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Crime, the Media, and Our Public Discourse

NCJ Number
170602
Author(s)
N Morris
Date Published
1997
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotaped speech and discussion transcript focuses on public and political dialogues about crime, the role of the media in public discourse, and the gap between research knowledge and crime control policies and practices.
Abstract
An introduction by National Institute of Justice Director Jeremy Travis explains the purpose of the lecture series and outlines the career of Norval Morris, who taught law and criminology in the United States and three other countries and has served in numerous advisory and research organizations. Morris notes that emotion dominates reason in the public discourse about crime control and that the media and politicians select and overdramatize nonrepresentative cases of crime, thereby producing public stereotypes that do not match reality. He also comments that the gap between knowledge and practice has become wider in the past 3 decades, that crime control has become politicized in counterproductive ways, and that the result is increasingly punitive policies. Criminal justice personnel believe that many crime control policies do more harm than good, but often remain silent on this point in public due to strong political pressures. Misinformation in the media and politicians' statements made before rather than after public opinion surveys have compounded the problem. The punitive policies are also based on the mistaken belief that the United States has higher crime rates than other countries, whereas the United States leads only in homicide and gun robbery. However, the United States has six times the rate of imprisonment of any other country due to its drug and sentencing policies. Violence, not crime, is the problem in the United States. Comparative criminological research and responsible policies related to guns, drugs, and imprisonment are needed.