce the remaining subtopics of the paper. In other words, the paper will begin with an outline or abstract of its contents.

All paper topics must be turned in for approval by January 30th. Please choose both a topic and the media source(s) you would like to later analyze. By February 14th, students will turn in a detailed outline and a list of 10 scholarly sources they have already located. By March 25th, a rough draft must be submitted via e-mail in standard word processed form (Word Perfect, Word, or Word Pro), meet minimum page requirements, and include full bibliography. At that time, your paper will be electronically transmitted to two other students for editing and you will edit the work of two fellow students. Please use the on-line feedback form to critique the papers. The form is based on the criteria the instructor uses to grade term papers. Taking time to seriously critique the work of others will help improve term paper grades of all students. Students will have one week to edit and critique the papers due back to students by April 1st.

A final version of your paper will be posted as an HTML document so that other classmates may read it. This is the equivalent of a classroom presentation. Multimedia presentations are encouraged. An opportunity to learn how to construct HTML documents will be given in the St. Pete computer lab on a date that suits students' schedules. The instructor will provide only simple HTML formatting of your paper.

Group projects are permitted, however, all group members will receive the same grade. Group projects should be double length.

Altheide, David. 1976. Creating reality: How TV news distorts events. Beverly Hills: Sage.

American Correctional Association. 1993. Improving Media Relations: A Handbook for Corrections.

Barak, Gregg (ed.) 1994. Media, process, and the social construction of crime: Studies in newsmaking criminology. NY: Garland Press.

Berman, Ronald. 1987. How television sees its audience. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Best, Joel. 1989. Images of issues: Typifying contemporary social problems. NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

Biskind, Peter. 1983. Seeing is believing: How Hollywood taught us to stop worrying and love the Fifties. NY: Pantheon.

Campbell, Richard. 1991. 60 Minutes and the news. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Claster, Daniel. 1992. Bad guys and good guys: Moral polarization and crime. NY: Greenwood Press.

Cohen, Stanley and Jock Young (eds.). 1973. The manufacture of news. London: Constable.

Crane, Jonathan. 1994. Terror and Everyday Life: Singular Moments in the History of the Horror Film. Sage.

Crowther, Bruce. 1989. Film noir: Reflections in a dark mirror. NY: Frederick Ungar

D'Acci, Julie. 1994. Defining Women: TV and the Case of Cagey & Lacey. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press.

Davies, R. Philip and Brian Neve (eds.). 1981. Cinema, politics, and society in America. NY: St. Martin's Press.

Ericson, Richard, Patricia Baranek, and Janet Chan. 1987. Visualizing deviance: A study of news organizations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ericson, Richard, Patricia Baranek, and Janet Chan. 1989. Negotiating control: A study of news sources. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ericson, Richard, Patricia Barenek, and Janet Chan. 1991. Representing order: crime, law and justice in the news media. Toronto: Open University Press.

Featherstone, Mike and Roger Burrows (eds.). 1996. Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Fox, James and Ira Levin. 1993. How to Work with the Media. Survival Skills for Scholars, Volume 2. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Gans, Herbert. 1980. Deciding what's news: A study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, Newsweek and Time. New York: Vintage.

Gilbert, James. 1986. A cycle of outrage: America's reaction to the juvenile delinquent in the 1950s. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gordon, Diana. 1990. The justice juggernaut. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Grant, Barry. (ed.). 1986. Film genre reader. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Hall, Stuart, et. al, 1978. Policing the crisis: mugging, the state, and law and Order. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers.

Himmelstein, Hal. 1984. Television myth and the American mind. New York: Praeger.

Jenkins, Philip. 1992. Intimate enemies: Moral panics in contemporary Great Britain. NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

Jenkins, Philip. 1994. Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Murder. NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

Kelly, Patricia. (ed.). 1987. Police and the media. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishers.

Knight, Stephen. 1980. Form and ideology in crime fiction. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

Kracauer, Sigfried. 1960. The theory of film. New York: Oxford University Press.

Lichter, Linda, and Lichter, S. Robert. 1983. Prime time crime. Washington, DC: The Media Institute.

Liebert, Robert M. and Sprafkin, Joyce. 1988. The early window: Effects of television on children and youth. (3rd edition). New York: Pergamon Press.

Lindekugel, D.M. 1994. Shooters: TV News Photographers and Their Work. NY: Praeger.

Lotz, Roy Edward. Crime and the American Press. 1991. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Lowery, Sharon and DeFleur, Melvin. 1988. Milestones in mass communication research. (2nd edition). New York: Longman.

Manoff, Robert Karl, and Schudson, Michael. (eds.). 1986. Reading the news. New York:Pantheon.

McGee, Mark Thomas, and Robertson, R. J. 1982. The J. D. films: Juvenile delinquency in the movies. London: McFarland.

McManus, Michael. (ed.). 1986 Final report of the Attorney General's commission on pornography. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press.

Meyrowitz, J. 1985. No sense of place: The impact of electronic media on social behavior. NY: Oxford University Press.

Montgomery, Kathryn. 1989. Target: Prime time. New York: Oxford University Press.

Morgan, John, and Welton, Peter. 1986. See what I mean: An introduction to visual communication. New York: Routledge.

New York City Police Foundation. 1987. Television and police: attitudes and perceptions of the police and the public. New York: Penn and Schoen Associates, Inc.

Nobile, Philip, and Nadler, Eric. 1986. United States of America v. sex: How the Meese Commission lied about pornography. New York: Minotaur Press.

Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth. 1993. The Spiral of Silence, 2d edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Oskamp, Stuart. (ed.). 1988. Television as a social issue. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Reeves, Jimmie and Richard Campbell. 1994. Cracked Coverage: Television News, the Anti-Cocaine Crusade, and the Reagan Legacy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Sanders, Barry 1994. A is for Ox: Violence, Electronic Media and the Silencing of the Written Word. NY: Pantheon.

Schudson, Michael. 1978. Discovering the news: A social history of American newspapers. New York: Basic Books.

Selnow, Gary and Richard Gilbert. 1993. The Impact of Society on Television. NY: Greenwood Press.

Silver, Alain, and Ward, Elizabeth. (eds.). 1978. Film noir: An encyclopedic reference to the American style. New York: The Overlook Press.

Sparks, Richard. 1992. Television and the Drama of Crime. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Stein, Benjamin. 1979. The view from Sunset Boulevard: America as brought to you by the people who make television. New York: Basic Books.

Stoller, Robert. 1991. Porn: Myths for the twentieth century. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Strasburger, Victor. 1995. Adolescents and the Media: Medical and Psychological Impact. Sage.

Surette, Ray. (ed.). 1984. Justice and the media. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishing.

Surette, Ray. (ed.). 1989. Media and the criminal justice system. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishing.

Sussman, Peter and Dannie Martin. 1993. Committing Journalism: The Prison Writings of Red Hog. NY: W.W. Norton.

Thaler, Paul. 1994. The Watchful Eye: American Justice in the Age of the Television Trial. NY: Greenwood Press.

Twitchell, James. 1989. Preposterous violence: Fables of aggression in modern culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Woeller, Waitraud, and Cassidy, Bruce. 1988. The literature of crime and detection. New York: Ungar Publishing.

NOTE: At the student's request videotapes will be placed in the USF-St. Petersburg Library where they may be viewed by the student. Please let me know what kind of material you are looking for and I will try to direct you to the most appropriate videos.

58 Bernard Goetz
244 Tawana Brawley (W. 57th)
323 Tawana Brawley Hoax (Donahue)
275 Skinheads (Geraldo) [includes broken nose]
368 Hate on Trial (Moyers)
318 Simmer in the City [Korean grocery] (48 Hours)
311 7 Days in Bensonhurst (Frontline)
283 Yusaf Hawkins
304 Stuart Murder Case (Rescue 911)
300 Stuart Murder Case (Donahue)
310 The Boston Hoax (Fred Friendly)
325 Central Park Jogger
382 State of Fear (FL tourist attacks)

323 Gainesville Murders (Donahue)
353 Gainesville: One Year Later
292 The Lindberg Kidnapping
363 Massacre (48 Hours)
346 Murder She Writes
291 The Public Mind: News
248 Trash TV (48 Hours)
267 Trash TV (Fred Friendly)
252 A Year in the Life of Crime
258 America's Most Wanted (1st Anniversary Show)
265 Crime Re-enactment Shows (Ted Koppel)

207 Satanism (Sally) [includes Wedge]
250 Satanism (Sally) [includes investigative journalist]
250 Satanism (Geraldo) [includes pre-school]
284 Women Running from Satanic Fathers (Geraldo)
297 McMartin Pre-school
300 McMartin Pre-school
302 McMartin Pre-school
304 McMartin Pre-school
325 Subliminal Messages/Judas Priest (Geraldo)
235 Satanism (original Geraldo special)
351 Women Raised in Satanic Families
353 MPD and Satanic Abuse
372 Cult Survival (Eye on Tampa Bay)
375 Dancing With the Devil (rock)
383 End of Innocence (Kelly Michaels)
382 Out of the Mouth of Babes (suggestibility)
382 Satan (HBO)
381 & 382 Innocence Lost: The Verdict

290 Hollywood's Favorite Heavy: Businessmen on Primetime TV
309 White-Collar Greed [Charles Keating] (Geraldo)
312 Deadly Mix [Drunk Driving] (48 Hours)
383 Tabloid Truth: Michael Jackson

120 Cops Shows on NBC
209 Cop Movies (At the Movies)
267 Reel Cops v. Real Cops (Cop Talk)
323 DEA
325 Cop Rock

114 Cops: Behind the Badge (HBO)
256 Dallas Drug War
164 M.O.V.E.
252 Cops (Fox)
368 Primetime Sheriff (Nick Navaro)
312 Cops at Mardi Gras
350 American Detectives

327 When Cops Go Bad (Frontline)
187 The Cops Are Robbers
345 Crimes of the Century (Miami River Cops)
306 Miami Riot of 1980
342 Race Against Prime Time (Miami riot)
368 Orlando Mercado is Dead
102 Thurman v. Police of Torrington, Connecticut
246 One Black Cop
252 To Protect and to Serve
367 Cops on Trial (48 Hours)
339 LA Law (King video)
339 Police Brutality Caught on Home Video
341 That Night in LA
369 LA Stories
369 Videotape Evidence (PTL)
372 Anatomy of a Riot (Nightline)

184 True Confessions (60 Minutes)
274 Criminal Justice or Injustice (Cop Talk)
131 Verdict: The Wrong Man (HBO)
253 Randall Dale Adams
263 The Thin Blue Line
383 The Menendez Trial

26 ACLU
254 LA Justice
196 Do the Guilty Go Free?
133 The Drunk Driver's Best Friend
113 Jury Deliberation (Frontline)
143 Plea Bargaining (60 Minutes)
255 Insane by Choice

207 Women Behind Bars (ABC)
185 Club Fed
203 Marion Federal Penitentiary
196 Shakedown at Santa Fe
300 24 Hours on Death Row (Geraldo)
211 Execution: 14 Days in May (HBO)
344 Televising Executions (Geraldo)
365 Televising Executions (Donahue)

204 Alternative Punishments (Geraldo)
223 Life After Death Row (parole)
323 Convicts on the Street (HBO)
22 Parole (20/20)
161 Scared Straight: 10 Years Later
350 The Convict Next Door
353 Confrontation: Attempted Murder

158 Death of a Porn Queen
262 Jerry Butler [Sex Addiction] (Geraldo)
259 Porn Stars and Their Families (Geraldo)
150 Anti-Porn Crusaders (20/20)
317 Going Too Far [Obscenity] (48 Hours)
320 Barbara Dare
326 Ted Bundy Interview
357 The Silent Shame
371 Entrapment in the Postal Child Pornography Sting (Cecil Greek)
372 Patently Offensive (PBS)
324 Adult Bookstore (Cecil Greek)
379 Porn in the USA (48 Hours)

186 TV and Violence (Crime File)
229 Violence in Movies (Sneak Previews)
287 Rock Lyrics and Censorship (Geraldo)
287 Horror Films and Teens (Geraldo)

1. Describe the factors which led to a growing social concern over child abuse in the 1960s and 1970s.
2. Why were prosecutors so leery about bringing child sex abuse cases to trial? How did the feminist movement and psychiatry bring the problem of familial child sexual abuse out into the open?

1. Why do you think "urban legends" are believable by a large segment of the populace? How did halloween sadism serve as a forerunner of later satanic urban legends? What role does the media play in spreading or diffusing urban legends?
2. What role did each of the following play in setting the background for the 1980s satanic panic: (a) Hollywood horror films (b) religious cults (c) "kiddie porn?"
3. Why do you think Disassociation Theory and Multiple Personality Disorder proved to be so easily attachable to reports of satanic ritual abuse?

1. Describe the new investigative and courtroom techniques used first in Bakersfield to secure convictions in ritual abuse cases. Why are these techniques so problematic? Why are they so likely to produce false convictions?

1. How did the police help foster the panic which lead to the McMartin case? How should they have handled the issue?
2. Discuss Kee McFarlane's interviewing techniques and why they might produce false reports of abuse.
3. Why do you think the McMartin case resulted in a "media blitz?"
4. Why did the McMartin case ultimately produce claims of an international satanic cult conspiracy?

1. What evidence do the authors present that social class bias impacted on the verdicts in Kern County? Is such bias a problem in our criminal justice system in general?
2. What role did the local newspapers play in spreading satanic panic in Kern County? In later trying to stop the panic?

1. What role did "cult cops" and other receptive law enforcement personnel play in spreading satanic panic?
2. Why are children likely to tell the types of stories they produced under questioning?
3. How does "illness by proxy" explain what the children reported?
4. How important a factor was adult response to children who admitted being abused? How should such questioning be handled?

1. Why do you think the authors discussed the autism hoax?
2. Why did videotapes and transcripts of the questioning of children not result in convictions when presented as evidence in court? How did prosecutors and police increase their conviction rates?
3. What impact did the belief that "children never lie about sexual abuse" have in these cases?
4. How "suggestible" are children?

1. Why did "jailhouse snitches" come to play such an important role in the criminal justice system?
2. What role did hypnosis and other visual relaxation techniques play in satanic abuse cases? Why is evidence collected in this way suspect?

Question 1. In what ways was the search for contemporary medical evidence of abuse similar to the use of "devil's marks" at the Salem witch trials?
Question 2. What may happen when the need for courtroom medical evidence becomes predominant over knowledge and technique?
Question 3. Why were the techniques developed an employed by Woodling highly subject to possible error?

Question 1. What changes had to occur in the way that prosecutors viewed child testimony before satanic abuse cases could be filed in large numbers?
Question 2. Should laws be changed to make it "easier" for children to testify? Discuss the positive and negative consequences of such changes.

Question 1. For what reasons did many of these cases start to fall apart?
Question 2. Discuss the debates between supporters of the validity of repressed memories and those who claimed such reports frequently could be explained as the result of false memory syndrome.

Question 1. Why do the authors argue that real child protection has been set back by the focus given to ritualistic abuse?
Question 2. Why do you think today’s journalists pay little attention to the issue of false accusations?

1. Discuss the types of data Gilbert collected in order to write his analysis of the perceived causal connections between juvenile delinquency and mass media typical of the 1950s.
2. After seeing what data he has chosen to employ, what kind on an account did you expect to be reading: historical, literary, journalistic, quantitative, etc.?

1. Why does Gilbert argue that the idea that kids are easily influenced by the media toward delinquency is an example of an "episodic notion?" What was the specific version of this notion in the 1950s?
2. What is Gilbert's position on the theory that media depictions of violent or delinquent behavior produces either?

1. Discuss the role that 1950s newsmagazines such as Life or Look played in "explaining" teenage trends to the larger society?
2. How did the overall societal response to juvenile (mis)behavior change over the course of the 1950s?
3. In what ways were concerns over class and race a likely part of parental misgivings concerning 1950s teen culture? Compare to the 1990s.

1. Why did experts during World War 2 believe that living in a society at war would most likely increase delinquency?
2. Discuss the role that the zoot suiters and the zoot suit riots played in wartime discussions of delinquency.
3. Discuss the differences of opinion between the FBI and the Children's Bureau over the principal root causes of delinquency.

1. Compare the positions of the Children's Bureau with that of the Continuing Committee on the Prevention and Control of Delinquency during the late 1940s.
2. Despite the best efforts of the two above agencies, why did the idea that mass media influence was producing delinquency become part of popular opinion?

1. Discuss the role played by the 1950s' mass media in spreading the idea that that era's teens were more delinquent than their predecessors. Compare to the 1990s.
2. Did statistical measures back up the belief that delinquency was increasing? Why does Gilbert consider these statistical measures problematic?
3. What were the 3 major factors which led to increased fear of delinquency in the 1950s? What factors appear to drive such fears today?

1. Why was the ABA so ambivalent about conducting a full-fledged investigation of the links between media depictions and delinquency?
2. Why did various mass media industries such as movies and radio agree to be part of hearings concerning media/delinquency linkages? Have there been similar examples in recent years?

1. Discuss Wertham's theory of the relationship between comic books and delinquency.
2. What types of data did Wertham use to come up with his theories?
3. How did the media popularize Wertham's ideas?

1. Why were so many intellectuals of the era ambivalent about "mass culture?" How are their criticisms different from those of contemporary religious conservatives?
2. Discuss the specific criticisms of mass culture developed by Frankfurt School intellectuals.

1. Criminologists of the 1950s did not believe that the mass media was the major cause of delinquency. What were some of their theories?
2. Why would Erickson have argued that delinquency should not be treated as a sign of potential adult criminality?
3. Discuss Cohen's and Miller's theories of delinquency.

1. What were the political motivations behind Senator Kefauver's decision to hold hearings on comic books?
2. How did the Hollywood film industry attempt to protect itself from being attacked at the hearings before Congress?

1. Discuss the history of censorship in the Hollywood film industry.
2. How was Hollywood able to make money off of controversy related to violations of the code?
3. In what ways did the advent of the drive-in change the Hollywood film industry?

1. Discuss how each of the following films [ The Wild One, Blackboard Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause] changed the nature of traditional Hollywood images of delinquency. Why was public reaction to each of these films so controversial?

1. In what ways were many of the "deviant" teen practices of the 1950s merely consumer choices of a new youth subculture?
2. In what ways did the mass media help to spread youth culture nationally and internationally in the 1950s? What are the major mass media institutions which spread this culture today?

Representing Order by Ericson et al

Chapter 1
Question 1. How does the news media employ each of the five interrelated components to "represent order?"
Question 2. What are the major similarities between the functions of news and law within a society?

Chapter 2
Question 1. Contrast the ways TV, radio, and newspapers tell news stories.
Question 2. What market differences can be uncovered within each of the above?
Question 3. Why is spite of the differences cited in questions 1 and 2 above is "convergence" in news coverage so frequent an occurence.

Chapter 3
Question 1. Are the types of questions the authors want to ask about news media coverage important ones, in your opinion? What additional questions would you raise?
Question 2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative as compared to qualitative media research.

Chapter 4
Question 1. In what ways did the various media outlets cover the murder story differently?
Question 2. How does the media coverage of a murder and its aftermath tell a tale of disorder and order?

Chapter 5
Question 1. Why did the law reform story not fit the traditional narrative format? What type of format was used?
Question 2. How did the various media outlets cover the law reform story differently?

Chapter 6
Question 1. How do news formats vary by medium and market? What impact does this have on law and order reporting?
Question 2. On what types of stories is the media more likely to "take sides?" Should they?

Chapter 7
Question 1. Describe the principal sources of knowledge for crime stories.
Question 2. What role do visuals and sound play in crime reoprting? How are these employed differently by various media outlets?

Chapter 8
Question 1. Why do you think the authors found substantial variation among media outlets in crime events covered and additional variation in specifics of angles, topics, themes, sources, and emphasis?
Question 2. Why do you think so little time was given over to causal explanations of crime? What types of causal models predominated?

Directions: Answer any three of the following questions. You may use your texts, lectures, term paper materials, and Internet resources to answer the questions. Final exam is due back by Wednesday, May 1st.

1. In your opinion, in what ways is the "reality" in which we live the result of media depictions? How important are these factors when considering public perceptions of crime and criminal justice.

2. Describe the role(s) played by the media in the Satanism scares of the 1980s and 1990s.

3. Compare Hollywood images of law enforcement to news media coverage of policing. What aspects of police work do neither cover adequately?

4. Why do you think the teen culture of the 1950s and teens' choice of media outlets resulted in such strong adult sanctions? Are there parallels in 1990s teen culture and contemporary adult responses?

5. Why is an adequate understanding of law difficult to get from Hollywood or the news media? Are there ways to better inform the public?

6. What are the major differences in American and Canadian coverage of crime news? How are they similar?

7. What major themes regarding news coverage of crime and the criminal justice system appear in the guest lectures? Are there differences in the approaches and outlooks of the 3 journalists?

8. You have been assigned the task of writing a feature story on a local jail. How would you approach this task differently after taking this course?

9. Choose 2 other types of crimes not discussed in depth in this course (e.g., sex crimes, white-collar crime, police corruption, political crimes, etc.). What are the media stereotypes of these types of crimes? Give specific examples.

10. What role does the Internet now play in providing information on crime in our society? How can it be used to better inform reporters, researchers, and the public?

CCJ 6935	Dr. Cecil Greek
Class Meets at Your Convenience	Office Telephone: 813-893-9570

Spring 1995	Office hours:
University of South Florida	M/Th 1:30-4:00 PM
St. Pete Campus	Home Telephone: 813-525-1644
E-Mail: greek@bayflash.stpt.usf.edu	Fax: 813-522-5022

Syllabus: CCJ 6935

Graduate Seminar in Criminal Justice

Topic: Crime and Media

Final Exam is Now Available

Meet the Instructor

Syllabus Table of Contents

Student Papers

Internet Media Links

News-Related Links

Representing Order by Ericson et al