Day 9: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 – Media and Corrections
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Dates to Remember:
— Today (June 6th) at the beginning of class – Visual Component due including self-assessment. Late assignments will not be accepted.
— Tuesday, June 12th at the beginning of class — Visual Project’s Overall Learning Assessment due
— Wednesday, June 13th – Last Day of Fall Classes
Topic: Media & Corrections
Preparatory Readings:
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- Potter and Kappeler. Constructing Crime . entirety.
- Rafter. Shots in the Mirror. Chapter 6.
- Surette. Media, Crime and Criminal Justice . Chapter 7.
- Documentary: various clips from corrections movies (to be shown in class)
Lecture related links:
Concepts to be covered:
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- jails v. prisons
- probation and parole
- super max
- the imprisonment binge
- three-strikes policy
- electronic monitoring
- alternatives to incarceration
- community re-entry
- community corrections
Discussion Questions:
Note: In order to answer these discussion questions, you will need to view the various clips fro prison movies (all to be shown in class), and read this week’s readings. Due: Monday, June 11th.
- Similar to the differences pointed out in Chapter 5 between media and street police, list differences between media correctional officers and real correctional officers. [Surette, p. 175]. Incorporate this week’s Rafter chapter into your answer.
- Who is most responsible for the content and nature of news about corrections — correctional administrators, journalists, news agency administrators, or the public? [Surette, 3rd edition]
- Can correctional personnel do anything to significantly change the public image of corrections? How does the media influence correctional policy? Provide an example to better illustrate your point.
Learning Beyond:
Note: Other things you might want to explore beyond this week’s materials.
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- Compare real correctional officer duties to the media portrayals.
- Watch Shawshank Redemption or another prison movie. Discuss the use of correctional stereotypes.
- Watch crime shows for a week and note how many criminals are ex cons. Note how deterrence and rehabilitation are portrayed as likely outcomes of incarceration.
- View one of the following prison movies: “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “Brubaker,” “American Me,” “Escape from Alcatraz,” and so forth. How does the media construction of prisons compares to your knowledge of prisons.
- View one of the following movies focusing on capital punishment: “The Green Mile,” “Dead Man Walking,” “The Life of David Gale,” “Redemption,” or others Analyze the media construction of capital punishment.
- In 2016, “creepy clowns” have received much media attention. Trace the origins and recent developments of the “creepy clown” issue.
- Compare and contrast several different news broadcasts (local, national or international). What are some similarities and differences? Why.
- What are some of the sound bites we hear most often during the 2016 presidential campaign. Why.
Recommended Readings:
— Damian Echols. Life After Death.
— Wilbert Rideau. In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance.
— Jennifer Gonnerman. Life on the Outside.
— Michael Santos. Inside.
— Thomas Bernard & Robert Johnson. A Life for a Life.
— Mumia Abu-Jamal. Living on Death Row.
— Jarvis Jay Masters. Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row.
— Kathleen O’Shea. Women on the Row: Revelations from Both Sides of the Bars.
— John Irwin. The Warehouse Prison.
— Michel Foucault. Discipline and Punish.
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- Gaye Tuchman. The TV Establishment.
- Herbert Schiller. Mind Managers.
- Herbert Schiller. Information Inequality.
- Todd Gitlin. Media Unlimited: How the Torrent of Images and Sounds Overwhelm Our Senses.
- Todd Gitlin. The Whole World is Watching.
- Robert McChesney. Rich Media, Poor Democracy.
- Bernard Goldberg. Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News.
- Bernard Goldberg. Arrogance: Rescuing America from the Media Elite.
Updated: May 11, 2018
Susan Takata 