Stenson and Croall (2001) analysis of the media 's role is that "it can shape and reflect our deepest fears about crime and insecurity." ... Television programmes such as "The Wire" and "CSI" and many more like them which dominate popular television are about criminal behaviour, motivation, the impact of crime on 'ordinary' citizens and on the heroic efforts of the police and criminal justice systems to redress this impact. ...

• Word Count: 1547
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Sociology Essay How useful is the concept of elite' for understanding the distribution of power in either Britain or the United States? Introduction In America perhaps only race is a more sensitive subject than the way we sort ourselves out in the struggle for success. The eminent sociologist Robert Merton calls it the structure of opportunity'. In the understanding of the usefulness of the term elite', there are some common historical variables, which must be looked at in order to appreciate the power organisms at work even in American society, and how from the days of Tho...

• Word Count: 5140
• Approx Pages: 21
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The purpose of this essay is to look at how the media is a source of 'knowledge' to present crime and victimisation and how the media invokes 'moral panics' about crime and lawless behaviour. There are a number of individuals who think when a person commits a crime they are punished for that crime. However, there is more to crime than just punishment. The media plays an important role in the construction of crime and lawless behaviour. Society's perception of victims, criminals, deviants and punishment is influenced by their portrayal in the mass media. ...

• Word Count: 2855
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate