Crime-and-Justice Environment in the Media

Was justice served? Well its up to you to decide!

http://www.nbc.com/law-and-order-special-victims-unit/episode-guide/season-16/perverted-justice/1621

Above is a link to a Law and Order episode called Perverted Justice. I am going to talk a little bit about how it relates to crime, crime fighting, and justice. First i will give you a brief description about the episode just in case you havent seen it.

There is a woman who at the age of six was forced to say her father raped her. The mother forced her to lie about it and her father went to prison. Seventeen years later she wants to tell the truth and say that her father did not rape her. The one confusing thing is the woman was not happy when her father was proven inocent. The episode almost makes me think that her father forced her to lie so he could get out of jail. This is a very interesting episode and i really encourage you to watch it.

The ideas about crime in this episode focuses more on the woman lying and why she did it. She does not remember if her father actually raped her or not. All she remembers is that her mother forced her to lie. The woman lied under oath at the age of six. The other crime is if her father did rape her or not. If he did and forced her to lie to get him out of jail then that would be bad. When i talk about justice it is by the perspective of me. I believe that her father did not rape her even though the episode at the end makes you second guess yourself. So i beleive justice was wrong seventeen years ago and he should have not been charged with raping his daughter and having to go to jail. Justice was made when the jury decided the father was not guilty.

A book called Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice written by Ray Surette describes crime-and-justice ecology of U.S. popular culture. This is described as there is an ideal offenders, victims, and heroes.

According to Surette, the ideal offender is the outsiders, strangers, foreigners, aliens, and intruders who lack essntial human qualitiles. The have never been able to rehabilitate or resocialized. I would say that in this episode it would be the brother of the woman. He was not directly effected by the crime but he was apart of it and it effected is life. It would be any friends or other family of the children or parents.

The ideal victim according to Surette, is the innocent, naive, trusting, obviously-in-need-of-protection true human. I believe this is the father in the story. The father did not rape his daughter in my opinion so there for he is innocent.

The ideal hero according to Surette, is a person who shows admirable qyalities of morality, sacrifice, and strength. In my opinion this is the woman in the story. She had the courage to tell the truth seventeen years later. She set her father free from prison so he could have a good life.

The episode though also portrays doubt about if the woman did actually tell the truth in the beginning. This is where the story deviates from the ecology. Because if she lied to get her father out of prison then she would not be the hero and he would not be the victim. You must watch the video to get your own opinion on what really happened and then believe it to be able to describe the ecology.

The the story to affirm to the vision then you must believe what i believe. If that is the truth then the story worked out exactly how it should have.

There is always the question and you are able to make your own opinion about what really happened.