Crime and Media A Focus on Perception Essay - 1791 Words

Crimes and criminal law have always been a sensitive subject with the people; criminal law concerns itself with issues such as morality, authority, equity and integrity – all of which are aspects on which the public may have strong beliefs; strong but suggestible. It is well known that finances, media, education and law are fundamental to a society – two of them are also inherently linked through society: media and law. The media affects society’s perspective and values which, in turn, shape the law. What is little known, perhaps, is the depth of control that the media possesses over society: it influences through language, the staging of criminal cases in popular media and through subtle, indirect means like presentation. Of course, this†¦show more content†¦Compared with words like â€Å"freedom fighter† or â€Å"undisclosed plan† – it is plain that the difference here is perspective: and the one chosen by the media reflects that o f the nation. To give an example: typing in â€Å"Muslim terrorist† into Google yields 247 000 results versus the 202 000 that â€Å"Christian terrorist† gives. Looking up the phrase â€Å"Muslim freedom fighter† gives 342 000 results versus the 440 000 that â€Å"Christian freedom fighter† yields: these are only pages from Canada, the discrepancy increases when the whole web is searched. The perpetuation of words with certain connotations onto certain groups or ethnicities is done through repetition, and the technique works. It creates stereotypes that society adopts – why is it that someone with an Arabic sounding name is more likely to get a special security screening at the airport compared to an English man – or – that a black man is more likely to be suspected of a crime than a Caucasian woman? These stereotypes, largely developed by the media, can have a large impact on criminal trials in Canada. Particularly, criminal trials i nvolving a jury in which their subconscious biases may sway them towards a particular verdict. It also happens when law enforcement officers make assumptions based on racial profiling, this was seen in the case of R. vs Brown where Brown thought that his arrest was based on the stereotype that a young black man driving an expensive car must have stolen it. He was allowedShow MoreRelatedThe World Is Not Falling Apart By Steven Pinker And Andrew Mack994 Words   |  4 PagesThe article, The World Is Not Falling Apart by Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack published by Slate, reminds the world not to focus on the media’s perception of our corrupt world, but rather look closely and evaluate what true measures of violence unfolding each day. Humans’ perception of the world is based off of the media, which states the earth is in a process of deteriorating. 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