The developing anxiety over the association between the criminal justice system and mass media reflects the increased part of Information Communication Technologies in virtually every institution and aspect of modern society. Media is not just a mirror that tells the events happening in the community; rather, the content of Media is shaped by marketing and economical consideration that regularly supersede the criteria of traditional journalists for the worthiness of news (A rams, 104-344). It would then be a big mistake to do away with the impact of Media on criminal justice from the wider view effects and influences of media. Several years ago, media depictions of the justice system had changed. Entertainment media and news media reinforce each other to enhance the fact that crime is a public threat and it is also immediate. In addition, Media serves as porters for reporting on the process of correcting via the full-time TV shows news, which distort the line of reality and fiction.
Crime and Coverage of Media on Violent Crime
Whether coverage of Media on violent crimes may affect the rates of crime remains highly debatable. Theories of self-determination and the general aggression model have been utilized to explain the influence and effects of media reporting on the crime system. Supporters of the aggression theory are confident enough that acquaintance to coverage of media of fierce misconducts is one factor that generates human hostility (Abrams, 104-344). The researchers also resist that media partially contributes to deviant behavior and results in violence by soothing individuals to the suffering and pain of others. In conjunction with this theory, terrorist groups and fire setters act as evidence, and they execute more attacks when the press has reported similar attacks in the past.
In addition, individuals who support the aggression model oppose that too much exposure to fierce media can affect an individual’s personality, making them volatile and callous. For instance, some people believe that 40 different occasions of gun violence resulted from the Russian roulette act. Interestingly, some scholars have also shown augmented engagement and hostility in human fights among people who like video games.
Criminogenic Media
Criminogenic Media is a type of media that is said to cause crime. Examples of criminogenic media include movies, TV shows, online videos, and games that have a violent perspective. They influence individuals to get involved in criminal offenses (Miethe, 1-29). oftenly it happens to children and idle young adults who are surrounded by violent events from their parents, relatives, or even the neighborhood. such things tend to stimulate them to look for media that suit their situations, and these are criminogenic media
Causation of Criminogenic Media in Criminal Justice Matters
This type of Media is the main cause for the expansion of terrorist groups and associations around the globe. Criminal justice is whereby justice is given to individuals who have been accused of committing criminal offenses. Criminogenic Media is one of the main causes of illegal activities worldwide and has influenced crime in a copycat manner. The individual first who hears or witnesses a crime via Media is greatly influenced by social media. After the individual now scripts the violent scenes in their minds creating a violent behavior in their memory. They then begin thinking about different ways of committing a crime as they perceive it as a rather fun activity. At this point, the individual gets persuaded by the character in the story, and they want to emulate them. They begin with changing their dress codes to those of a gangster character, including long and huge coats, boots, and hats all in black. At this point, the individual wants to. Make a reality of their own hence they might want to get involved in criminal activity for they perceive it as a normal thing and a fun activity.
Influence of Criminogenic Media in the Prosecution of Criminal Matters
The prosecution is done in courts of law at either the federal or state level. It has been established that media has made court rulings, prosecution, and choosing of jurors a blur in the judicial system. Police officers who have been involved in crime scenes are likely to get entangled with media while providing information on a subject. Terrorist groups also want to use the media to recruit people to their groups. Criminogenic media has led to the loss of young and capable adults to crime. Correctional facilities are involved in giving shelter to the inmates, punishing them for their crimes, and rehabilitating them to be better members of society once they are released (Miethe, 1-29). Criminogenic media has helped law offenders be accountable for their actions because, as always, in the long run, the story always ends with the bad guys getting caught and being punished for their crimes. It has brought fear to individuals who access media because of the consequences of the violent characters in the story.
Judicial Activism and Media Advocacy
Judicial activism is an approach to the judicial review exercise or a particular judicial decision description. A judge decides issues of the constitution and invalidates executive or judicial actions. Activist judges impose constitutional requirement views of their own rather than submitting to other earlier courts or government officials (Wikstrom, 10-31). Both conservative and liberal judges have been maybe activists, though liberal judges have more likely to raid down state laws while the conservative judges overturn federal regulations. Judges can be described as activists when they decide cases grounded on their strategy preferences rather than a realistic law interpretation, thus legislating from the bench and abandoning the unbiased judicial act.
Decisions may also be called activist for allowing it to stand or striking down executive or legislative action. In addition, judges may be called activists for allowing government action or striking it down. A judicial decision may be said to be activism in a technical manner if it decides a legal case needless to the nature of the event. In most countries, complaints of activism have arisen where courts perform the judicial review, especially from the usual law structures. Contest allegations of activism have been raised more recently in the US by the conservatives than the liberals. Both sides can organize charges of this case, and the key determinant is perhaps the position where the government politically stands based on other government acts. The conservatives criticized the Supreme Court during the first half of the 20th century for striking down advanced financial law grounded on the justices’ hypothetical liberal views of the free market.
Since then, neither liberals nor conservatives have asserted that judicial decisions should be decided based on law or politics. Judicial activism debates do not take the argument form against and for; instead, every side accuses one another of being activists while denying they are involved in it themselves (Wikstrom,10-31). As a result, concluding that a decision is an activist is enough evidence to prove the speaker’s belief that those individuals on the opposite side are not working based on the impartial law.
Media Advocacy
Media is a vast source of information on concepts and misconceptions and has been embraced greatly by the police and prosecutors as a medium of investigation and prosecution of crime. It has brought about an opportunity to tackle crime cases and give justice to those who deserve it. Activists and advocates in the judicial system are insecure that the information got from the media might be used against the vulnerable persons in the society bringing about discrimination and stigmatization (Schacter, 209-272). Based on this, it has been solved by keeping the sources of the evidence anonymous, and it has greatly helped other people speak up on the injustices they are going through without being exposed to the public. Some of the main types of criminal cases that have been aired out on the media are sexual assault cases and gang-reported cases. It is clear evidence that media has a great impact on the public voice of the people hence has given the freedom of speech, opinion, and expression.
In the sexual assault cases, many young ladies have opened up, and they have got the justice they deserve. In addition, it has also helped bring about awareness of this issue to the public. However, it has prevented cases as the culprits have been found and tried for offenses and sentenced to reasonable terms. In gang-reported instances, the media has channeled tips and anonymous information to the police concerning planned attacks which prevents damage and loss of life and property because the police can be at the crime scene in time (Schacter, 2029-272). The media has also exposed these gangs to the public, reporting their location and activities. In addition, it has caused fear among the small groups, thus making them stop their activities due to the fear of being caught by the police or being aired out on television.
In 1919, The Michigan State University School of Journalism introduced a program to teach the students in the journalism faculty to stand out and give a report on catastrophe and violence-affected victims with both sensitivities and accorded respect with which these victims are entitled. The mass media also determines the image of the justice system professionals to the public. It acts as a watcher and eye-opener when crimes are about to be covered. However, it has enabled a corruption-free judicial system because of the watchfulness of the news reporters and cameras all over court proceedings.
In conclusion, Media is not just a mirror that tells the events happening in society. Rather the content of Media is shaped by marketing and economic consideration that regularly supersede the criteria of traditional journalists for the worthiness of news. The prosecution is done in courts of law at either the federal or state level. It has been established that media has made court rulings, prosecution, and choosing of jurors a blur in the judicial system. Police officers who have been involved in criminal cases get entangled with the media while providing information on a subject. Terrorist groups also want to use the media to recruit people to their groups. Judicial activism is an approach to the judicial review exercise or a particular judicial decision description. A judge decides issues of the constitution and invalidates executive or judicial actions. Activist judges impose constitutional requirement views of their own rather than submitting to the opinions of other earlier courts or government officials. Media which is a vast source of information on concepts and misconceptions has been embraced greatly by the police and prosecutors as a medium of investigation and prosecution of crime. It has brought about an opportunity to tackle crime cases and give justice to those who deserve it.
Work Cited
Abrams, David S. “COVID and crime: An early empirical look.” Journal of public economics 194 (2021): 104344.
Choi, Minhee, and Brooke Weberling McKeever. “News framing of avian flu: Media advocacy and response to a public health crisis.” Newspaper Research Journal 40.4 (2019): 451-466.
Miethe, Terance D., and Olesya Venger. “Public perceptions of dangerous places: sources of variability in evaluating criminogenic environments.” Security Journal (2021): 1-29.
Schacter, Jane S. “Putting the Politics of “Judicial Activism” in Historical Perspective.” The Supreme Court Review 2017.1 (2018): 209-272.
Wikström, Per-Olof H., Richard P. Mann, and Beth Hardie. “Young people’s differential vulnerability to criminogenic exposure: Bridging the gap between people-and place-oriented approaches in the study of crime causation.” European journal of criminology 15.1 (2018): 10-31.
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