Impact of Mass Media on Criminal Justice

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Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice

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Introduction
Mass media focus on crime stories and representations since they attract the attention of a
large number of people. In today’s era of digitalisation where the attention of users is a
currency for digital platforms, unfair or unethical means are used by organisations to
increase their viewership. Reporting of crime and crime stories is a good way through which
mass media can capture the attention of a large number of people as shown by examples
such as live reporting of run and trial of OJ Simpson in 1994 (Turcotte et al. 2015, pp. 520-
535). However, these reports affect the perception of people watching the trial which
affects different stages of the criminal justice process and criminal justice policy. The
influence of media in the justice process can have disastrous results since people easily
believe what they see on the media (Anderson et al. 2014, pp. 373-387). The thesis
contributes debates regarding the role of media in influencing the perception of the public
which negatively affects the criminal justice process and policy. In this essay, the role which
media plays in affecting the perception of the public will be discussed along with its impact
on the steps of the criminal justice process and criminal justice policy.
Power of Media
Mass media has the ability to capture the attention of the nation and influence their
perception towards a particular topic, and this power makes it challenging for the criminal
justice process to deliver justice in criminal cases. People’s knowledge and understanding
about crime, police forces, investigations and criminal justice are derived from the media,
and their perception is heavily influenced by what they watch or heard through various
media sources (Graber & Dunaway 2017). Media plays a major role in informing people

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regarding major issues to bring their attention towards these issues which is crucial to tackle
them; however, it also means that the media has the power to influence people’s
perception towards criminal justice system. Many media sources have been guilty of using
stereotypes against certain minorities to depict that they are the ones who commit majority
of crimes which affects the perception of people (Schemer 2012, pp. 739-757). A good
example is the perception of African-Americans and Mexicans in the United States and
Aboriginal people in Australia. For example, the study conducted by the Australian Survey of
Social Attitudes (AuSSA) found that 39.8 percent of people believe that crimes have
increased a lot, 23.8 percent believe that there is little growth in crime and 25.7 percent
believe that crimes are the same (Davis & Dossetor 2010). However, in reality, the rate of
crimes has decreased in Australia in the past few years. The rate of coverage of crimes in the
media of Australia has increased drastically in the past few years which is a key factor that
contributes to the misperception of the people in the country.
Trial by Media
With the growth in the popularity and impact of mass media, the issue of ‘trial by media’
has become prominent which affects different steps of the criminal justice system. The
media portrayal of the unequal treatment of certain minorities in the community affects the
perception of individuals towards their issues. For example, Michael Brown was an 18-year-
old African America who was shot by a white police officer, and this story caught major
attention from media outlets (Osunsami & Knox 2017). People started protesting and using
social media sites to hold the guilty police officer liable for the crime. This shows that mass
media plays a major role in highlighting social issues by giving strong opinions about crimes
which helps the criminal justice system. However, this is not the case for everyone, and