Introductory description

This interdisciplinary module seeks to critically explore the relationship between media, crime and justice. Students will be introduced to the theoretical analysis from criminology, sociology, media studies and cultural studies to provide a critical understanding of the relationship between media, crime and justice, as well as how crime news is ideologically manufactured and socially constructed, leading to feelings of fear and insecurity towards certain crimes and certain social groups. Students will be taught to have a critical appreciation of the media's role in shaping societal perspectives around crime and justice – from policing to prisons – and the implications these depictions have in significantly influencing wider public perceptions and public policy. Recent media and new media cases from all different parts of the world will be analysed to discuss the media representations of crime, the ‘criminal’ and the criminal justice system.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Theorizing Media and Crime
2. Moral Panics and Media Panics
3. Everyday Construction of Crime News
4. Media Coverage of Crime: Focus on the Black, the Young and the ‘Crazy’
5. Media Coverage of Police and Policing
6. Reading Week
7. Media and Courts: High-Profile Cases
8. Media, Prisons and Punishment
9. New Media, Technology, Crime and Justice
10. Module Review and Assignment Discussion

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand theories shaping the academic fields of criminology and media studies.
• Recognise “media effects” debate: its origins, and its influence on contemporary debates about media, crime, and justice.
• Analyse how crime news is “manufactured” along ideological lines.
• Explore and understand concepts of moral panics and media panics and how they may be applied.
• Understand which groups of society are most featured in media accounts of crime and criminal justice (along social class, age, race and gender lines) feeding into public fear and anxiety.
• Discuss the changing mediated (or mediatised) relationship between police and the public.
• Explore high-profile court cases, how these are framed by the media and the implications in terms of the public’s sense of justice.
• Examine the enduring appeal of crime movies and discuss prison in cinema, its role as allegory, and its relationship to penal reform.
• Reflect on the new media’s role in discussions about crime and justice.
• Address the aims and objectives of the module demonstrating close engagement with module materials.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Research element

Students taking this module will need to engage actively with empirical and theoretical research on media and crime for coursework and weekly presentations.

Interdisciplinary

This module draws from sociology, criminology, media studies, cultural studies, and politics.

International

This module will focus not just on media and crime in the UK and other Anglo-American contexts but also draw upon media cases and examples from other parts of the world, particularly those in the global South, such as Latin America and South Asia.

Subject specific skills

1. Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts, theories, and approaches in media and crime scholarship;
2. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of the media's role in shaping societal perspectives around crime and justice from policing to prisons
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the political and social contexts framing the construction of crime news
4. Appreciate how crime news feeds into public fear and anxiety regarding certain crimes and certain social groups
5. Critically evaluate and assess contemporary (new) media cases around the world
6. Critically engage with contemporary debates on the implications of new media in shaping crime and criminal justice

Transferable skills

• Understand and adopt reflexive and critical reading practices;
• Be able to understand the impact of crime news on public opinions of crime and justice
• Explore the social, cultural, political and historical processes that impact crime news creation and public policies;
• Engage in group debates and discussions on current affairs and media cases on crime and justice;
• Develop team working skills and oral debates;
• Demonstrate an ability to work independently, manage your own learning, and make use of scholarly reviews and primary and secondary sources;
• Be able to devise and sustain arguments, and/or solve problems, using a range of ideas and techniques drawn from sociology and criminology and other disciplines.