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Steven Chermak, assistant professor in the Department of
Criminal Justice at Indiana University. He received his Bachelor's
Degree in Criminal Justice from Bowling Green University, and his
Ph.D. from the University of Albany. His primary research interest
is the representation of crime and criminal justice in the news
media. He has published several scholarly works in this area, including
a book, Victims in the News: Crime and the American News Media,
which examines the images presented about crime, crime victims,
and criminal justice in print and electronic media. An article published
in the American Journal of Police examines police-media relationships
and how the reliance on police officials for crime incident information
affects public understanding of the police.
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Reconstructing Murder: How
Social Institutions Manipulate Crime Events
Wednesday-Sunday March
7-11, 2001
Cameron University campus
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This seminar examined how social institutions socially construct
images of crime and criminal justice in society. Of particular
interest was how the criminal justice system, the media, and
political institutions reconstruct murder, violent crime, and
celebrated crimes. Key areas of inquiry were the examination
of the process of reconstruction, the motivations behind this
process of interpretation, and the impacts that it has on opinions
about crime.
Some scholars would argue that the primary objective of criminal
justice is to uncover the truth. However, there are many external
forces and structural hurdles that inhibit the criminal justice
fact-finding process. Media institutions, especially the news
media, play a critical role in the reconstruction of crime events.
Students explored why the public is fascinated with crime, and
identify the strategies used by media organizations to exploit
the public's appetite for violence. Other issues discussed in
this seminar included why specific cases become celebrated events,
and how these events affect political and criminal justice decision-making.
Finally, participants explored how new and emerging technologies
have influenced the reconstruction of crime. Participants discussed
how innovations in criminal justice both improve and inhibit
our understanding of crime in society. The seminar also considered
how the technological revolution has influenced how the media
covers crime.
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The Class Reading List: (These books and articles supplied
by OSLEP)
The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in
America, Katherine Beckett and Theodore Sasson, Thousand
Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, 2000.
Getting Away with Murder: How Politics is Destroying the
Criminal Justice System, Susan Estrich, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1998.
The Social Reality of Violence and Violent Crime,
Henry Brownstein, Boston, Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon,
2000.
Constructing Crime: Perspectives on Making News and
Social Problems, Gary W. Potter and Victor E. Kappeler,
Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1998.
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