Framing Justice: Media, Bias, and Legal Decision Making

(Moriearty, 2010)

• Media can shape societal attitudes towards law and order, punishment, and rehabilitation by forming stereotypes and biases that affect individuals' views on offenders and appropriate responses to crime.

• When media coverage emphasizes violent crimes or portrays offenders in a way that stokes fear, the public may become more supportive for harsher punishments. This is because people want quick and decisive action to feel safe, and punishment can seem like the fastest way to deal with the problem.

• The concept of the "superpredator" that emerged in the media in the 1990s is an example of how powerful negative stereotypes can shape public opinion. This term painted a picture of young, primarily African American males as being inherently dangerous and beyond rehabilitation, which in turn influenced policymakers to enact more punitive laws, like "three strikes" rules and mandatory minimum sentences.

Media Consumption, Perceptions of Crime Risk and Fear of Crime: Examining Race/Ethnic Differences

(Callanan, 2012)

• “Because the distribution of official crime offending and victimization is patterned by social structure such that African Americans and Latinos on average are more likely to have been victims of crime and/or have been or know individuals that have been under the auspices of the criminal justice system than whites, these experiences should filter their interpretations of crime-related media messages to produce different outcomes from crime-related media consumption than whites” (Callanan, 2012, p.3).

• There can be resistance to new approaches within the criminal justice system due to institutional laziness and the “that’s how we’ve always done it” mindset.

• Policymakers may shy away from evidence-based policies if they believe that those policies won’t be popular with the public, whose opinions are often shaped by media portrayal.

Sex Offender Recidivism

(Soothill, 2010)

• Punishment alone does not prevent sexual abuse, but it has become the dominant paradigm in the public sphere for dealing with sexual offenders, making it challenging for professionals to develop alternative scenarios.

• The political landscape plays a role, as policymakers may opt for punitive approaches to align with popular opinion and secure votes. Moreover, the immediate visibility and perceived cost-effectiveness of punishment compared to long-term rehabilitation programs can also sway policymakers towards punitive measures.

Media Effects on Attitudes Towards the Criminal Justice System

(Werner, 2015)

• Attitudes towards the criminal justice system significantly influence society, with confidence levels influencing support and policies. Public opinion, particularly fear of certain crimes, is closely linked to respect for the system, shaping important policies and laws, even if not accurately reflecting reality.

• 18-29-year-olds have the highest confidence in the criminal justice system, while 30-49-year-olds are least confident. Age-related attitudes towards crime and punishment are more conservative as individuals age (Werner, 2015).

Between the Waves: Mass-Mediated Themes of Crime and Justice

(Barak, 1994)

• Focusing on the most extreme and sensational crimes, the media shapes public fears and perceptions about crime. This skewed representation can lead to a public that is more fearful of rare, violent crimes than of more common but less sensational offenses. In turn, this can lead to “tough on crime” policies.

• Imaging stimulates the conscious and unconscious, forming identities based on gender, racial, and class-based media characters. The focus is on popular images of crime and justice shaping collective personalities in law and order issues.

Media and Society: A Critical Perspective

(Berger, 2003)

• Media simply mirrors the fears, concerns, and biases that already exist within society. Policymakers are influenced by a complex array of factors including crime rates, expert opinions, and public demand for safety and justice, which may lead them to adopt more punitive policies independent of media portrayals.

• There are instances where media has raised awareness about the need for criminal justice reform and rehabilitation, thus having a potentially positive influence on policy.

• Sending an offender to prison isn't a very effective way to deter crime.

Media Effects on Attitudes Towards the Criminal Justice System

(Werner, 2015)

• Victims or their families who have been victims or arrested are more likely to support rehabilitation than the general public, suggesting that those with direct or almost direct contact with crime are more likely to support measures to stop crime before it begins.

• "White citizens are also more likely to have a more punitive approach to crime than black citizens, who have a tougher approach to the causes of crime, meaning that they would like to deter crime before it happens, as opposed to punishing offenders after they have committed the crime. This difference shows how important race is in attitudes towards the criminal justice system" (Werner, 2015).

• As individuals age, their view of crime and punishment tends to become more conservative.

• "Those who have more classes that involve criminal justice issues have different viewpoints of aspects of the criminal justice system, such as a more liberal view of punishments" (Werner, 2015).

They're Planting Stories in the Press: The Impact of Media Distortions on Sex Offender Law and Policy

(Cucolo and Perlin, 2013)

• "Someone with a history of sexual assaults against children should never be allowed on the street to re-offend. That's a slap in the face, especially in a neighborhood with lots of children. It's like putting an alcoholic in a tavern and expecting them not to drink. Communities should be protected from predators through tougher prison sentences - not through civil commitment. This is lifetime preventive detention, solely to prevent possible further crime . . . . The U.S. Supreme Court has never authorized lifetime confinement of someone who is not mentally disabled in some meaningful sense, simply to prevent possible recidivism" (Cucolo and Perlin, 2013).

• "States have struggled to comply with the federal mandates and are overwhelmed with the difficulty of effectively monitoring a huge pool of registrants - often increased by the Adam Walsh Act requirements - while trying to appease the public by making a showing of being "tough on sexual predators" (Cucolo and Perlin, 2013).

• The public's passive acceptance of media and politician-driven images of crime has led to the belief that judges impose excessively lenient sentences, despite the harsher nature of sentences through mandatory minimum legislation, sentencing guidelines, and moral panics.

(Soothill, 2010) might not seem immediately related, but they share a deeper connection through the lens of how media framing can influence public perceptions and legal outcomes, particularly concerning highly stigmatized groups like sex offenders. The deep connection between the two sources lies in the potential for media framing to impact the perception of sex offender recidivism. If the media disproportionately highlights recidivism cases and frames them in a way that suggests a high likelihood of reoffense, it can lead to a climate of fear and a push for more stringent laws and policies. This can affect the legal decision-making process, where judges and policymakers might feel pressured to impose harsher sentences measures for sex offenders due to the public's perception of high recidivism rates, which may be influenced by media bias.

Framing Justice: Media, Bias, and Legal Decision Making

(Moriearty, 2010)

• The continuous exposure to legal themes through the media can influence how individuals perceive the law, law enforcement, and the overall justice system. For example, crime dramas on TV often depict a simplified version of legal procedures, sometimes glamorizing certain aspects of law enforcement. These portrayals can create unrealistic expectations about how the legal system operates in real life. Moreover, the media can also influence societal attitudes towards law and order, punishment, and rehabilitation. By repeatedly showcasing certain types of crimes or criminals, the media can contribute to the formation of stereotypes and biases that affect how individuals view offenders and the appropriate responses to crime.

• This never-ceasing theme investigates the psychological effects of media coverage on the various “actors” within the legal system, including judges, lawyers, and law enforcement, and how this impacts their decision-making processes.

Predator-induced fear causes PTSD-like changes in the brains and behavior of wild animals

(Zanette et al., 2019)

• "The amygdala is responsible for fear processing and the acquisition and expression of fear memories, as demonstrated by lesioning studies on laboratory rodents, and the fact that people with a damaged amygdala report not feeling fearful in response to a variety of fear-provoking stimuli, including life-threatening traumatic events" (Zanette et al., 2019).

• Just like how the amygdala plays a crucial role in processing fear and memory in individuals, policymakers' decision-making is influenced by a combination of factors such as research, and personal experiences.

Public Opinion Versus Public Judgment About Crime

(Green, 2006)

• Research shows that the public is consistently misinformed about crime and punishment, leading to a level of influence and deference that politicians may find difficult to justify. Two options are to cease deferring to an uninformed public or make the public better informed. However, politicians cannot afford to disregard constituents' will on emotive issues, which could lead to questions of democratic legitimacy.

• "Though low levels of public knowledge about crime and punishment indicate that the media have been unsuccessful in raising consciousness to the level sufficient for the public to engage the issues responsibly, in many cases, the media perform this function rather well. Where the media at present fail is in providing the conditions needed to reach the latter two stages. They tend to generate concern in the wake of high-profile cases and crises, but not to follow through to help the public fully appreciate and actively assess the competing range of remedial actions

  and their consequences" (Green, 2006).

Media, Culture and Society

(Hodkinson, 2017)

• Heavy television viewing can lead to a fearful worldview, potentially influencing second-order effects like supporting political parties with a 'tough on crime' stance, distrusting neighbors, and limiting outdoor play.

• The cultivation theory suggests that prolonged exposure to media content, particularly television, leads viewers to perceive the "real world" as similar to the depicted one, leading to overestimation of danger and support for punitive policies. This theory was applied to examine how heavy viewing of reality-based police programming affects perceptions of criminality, particularly among African Americans.