Media And Sentences

5 Pages 1322 Words

The definition of crime and the procedures used to deal with the accused are social and political issues. The public’s knowledge of the our criminal justice system is necessary, as their opinions play an important part of the Criminal Code revision process (Roberts & Doob, 1984). The mass media serves as the core of information for citizens of any designated country. It is therefore safe to assume that the media has a great influence over the opinions formed by their readers or listeners. The public is forced to read or listen to the opinion of a particular mass media group such as the New York Times or ABC News to keep up with current events. The public relies on the media to convey accurate and informed information but don’t anticipate the media to do so at the expense of the citizen’s knowledge. Another factor many people are not aware of is that, “the mass media function in part as an interest group. Each component of the mass media is a business, and like other businesses, it has a direct interest in various areas of public policy” (Vago, 2003). Companies like these have great influence over the American people and what is published or aired by them undeniably has a great impact. News media plays a pivotal role in the formation and transformation of public attitudes towards crime, criminals and the criminal justice system (Doob & Roberts, 1990), and policy makers.
This paper will discuss the mass media’s effect over public opinion of sentencing criminals by examining two studies conducted by Doob and Roberts. The second of the studies, 1990, is actually three consecutive studies summarized in one research presentation. The reason for this was to follow up on questions arising from the previous study and to rule out outside influencing factors and most importantly to ensure replication validity of both the 1984 and the current ongoing research. The research executed by Doob and Roberts was conducted by seeking...