ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the dynamics and dichotomies of the police and policing in an effort to focus on the practicalities of crime control. The media have had profound consequences on criminal justice by focusing public and political attention on police behavior and by shaping and reinforcing images of the police. The televised news of the crime scene included statements of fact from police officials, which were contrasted with emotional reactions from neighbors, family, the child’s mother, and statements of grief from the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. Police become politicized as the rhetoric of crime control obscures the parameters and limits of law enforcement. In addition, fighting crime has a tendency to take on characteristics of “punitive policy” and to contribute to the imbalance between crime control and due process by emphasizing crime control objectives. The criminal is portrayed as an evil character who must be apprehended and removed from society.
