Introduction To Criminology: Media Analysis
The rapid development of communication technology over the past century has played a significant transformation of media, making it not only inseparable from contemporary social life but also gained the ability to define characteristics in social life. According to Courtauld (2014), the effect of media in the modern period has been associated with different aspects, including crime. The media has enabled societies to understand crime from different perspectives by presenting how much crime is out in the world, the individuals that are most at risk, the types of crime that are most prevent, and different responses to crime. However, the key issue is that all individuals do not interpret or respond to the crime presentation by media in the same way. The differences in media interpretation regarding crime have developed questions regarding how media as an institution shapes the individuals on how they think about crime (Courtauld, 2014). Today, more than ever before, there are more media forms with a greater level of diversity, such as newspapers, radio, television, and the internet. This paper provides an analysis of the influence of media on society and individuals thinking about crime, taking into account things that are criminalized and moral panics about crime by analyzing Eugene Jarecki’s movie “The House I Live In.”
“The House I Live In” is a documentary film that takes on the “War on Drugs” forty-year history examining some of the costly failures that have been identified. The film explores measures of dealing with drug and related crimes, especially in African American and Mexican American neighborhoods. The documentary takes unexpected twists and turns through different compelled accounts from politicians, Federal judges, journalists, prison authorities, police authorities, and families associated with drug users and drug-related crimes. The film lays out issues regarding the drug business, their impacts on users and society, and what has happened over four decades. The themes presented in the documentary, which were widely viewed, can be related to how media as an institution shapes how individuals think of crime, things that become criminalized, and the moral panic about crime.
Moral Panics about Crime
“Moral panic” is a concept about crime refers to the disproportionate and hostile reaction of society to a group of conditions that are perceived as a threat to the value of society. The concept involves media coverage that is sensational and stereotypical concerning public outcry and tougher control demands regarding the condition or group. Just as the panic can rapidly erupt, it can also rapidly subside. Most moral panics have been linked to emerging around youth-related issues, including subculture expressions such as drug culture, terrorism, football hooliganism, and punk (Cohen, 2011).
In “The House I Live In,” Jarecki problematized the social reaction to the impact of drug culture among the African American and Mexican youths through the illustration of how Nannie Jeter, an African American woman who had played a part in raising him moved with his family to their new home leaving her family behind. The distance between Jeter and her family resulted to one of children become an addict and eventually dying (The Brownsen Project, 2016) . The impact of drug culture among youth creates a labeling and change of perspective towards youth that result to public outcry, more policing, and policy that go beyond the ethical settings to stop the panic. The policing and policies developed to engage eh panic are described by David Simon, a journalist and television producer as a “chain of destruction,” which only drive a lot of youths into prison without addressing the panic of the culture of drugs, rather is used as big business for providing economic support to towns (Bershen, 2012).
Contemporary Schools of Crime and Criminality
Media today has offered a platform that sensational crime and justice events of high-profile people such as trails, riots, and revolutions are web-broadcasted covering a huge audience. The growth of social media has stretched the boundaries between news and entertainment and that of fact and fiction. The film presents the contemporary dimensions of crime and criminality through different social media platforms, whereby different perspectives about the movie are presented, highlighting fears, insecurity, injustices that exist in the modern world. The globalized media access has created not only an opportunity for social networking but also new forms of schooling crime and criminality. For instance, “The House I Live In” brings into the individuals’ minds different perspectives regarding profits associated with the drug business, the attitudes of viewers towards incarcerations based on racial disparities, and the change of culture altitudes regarding the level of crimes (Hughes, 2012).
Critical Examination of the Criminal Justice System and the Criminalization of Marginalized Groups
Jarecki covers the role of the Criminal Justice System in the fight against drugs and also demonstrate the criminalization of marginalized groups. The criminal justice system is comprised of police, prison, politics, the courts, and the media. The drug policy reforms, such as the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RIICO) enacted in the 1980s, are misused by the criminal justice system towards criminalization of marginalized groups. For instance, the film indicates how the police utilize RICO to frequently pull over people of color and Mexican searching for drugs even if no arrest is made (Bershen, 2012). The revelation provided by the police officers indicating that some of their colleagues generate significant overtime pay through multiple arrests per week or month by specifically targeting black and Mexicans. Most arrest conducted by police officers tends to be minor and failure to produce files, which most marginalized groups cannot afford needs to jail time.
The judicial system also plays a part in the criminalization of marginalized groups through the existence of extreme sentencing laws. Such laws have resulted in over-crowing and over-penalization of non-violent drug users, with some of them being sentenced for life imprisonment for possession of a small number of drugs. The judicial system has then resulted in overcrowding in prisons, which is politically utilized by politicians who maintain their power through the war on drugs posturing. In prisons, all the inmates are considered criminals, including those non-violent drug users that could not have been incarcerated if they were not people of color or from marginalized groups. Lastly, the media is another criminal justice system component that engages in the criminalization of marginalized groups. From the film, Simon, who refers to the United States as the “jailingest nation in the world,” considers the killing of the poor as the way of dealing with drugs (Jenkins, 2012). Through the film, which is viewed through different media outlets is considered that such alteration by Simon makes the media part of the criminalization of marginalized groups.
Bibliography
Cohen, S. (2011). Whose side were we on? The undeclared politics of moral panic theory. Crime, media, culture, 7(3), 237-243.
Courtauld, A. (2014, November 7). How the Media Controls Our Perceptions of Crime. Shout Out UK. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2014/11/08/how-the-media-controls-our-perceptions-of-crime/
Bershen, Wanda. (2012, September 11). War without End: ‘The House I Live In’ Deconstructs America’s Failed Drug Policies. International Documentary Association. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/war-without-end-house-i-live-deconstructs-americas-failed-drug-policies
The Brownsen Project. (2016, October 16). The House I Live In (2012) HD – War on Drugs in the United States. YouTube. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlPNRaXj2OQ
Hughes, Mark. (2012, September 24). The House I Live In’ – The Most Important Drug War Film You’ll Ever See. Forbes. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2012/09/24/the-most-important-drug-war-film-youll-ever-see/#38fcc21b18c8
Jenkins, Mark. (2012, October 4). When It Comes To Drugs, A ‘House’ Deeply Divided. NPR. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2012/10/04/161979625/when-it-comes-to-drugs-a-house-deeply-divided
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