Crime, Media, and Reality: Examining Mixed Messages about Crime and Justice in Popular Media

This idiosyncratic study of depictions of crime and justice in popular media is longer on good intentions than insights. Garcia, a criminal-justice professor, and Arkerson, a college student majoring in early childhood development, describe their book as both “a call to investigate the truths of crime and justice” and “a call to view media with a critical eye, and to take television programs and movies for what they are, entertainment.” Unfortunately, there are glaring flaws in their research methods and the construction of their argument. While the authors aim to provide a “scientific explanation of how crime and justice are portrayed in media,” they rely on loosely defined categories for analysis and arbitrary categorizations, using, for one, The Dukes of Hazzard as an example of a police procedural. Elsewhere they neglect to mention cultural touchstones such as The Sopranos in a discussion of TV dramas with criminal protagonists and instead focus on the less-well-known supernatural series Sleepy Hollow. The authors also rely on superficial research methods: their analysis of female law-enforcement officers in movies is based on a “quick Google search of the best police movies.” The result is a collection of mostly banal conclusions, such as that the reality of crime in America is much different than it is portrayed in news outlets, Hollywood, and the silver screen. Readers interested in a more serious examination of depictions of crime and justice in popular media should look elsewhere. [em](Dec.) [/em]