This study investigated the effect of media on attitudes toward the criminal justice system. A survey was administered to 167 undergraduate students at East Tennesse State University in criminal justice and fine and performing arts classes. Respondents were asked how much television they watch, what their primary news source was, and how accurate crime-related television programs are. Multivariate analysis showed that age and major affected attitudes more than media consumption.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis investigates the influence of the Internet on the reporting of crime and criminal justice in traditional media, focusing on the hitherto unexplored nexus of media, crime and the Internet. The Internet as a medium acknowledges no boundaries or geographical barriers and the implications of such globally unrestricted access are far wider than the mainstream consideration of several legal and ethical ramifications that accompany reportage on an international scale. This research represents a triangulated study, based on results obtained from an analysis of Internet crime sites, a process of elite interviewing of practising journalists and academics and demonstration case studies of three high-profile crimes.This research suggests the Internet audience wants shorter, more concise crime stories at first point of access, focusing on the main or more sensational aspects, with further background and detail available through links to the requisite multi-media facilities. These multi-media facilities often offer far more graphic detail and specificity than is available in mainstream media, particularly when the latter, constrained by such restrictions as deadlines and space, are compelled to dispense with superfluous detail, with no reader access to further information. In addition, the media theories of agenda-setting and framing undergo a noticeable transition when applied to online reporting.Crime reports on the Internet now complement the text of their narrative with audio and visual detail, bringing the audience ever closer to the scene of the crime and, in many instances, to the perpetrator and victim, again raising ethical issues and reopening the argument of the public‟s right to know versus the individual‟s desire for privacy.In addition, the speed of transmitting information and the ability to update it almost instantaneously must give the Internet a competitive edge in the media focus on attracting an audience and meeting its needs. Yet, despite the widely held consensus that the Internet is free from control, this coverage encounters some degree of gate-keeping.Exploration of available literature has complemented the study, which demonstrates conclusively the influence of the Internet on such journalistic elements as news values, legal and ethical issues, framing and agenda-setting in crime reporting in traditional media.

Thesis (PhD) -- Bond University, 2009. / "A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy"-- t.p. Bibliography: pages 336-365. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Canada is currently the world leader in the number of per capita prosecutions of HIV nondisclosure (Hastings, 2017). Many of these cases garner the attention of media and receive sensational and dramatic coverage. This thesis provides a feminist critical discourse analysis of the juridical and mediated content on Trevis Smith who was a former Canadian Football League linebacker convicted of aggravated sexual assault for not disclosing to his sexual partners that he was living with HIV. Mobilizing an intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991) and masculinities (Connell, 2005/1995; Messerschmidt, 2012; 2016) theoretical framework, I specifically explored the ways in which the media and juridical content constituted Smith by considering how the different discourses were shaped by race, gender, class, criminality, sexual orientation, and seropositivity. The analysis revealed three main discourses: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The “Sodom and Ghomorrah of Shared Sexual Partners” and Playing a Dangerous Game. These discourses demonstrate that Smith was initially shown sympathy by way of his construction as a philanthropist, and sports hero. However, as the case progressed his masculinity was discursively linked to racialized tropes of hypersexuality, dangerousness, and criminality due to his failure to disclose that he was HIV positive. I conclude that these discursive connections are part of a broader historical narrative that subjugates and controls Black men while also working to symbolically and literally segregate the Canadian HIV-negative social body from the hypersexual Black ‘AIDS fiend’.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Communication

The aim of the study was to examine how crime journalism relates to gender by exploring how a female perpetrator is constructed in Swedish news media. We examined a specific case where a female perpetrator murdered and dismembered her victim in Askersund, Örebro. The questions examined were; How are the female perpetrator represented in the tabloid Aftonbladet and the local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda and what are the differences and similarities between Aftonbladet’s and Nerikes Allehanda’s representation of her? We made a discourse analysis of eighteen news articles. The result shows that the female perpetrator is represented as a non-ideal female perpetrator, a heartbroken and weak victim and an ordinary woman who suddenly transforms. Aftonbladet and Nerikes Allehanda also represent the female perpetrator as an evil and insensitive murderer and like a jealous madman. Both Aftonbladet and Nerikes Allehanda describe that the female perpetrator saw her victim as a rival. At the beginning, mainly Nerikes Allehanda, represent the female perperator as a part of the community by representing her as a kind and innocent girl who loves horses. Then the representation is changing and the female perpetrator is represented as an intruder in the community. This representation also appears in Aftonbladet. However the tabloid mostly represents the female perpetrator with attributes like vicious, callous, jealous and mad. Our study also shows that the distance between the newspapers and the place where the crime occurred, influences the representation of the female perpetrator.

The aim of this study was to examine how Abbas Rezai, the first male victim of honor- related violence that received media attention in Sweden, was portrayed in swedish news journalism. The questions examined were: How was Abbas Rezai and the perpetrators portrayed in swedish news journalism and how did the portrayal of the characters change over time. We made a critical discourse analysis with Faircloughs model as a base. We examined fourteen articles from a morning paper and a tabloid, during a period of six years. The result showed that Abbas Rezai was portrayed as a honest, considerate and innocent victim, which makes him relatable to the western world. But regardless of the good portrayal noted, however, that he is all this despite the fact that he is an "Afghan asylum seeker". Which makes the news reporting ambiguous, and leaves Abbas Rezai on the borderline between “us” and “them”. When it comes to the perpetrators they are portrayed as heartless, brutal and uneducated. Which by the reporting manifests itself in their cultural and religious background. During the six-years-period that we studied, we noticed that the reporting of one of the perpetrators changed remarkably. He goes from a coldblooded murderer to a victim of his own culture. Which has its explanation in the constant flow of new information. The biggest difference we found between the morning paper and the tabloid was how they selected their sources. The morning paper focused on confirmed fact from the police and the court, meanwhile the tabloid more often choose unconfirmed sources. Our study overall shows that news reporting are producing and re-creating stereotypes and preconceptions.

This thesis explores the social construction of female online child sex offenders within Canadian newspapers from 2010 to 2017. While child sexual exploitation is not a new phenomenon, the nature of this threat, in terms of the ways in which it is facilitated, has changed significantly over the past decade. Notably, a key factor contributing to the sexual exploitation of children in today’s society is the Internet. The anonymity afforded by the Internet, the accessibility to the Internet, and the lack of accountability associated with the Internet (Cooper, 1998) all work together to create a social environment that is conducive to child sexual exploitation. This research explores this new phenomenon, as perpetrated by women. Informed by the social constructionist approach, relevant findings from a review of literature on the media representation of female offenders are then compared to findings from the examination of Canadian newspaper articles pertaining to female online child sex offenders to recognize similarities and differences between respective representations in the media. The results of this work suggest an increase from 2010 to 2017 in the number of Canadian media articles about female online child sex offenders as well as an increase in teacher representation in those crimes. As a result, a progression in the social construction of child sex offenders as well as teachers in Canada is presented.

This study is a content analysis of news articles of school shooting incidents that occurred within the United States between 1997 and 2012. This paper was designed to (a) address the current profile of school shooting offenders and offenses, (b) assess a proposed typology of school shootings, (c) consider common case processing characteristics for offenders of school shootings incidents, and (d) address the potential for offender and offense characteristics to affect the amount of media coverage an incident receives. The database of “Major School Shootings in the United States Since 1997” by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was used to compile a sample of 101 incidents in which a single offender committed a school shooting. To the extent possible, media accounts were used to corroborate details of each school shooting incident. Data pertaining to the offender characteristics, case processing characteristics, offense characteristics, characteristics regarding a typology, and media coverage characteristics were examined. The current profile and typology were, for the most part, upheld. Six variables proved to be significantly related to the total amount of media coverage an incident received: mental health history, school-related mass murder type, offender/victim type, total victims injured or killed, region of the U.S., and year of incident occurrence. Of these variables, three remained significant in a regression analysis: the school-related mass murder type, region of the U.S., and year of incident occurrence were predictive of the amount of media coverage an incident received. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.