CCJ 4035.01 Fall, 2008

CRIME AND THE MEDIA

Tuesday and Thursdays: 3:00-4:15

Room:  HPA 116

Instructor: Ray Surette

This course surveys the connections between the mass media, crime, and criminal justice in the United States.  It will explore how the criminal justice system, criminals, and crime are portrayed in the entertainment and news media and the effects that these portrayals have on society and the criminal justice system.  Special attention will be given to the role that the media play in the social construction of crime and justice.  Seven areas specific to crime and justice in America will be covered: 

1.         Crime and Criminality

2.         Crime Fighters

3.         Courts, Trials and Attorneys

4.         Corrections

5.         Crime Control 

6.         Criminal Justice Policy

7.         Crime, Justice and Media in the Future  

Texts: Media Crime and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities, and Policies.  Ray Surette (2007) Thomson Wadsworth. (Note: Additional readings and assignments will be announced in class).

Grades:	Date	Weight
Exam 1	9/25	30%
Exam 2	10/28	30%
Exam 3	12/4	30%
Quizzes, assignments, and attendance.		10%   (at instructor’s discretion)

                        Grade Scale.    Grade Final Average

                                                A                     91 or higher

                                                A-                    88-90

                                                B+                   85-87

                                                B                      81-84

                                                B-                    78-80

                                                C+                   75-77

                                                C                     71-74

                                                C-                    68-70

                                                D+                   65-67

                                                D                     61-64

                                                D-                    58-60

                                                F                      57 or lower

Rules: There are no make-up exams.  If exam 1 or exam 2 is missed the student will be required to take a cumulative exam 2 or exam 3 which will count the exams’ combined weights.  If exam 3 is missed without permission the student will receive a failing grade in the course.  Incomplete grades or withdrawal permissions are given only in unusual circumstances such as a documented illness or a change in work schedule.  They should not be expected if work or exams are missed or a student is failing the course.  Attendance and unannounced quizzes may be administered randomly during the semester at the prerogative of the instructor.  Class assignments will be given with their respective due dates in class.  Late assignments will not be accepted. 

According to the University of Central Florida “Golden Rule” cheating is: non-permissible written, visual or oral assistance (including that obtained from another student) utilized on examinations, course assignments or projects; plagiarism whereby another's work is deliberately used or appropriated without any indication of the source, thereby attempting to convey the impression that such work is the student's own; failing to properly credit ideas or materials taken from another.  A student who has assisted another in any of the aforementioned breach of standards shall be considered equally culpable.  Students found guilty of violating this section of the “Golden Rule” face disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion.  Students who are found guilty of cheating in this class also face academic punishment, up to and including receipt of a failing grade (F) for the course.

Topics

1. Media and Justice - Overview

a.   Types of Media

b.   Types of Content

Reading: Surette Chapter 1

2.         Social Constructionism and Crime and Justice Reality

a.  Sources of Reality: experienced, symbolic and constructed reality

b.  Concepts of social constructionism

Claims and claims-makers

Linkage

Frames

Narratives

Symbolic Crimes

Ownership

Reading: Surette Chapter 2

3.         Crimes and Criminality

            a.  Criminals in the media

                        predator criminal icon

                        victims

            b.  Crime in the media

            c.  Criminological Theories in the media

d.  Criminogenic Media

violent media and aggression effects

copycat crime

media orientated terrorism

Reading: Surette Chapter 3   

Exam 1 (September 25) will cover Chapters 1, 2, & 3.

4.         Crime Fighters

            a.  Professionals versus Civilians

            b.  Media crime fighters characteristics and evolution

            c.  Backwards law

Reading: Surette Chapter 4

5.         Courts, Media and Infotainment- the Operation of Justice

a.  Media portrait of courts and attorneys

b.  Media Trials

c.  News reporting and the constitution

Historical conflicts of access and information control

Constitutional issues and cases

Reading: Surette Chapter 5

6.         Corrections

            a.  Sources of information about corrections

                        prison films

                        correctional news

            b.  Media portraits of corrections

                        prisoners, prisons and correctional officers

            Reading: Chapter 6 

Exam 2 (October 28) will cover Chapters 4, 5 and 6.

7.         Crime Control: the media as a solution to crime

a.  Anti-Crime ads. 

b.  Case processing

testimony, evidence and court records

live proceedings

pre-recorded proceedings

c.  Surveillance

Reading: Chapter 7  

8.         Criminal Justice Policy

a.  Constructing the news – three models

b.  Media crime and justice tenets

            backwards law

            immanent justice

c.  Affects on the public agenda

d.  Affects on beliefs and attitudes

 fear of crime

e.  Affects on criminal justice policy

Reading: Chapter 8

9.         Media, Crime and Justice Futures

            a.  Crime and justice content claims

            b.  Postulates of crime and justice media

            c.  Two scenarios of the future

                        unrestrained infotainment

                        restrained media and unrestrained surveillance.

            d.  Pixel policy

            Reading: Chapter 9

Exam 3  (December 4) will cover Chapters 7, 8 & 9.

Many factors may influence the development of a class.  The instructor reserves the right to alter from this syllabus and schedule as necessary to assure the attainment of the course objective, any changes made will be announced in class.