Codicil to the Criminal Justice System

I generally take significant umbrage at those who would blame the media for creating problems. I think much of the quality of media we receive is what we want and deserve: easy. Life is stressful enough most of the time, thank you, I do not need further problems presented to me when I look to leave my life, when I seek entertainment and escape.

One escape is the media's treatment of criminal justice. And here I do think they are creating a problem through incredibly irresponsible journalism. It is the same problem of perception that surrounds Islam, the creation of monsters rather than men. To pillory someone, they must be painted in the darkest of terms. Thus, 'news' shows that set men up to be monstrous pedophiles, and create the perception that terror lurks on the internet, rather than amongst your real, flesh and blood, fellows. You know the person who hurts your child, 90% of the time. And they do not report the (admittedly, remarkably hard to find) facts that might actually prevent crime. What they do report incredibly distorts perceptions of issues that are incredibly important to Americans (that is, after all, why they watch).

Not that the average American viewer will be terribly likely to write into a TV station to say that he wished the murderer's portrayal had been a little more nuanced and sypmathetic. It is so nice when they are monsters, and could never be us. We can just lock our doors, pull up our blankets, and not worry our pretty little heads. And the media these days certainly appears unlikely to challenge our cozy assumptions. Even if they do not reinforce them, I have yet to see a strong strain of denouncing them, and all the public benefit that might bring. It is only if we understand a problem, and its causes, that we attempt to solve it. And our understanding of crime and the criminal justice system is seriously warped by how the media and press covers it; this skews the answers we seek, and the plans of the officials we elect, to our certain detriment.