The survey found that 30 percent of all front page stories deal with the police, courts, or criminals. Specifically, the author examines the functions and dysfunctions of crime reporting, the ideological biases of crime reporting, and the balance between coverage of dramatic events and the more mundane news of courts and prisons. He finds that newspaper coverage of courts and prisons has been reasonably unbiased and that it neither serves the functions nor has the negative effects often attributed to it. By focusing on crime reporting, this book provides a full appreciation of the complexity of media influence, ranging from social implications to individual behavior. The influence of media crime reporting on public perceptions and on popular culture is also explored.