The Criminal Justice System And Television
Essay by 24 • March 17, 2011 • 703 Words (3 Pages) • 1,482 Views
The Criminal Justice 1
The Criminal Justice System and Television
Lacey Adkins
Kennesaw State University
The Criminal Justice 2
The Criminal Justice System and Television
Television in today's society is mainly focused around crime and violence. This subject matter seems to get the attention of many audience viewers whether it is a docu-drama or real life investigations about serial killers. Some of the shows that I enjoy watching that involve crime include Cops, Forensic Files, and Medium, which is a docu-drama on NBC. While watching these shows on many different occasions, I have realized that some do follow the criminal justice system while others don't
Cops
COPS has been on television since 1989. It is one of the first series to show exactly what goes on in a police officers life while he is on duty. It amazes me how realistic the show is compared to what I have learned in class. Many of times, I have heard officers state the Miranda rights to the suspects that they arrest. On COPS however, the person that is being video taped is usually not the first officer at the scene of the crime. Therefore, he does have a right to question the suspects to see what happened and how the crime occurred for public safety considerations. Another topic that we have discussed in class is warrants. A lot of times, the officers have an arrest warrant so they basically go up to the criminal and arrest them without having to tell them why they are being arrested. I feel that COPS shows law enforcement in a positive way and depicts the criminal justice system perfectly.
Forensic Files
Forensic Files is different from COPS in that it is a reenactment of a crime that had to be investigated to solve. The show is based on solving crimes with the evidence
The Criminal Justice 3
that was left by the criminal. Many of the crimes are very brutal and the criminals usually have a motive for committing the crime. Usually when you are watching docu-dramas, they depict solving crimes at a fast pace. This show however shows a realistic time frame in solving crimes. Some crimes aren't solved for years while others take a couple months but usually never take a couple days to solve a well thought out crime. Even though
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