Search results
1 – 10 of 11Tri Keah Henry, Brittany E. Hayes, Joshua D. Freilich and Steven Chermak
The purpose of this paper is to compare the role honor and shame play in honor killings and anti-LGBTQ homicides by identifying similarities and differences across these two…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the role honor and shame play in honor killings and anti-LGBTQ homicides by identifying similarities and differences across these two homicide types.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses data from the US Extremist Crime Database (ECDB). Data for each of the incidents included in the ECDB are gathered from various open sources through a multi-stage process. A total of 16 honor killings and 21 anti-LGBTQ cases (i.e. the universe for both groups) are examined in this analysis. A closed-coded analysis technique is utilized to assess each case for evidence of shame and honor as well as an iterative coding process to identify sub-categories within these broader themes.
Findings
Results indicate that shame and honor play important roles in both honor killings and anti-LGBTQ homicides, although their influence manifests differently across these two types of homicide. Perceived shame to the family is most closely related to honor killings, while suppressing homosexual urges underlines anti-LGBTQ homicides. Violations of religious tenets, protection of masculinity, and protection of honor are evidenced in both types of homicide.
Originality/value
This study uses a unique database to examine the ideological motivations of individuals who perpetrate extremist crimes in comparison to those who commit honor killings. Findings may inform forensic practices, including rehabilitation and prevention programs.
Details
Keywords
Gregory G. Justis and Steven Chermak
Purpose – The CSI effect, as it is referenced in mainstream media, is a purported effect on public perceptions caused by the portrayal of forensics and investigations in popular…
Abstract
Purpose – The CSI effect, as it is referenced in mainstream media, is a purported effect on public perceptions caused by the portrayal of forensics and investigations in popular entertainment programming. Despite the obvious popularity of the programs – a common source of blame for such effects and the focus of limited prior research – impacts on perceptions by way of media content must be viewed as a product of multiple internal and external factors, rather than a result of popularity and viewership alone.
Methodology – By examining the portrayal of programming within the context of contemporary news publications, this project focuses on the value and context of presentations of forensics television programming across media genres, highlighting the bidirectional flow of popular media cues through various influential media outlets and outlining the potential for resulting public effects.
Findings – The authors find that an increase in the overall media visibility of entertainment images of forensic science, coupled with news media's tendency to tie such images to real-world forensics on the local and national scenes given an absence of alternative sources for news-oriented stories, speak to the importance of the holistic examination of the role of CSI-related programming in influencing popular perceptions.
Public opinion and political ideology affect the way in which police departments formulate responses to crime. Examines how departments construct public images to ensure favorable…
Abstract
Public opinion and political ideology affect the way in which police departments formulate responses to crime. Examines how departments construct public images to ensure favorable media presentation. Uses direct observation of news production process for more specific data on how police sources impact on crime‐news presentation. Finds that news media can hold police accountable to the public, but news media are also businesses and have to provide news that will attract consumers. News media rely on willing participants to produce crime stories cost‐effectively. Police look to the media to reaffirm their status as law enforcers; they invest resources in helping the media and thus influence crime presentation. Finds that police categorization of crime is self‐promoting and supportive of traditional responses, while reporters are not critical of police.
Details
Keywords
Steven Chermak, Edmund McGarrell and Jeff Gruenewald
The purpose of this paper is to examine how celebrated cases affect attitudes toward police, controlling for key demographic, police contact, and neighborhood contextual variables.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how celebrated cases affect attitudes toward police, controlling for key demographic, police contact, and neighborhood contextual variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents two waves of public opinion data measuring attitudes toward police, police services, police harassment, and officer guilt before and after a celebrated police misconduct trial. Data were collected by telephone from residents living in three areas.
Findings
The findings in the paper suggest that news consumption of this celebrated case had no significant effects on general attitudes toward police, police services, and concerns about police harassment. Media coverage, however, did effect citizen evaluation of the guilt of the officers involved in the case. The more a citizen read a newspaper or read about the case, the more likely she was to think that the officers were guilty. Concern about crime in the neighborhood was an important predictor of attitudes toward the police, and race effects were much more pronounced after media coverage of the case.
Research limitations/implications
This paper highlights the need to examine more closely media coverage of celebrated cases and the effects of such high profile cases. In addition, it illustrates that public opinion research must be careful of contextual variables when conducting a study at a single point in time.
Practical implications
These findings also have critical implications for law enforcement agencies. The findings highlight the importance of police departments being prepared to respond to crisis events.
Originality/value
This paper is valuable to scholars and police practitioners because of its close examination of the effects of a celebrated case on various measures of public opinion of the police. Although there have many studies examining this general topic, research has ignored the impact of media coverage generally and coverage of high profile incidents.
Details
Keywords
Crime and social control present important issues that move and affect large segments of society. Whether we consider the impact of criminal events in terms of victimization, the…
Abstract
Crime and social control present important issues that move and affect large segments of society. Whether we consider the impact of criminal events in terms of victimization, the construction of deviance into criminalized acts, or the many socially relevant aspects related to criminal justice policies and other social control activities, crime and justice are matters that deserve our most serious attention. It is largely for this reason that scholars develop astute theoretical models and sophisticated methodologies to study crime and social control in their many significant components. Yet, the world of popular culture, which we tend to associate with playfulness and fun, has also embraced themes related to crime and its control. It is perhaps a sign of the very earnestness associated with crime and social control that these themes are also dealt with in the social institutions of entertainment. The study of such portrayals of crime and criminal justice in popular culture is the focus of the present volume.
Purpose: This project examines both the media practice of covering perp walks and the discourse of perp walks as performative rituals, with the goal of understanding how grounded…
Abstract
Purpose: This project examines both the media practice of covering perp walks and the discourse of perp walks as performative rituals, with the goal of understanding how grounded practice shapes meaning.
Methodology/approach: This project combines ethnographic observation and interview research to explore the grounded experience of perp walk participants, including journalists, law enforcement, and defendants.
Findings: The analysis suggests that perp walks are constructions that serve the interests of the state and that their resulting images are not neutral documents. Visual journalists are managed by law enforcement through embodied gatekeeping in practice and experience pressure from newsrooms to capture a particular moment. Defendants report feeling violated because they are unable to control the discourse of their recontextualized image.
Research limitations: As a qualitative-research project using a non-representative sample, the study results cannot be generalized, but they instead offer a rich understanding of embodied practice.
Originality/value: Because this study offers the subjective perspectives of three sets of stakeholders, including journalists, law enforcement, and defendants, it offers a unique and in-depth analysis of perp walks as media ritual.
Details
Keywords
Ryan Scrivens, Steven Windisch and Pete Simi
Purpose – This chapter examines how those who study issues related to radicalization and counter-radicalization have recently drawn from the experiences of former extremists to…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter examines how those who study issues related to radicalization and counter-radicalization have recently drawn from the experiences of former extremists to inform our understanding of complex issues in terrorism and extremism studies.
Approach – The authors synthesize the empirical research on radicalization and counter-radicalization that incorporates formers in the research designs. In doing so, the authors trace these research trends as they unfold throughout the life-course: (1) extremist precursors; (2) radicalization toward extremist violence; (3) leaving violent extremism; and (4) combating violent extremism.
Findings – While formers have informed our understanding of an array of issues related to radicalization and counter-radicalization, empirical research in this space is in its infancy and requires ongoing analyses.
Value – This chapter provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with an in-depth account of how formers have informed radicalization and counter-radicalization research in recent years as well as an overview of some of the key gaps in the empirical literature.
Details