ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the media representation of crime and those involved in criminal behaviour, be they offenders, victims or even onlookers affected by the media presentations of crime. It focuses on the way that the media represent the criminal justice system, and in particular how the major criminal justice agencies are presented in the mass media. The chapter considers the three major areas or stages of the criminal justice process and the enforcement of the law. First, the police and how they have been represented in the media, then the courts and sentencing and, finally, prisons. The chapter looks at real-life or factual representations and also at how these different areas of the criminal justice system and process are presented in fictional accounts and presentations. The crimes covered by the media are the more solvable sort of crimes because they are the more serious sorts of crime, such as murder and sexual offences.
