Practice Questions

Short Answer Questions

1. List three standard narratives that the media draws upon to frame female offending

2. According to Jewkes why is male violence more acceptable in our society than female violence?

3. How are African Americans turned into America’s crime ‘bogey-men’?

4. Explain the difference between spatial and cultural proximity

5. List 7 news values

6. Thousands of children go missing each year. Identify key news values which makes one case newsworthy and another not.


View the following clip of Crime Watch UK and answer the following questions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls9SClIkkdQ

7. In what ways does Crime Watch UK (and other similar shows in the US) contribute to increased levels of fear?

8. How does Crime Watch UK blur the boundaries between fact and fiction?

Extended Essays (around 1-2 pages in length)

View the following clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHL6rVQiGVo

1. With respect to key concepts relating to the media and female offending, analyze how this specific case is dealt with by the media.

(Hints: sexual deviance, physical attractiveness, mad cow, differences between male and female offenders referred to, etc)

2. Jewkes claims that conservative ideologies underpin contemporary news values. What effects does this have on the way crime is represented in the news, and what are the consequences for how ‘we’ view the ‘crime problem’? You may draw on a ‘case’ to illustrate your point.

(Hints: think about the ways in which some stories – such as the one on Natalee Holloway, divert attention away from stories involving corporate, elite interests)

questions!

Postmodern Criminology and CSI

Fact and Fiction

1. What are postmodern criminologists interested in examining?


2. Postmodernists tend to view ‘audiences’ as ‘active and creative meaning makers’; what do they mean by this?


3. Define hyperreality


4. Why are postmodernists interested in the blurriness of the distinction between information and entertainment?


5. Can you identify any media products that explicitly blur fact and fiction?


6. Is crime fiction a reflection of reality?


7. In what way might fiction help to shape reality?


8. How does crime fiction affect the way the audience views crime?


9. How does crime fiction affect the way the audience experiences crime?


10. How does crime fiction affect criminal behavior?


11. How might crime fiction affect how a labeled criminal views their crime and their self?


12. How might criminal justice practitioners, criminals, jurors, and so on become entangled in crime fiction or ‘reality’ TV show narratives?


13. Consider the fictional show, CSI: how does it affect your perception of crime detection? Do you think that it has had an impact of ‘reality’? Is so, how?

fill me in!

So since I wasn't able to attend class today, I was hoping everyone would be able to fill me in! I know the blog has been rather lame lately...but I'm going to try to kick it up so you guys can get some extra participation points! It would be great if everyone could leave a comment talking about something we went over in class. You don't have to summarize it all, but a paragraph or so will do.