Media and Crime: From Copycat Criminals to Political Agendas

In this episode, I discuss three topics related to the media and crime. First, I explore how the news and entertainment media directly effect crime by examining the Great Aggression Model and the Rudder Theory (including copycat criminals). Next I talk about bias in crime reporting, both racial and political. Lastly, I speak to how the media influences criminal justice policy and reform through tactics such as agenda setting and priming, all in an attempt to move forward a political agenda.

Sources for this episode:
Beale, S. (2006). The News Media's Influence on Criminal Justice Policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness. William and Mary Law Review. *
Curiel, R., Cresci, S., Muntean, C., Bishop, S. (2020). Crime and its fear in social media. Palgrave Communications. *
Eisen, L, Roeder, O. (2015). America's Faulty Perception of Crime Rates. Brennan Center for Justice. *
Ghandoosh, N. (2014). Race and Punishment: Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punative Policies. The Sentencing Project. *
Guy, F. (2018). The Columbine Effect and Mass School Shootings.Crime Traveler.
Holbrook, R., Hill, T. (2006). Agenda-Setting and Priming in Prime Time Television: Crime Dramas as Political Cues. Political Communication, 22(3), 277-295. 
Ifill, G. (1992). The 1992 Campaign: The Democrats; Clinton, in Houston Speech, Assails Bush on Crime. The New York Times. *
Lynch, P. (2020). 5 Notorious Copycat Killers in the 20th Century. History Collection.
Olasov, I. (2016). Offensive Political Dog-Whistles: You know them when you hear them. Or do you? Vox. *
Pew, A., Goldbeck, A., Halsted, C., Zuckerman, D. (2020). Does Media Coverage Inspire Copy Cat Mass Shootings? National Center for Health Research. *
Relman, E. (2018). These are the most and least biased new outlets in the US, according to Americans. Business Insider. *
Rios, V., Ferguson, C. (2018). News media coverage of crime and violent drug crime. A case for cause of catalyst. Justice Quarterly. Forthcoming.
Werner, E. (2015). Media Effects on Attitudes Towards Criminal Justice System. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. *
Withers, R. (2018). George H.W. Bush's “Willie Horton” ad will always be the reference point for dog-whistle racism. Vox. *

*I ran out of characters in the description to put the web addresses for the sources. If you would like any of the websites from the above sources, please email me at crisisofcrime@gmail.com and I will send them to you. Thanks!