Crime, Criminals and Hollywood - Research Paper Example

Crime and Hollywood Crime and Hollywood The media depiction of criminals and crimes has been in focus since the advancement in media technology. The media coverage, especially in Hollywood, for criminal investigations and crimes has led to a social construction of the “crime waves”, the frequency of the reported crimes, motivations for the criminal behavior and the procedure of convicting as uncovered in the media. It is true to say that the media depictions vary greatly from the reality criminological research. The media coverage from both news and entertainment aspects cover the criminal investigations. However, when the preference is given to the entertainment section, the Hollywood dramas and TV serials have played a major role in portraying the role of criminals, their behaviors and investigations. Despite the wide range coverage, the Hollywood portrayals of the criminal investigations and the victims were not accurate. Law & Order is one of the TV series which portrays the legal drama and criminal procedures. It is an American series which is created by Dick Wolf. It is a part of Law & Order franchise and it is the most successful and longest running television series on crime for American primetime slot. Generally, the series is filmed on a specific approach which is divided into two parts. The first part shows the criminal investigation carried out by the police procedure using detectives against the suspect. The second part of the series show the prosecution against the defendant which is carried out by New York County Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The television series is an example of how criminal investigations are portrayed on the television, and how close it is to reality. The two parts on which the series is based are often covering the reality cases that have recently been a part of the news headlines, yet the perpetration and motivation may be different for the crimes shown. The show has had several seasons and the variety of cast members make it even more fascinating. The cast has been revolving in the years following its initial season, and the series is highly notable for that. The success of the shows highly shows the extent to which the viewers have followed it and loved it. Successful programs also leave an impact on the viewers, and leave them to think over the issues highlighted especially when it is about a social issue which is evolved in the society such as crime (Ruble, 2008). The purpose of television shows has been to retain popularity throughout the years. The series gain popularity due to good production techniques and values, good actors and impacting or interesting storyline. Moreover, the criminal investigation and detective programs are attractive because they deal with the social issues that are present in every society; whether rich or poor, small or big. In America, every citizen would be aware of what crimes are, who are criminals and what is crime solving. The news channels continually show the criminal cases being decided and prosecuted in courts, and because of this importance the cases are able to reach their fair and just conclusions. The television series Law & Order has yet been another attempt of the media to demonstrate the criminal investigation procedure by showing the police procedure and the prosecutor’s holdings. Even though there has been a bridge between the portrayal of crime scenes in the series and in reality, the material and the great skill of creativity led to a long running, impactful depiction of the crimes. Law & Order series show the criminal cases and each one is shown with a special crime fighting scene, approaches towards values of evidence and proofs. After this, there are separate approaches to the different components of criminal behavior which includes analysis, reasoning, examining and judging (Siegel, 2009). It is important to analyze the format and plot of the series Law & Order to evaluate how the creative skills and response to crime investigations vary from reality events. The three elements of criminal investigation that are showed on the television series Law & Order are the police procedure including detectives finding clues on the area where the crime took place, then the prosecution presenting the case to the court and the evaluation of the criminal behavior throughout the process. These three elements of criminal investigation are related to the reality criminal cases as well but the way they are portrayed may differ. The first element of the criminal investigation in Law & Order is the police procedure or detective’s search for clues. The series often opened with the knowledge that a crime has been occurred, which was usually a murder. The characters of the show would usually witness a murder or crime in a public place, or they would be the victim of the crime. Once the crime is committed, a criminal is accused for that and then comes the role of the police in investigating the crime. The police basically represent two detectives, with his partners who report to the police captain directly. At the beginning of the series, the detectives do not have any clues that are good enough to identify the criminal. The rule of investigation says that the detectives shall go to every aspect of the story to be able to find a suspect. The detective procedure includes the collecting of evidence at the place where the crime was convicted. The clues are collected from the medical center where the detective collects the victim’s time of death, cause of death, and other clues from the reports such as marks on the body or fingerprints. Usually during the investigation, the detectives also go to the victim’s place, inform their relatives and take more information about his outgoings. The police procedure in the series includes other steps such as finding the witnesses, interviewing them and tracing the victim’s last movements. Financial details and the background information of the victim and the suspect are collected and reports are formed with the help of which the criminal proceedings incur (Siegel, 2009). The second element present in the criminal proceedings in Law & Order portrayed on the television is the insight of the criminal behavior. Although this element is shown in some instances in detail, most of the times it is present during the criminal investigation. Once the detectives have gathered all the clues and suspects, the psychiatrists are hired to examine the behavior and the state of mind of these suspects. Prior to the legal proceedings, the suspects are examined and their behaviors are noted while detectives question them. This process may include several techniques of which the use of lie detectors is one of the major one. Later when the suspect is accused in courts, the psychologist’s role is to keep in eye the behavior of the criminal. This gives an essence of his thinking and mind state while going through the proceedings. Law & Order mostly shows these aspects when the detective is interrogating the suspect(s) and when the prosecutor questions him in the court. The psychologist also tries to find the motive of the murder through analyzing the answers and behaviors of the criminal. This is known to assist the prosecutor and the detective throughout the course of their proceedings (Forbes, 2008). The third element portrayed in the series is the work of the prosecutors with the police to issue search and arrest warrants on the basis of the evidence found by the detectives. Once the evidence is found and the suspect is arrested, the matter goes to the prosecutor and his partners. They then gather the evidence, witnesses, prepare the discussions of the case, the facts and the legal reasoning. The prosecutor conducts the case trial in the court and brings forward all the aspects of the criminal investigation. The prosecutor shows his point of view in the court and tries to prove that the defendant is guilty of the convict. The prosecution is usually shown in the second half of the series where the prosecution party and defendant party both proceed to the trial preparation and procedure. The prosecutor carries out the research of the case with the help of the detective and examines the evidence. Some series include the indictment before the juries, allocutions and motion hearings rather than just the testimony of witnesses. Sometimes there are motions used to suppress the evidence but mostly they are led down due to technicality issues. The trial includes the arguments, the citations of precedents, and the conclusive decision of win or lose. Some instances also show the case going in appellant courts for appeals filed by the lost party. The prosecutor’s work is alongside the forensic examiner, the fingerprint analysts and others in the crime laboratory and the psychologists who study the criminal’s mental behavior. All the aspects of the crime investigation which is needed in the case are used by the prosecution as a part of the crime investigation. If there are any more evidences or witnesses or suspects to testify in the case, they will be investigated by the prosecutor not by the detective. For this investigation, the prosecutor will have to go to the District Attorney for advice. The series end with a conclusive decision read out by the jury, and a shot of both the winning party and the losing party (Forbes, 2008). These three elements show how Hollywood portrays the criminal investigation. This can be undoubtedly different than what the actual criminal investigation steps are. Thus, this can be analyzed after looking into the criminal investigation in reality. In reality, the criminal investigation may vary from country to country, state to state in accordance to the laws and rules of that specific state. However, there are certain elements that are included in all the criminal investigation and they are essential to determine the events that occurred regarding the crime. The main elements include the gathering of data which is necessary to identify the victims and suspects (Brown, 2001). In a real crime investigation, the first event that takes place is that the crime scene is secured and no one is allowed to enter the place. This is to ensure that any evidence likely to be found on the crime area is safe and untouched such as fingerprints, bloodstains, DNA, and others. In the Hollywood portrayal, usually such details are not shown. The series start with the murder happening and then the investigation of the detectives. In reality the next important element is to identify the victim and question him to make the investigation process easier. This is also seen in the television series Law & Order. The investigation of witnesses is rather a more complex process than shown in the series. The witnesses are interviewed by qualifies professional investigators, and they are interviewed as quickly as possible before they are influenced or they change their statements. No witness is left for later investigation, and their contact information is taken to contact them for later purposes if needed. Eyewitnesses are given special preferences in criminal investigations and their interviews yield the way to important clues about the crime. In fact, it is the major source of evidence and the first step towards the investigation to begin compiling information and creating a list of the possible suspects (Siegel, 2009). The next element of a criminal investigation which is usually not shown in the Hollywood series is the documentation of the site with video cameras and photographs using highly professional cameras. The purpose of this is to use the computer technology to enlarge and isolate sections to get hold of clues. In the Hollywood series the investigation process is rather simpler and includes more dramatic sequences rather than technicalities. The documentation element of the investigation is the completion of the evidence collection. After this process the crime scene investigation is complete, and the crime report is now filed with all the relevant information. After this starts the detective process where the evidence is examines, the list of suspects is formed and the search for the criminal begins (Watson, 2007). The field of criminology assesses this process and it is a highly methodological procedure on which the criminal prosecution is based. The criminologists have the role to examine the criminal behavior on the basis of their attitudes and acts. There are specialist departments that consider these aspects of the criminal investigation as necessary to analyze the crime. Criminologists work alongside the law enforcement agencies and carry out researches over the criminal mind to assess the behavior and to find out the motive or reasons behind the criminal activity. This has been portrayed on a very small level in the Hollywood series, or on many occasions it doesn’t even exist. In reality, it is an important part of the criminal investigation. In the series Law & Order, most of the cases are shown on murder and that also due to private grudges and professional jealousies, so there is less coverage over real matters of crimes (Orthmann, 2009). Even though the process of investigation may have less differences, but the overall criminal justice system which is portrayed on television greatly differs from what it actually is. The main aspects where the differences are seen are the crime laboratories and the courtrooms. In Law & Order the crimes are investigated and solved quickly, but in reality the crimes may take a long time, sometimes decades to be solved. In addition, the series show that a single crime is solved in the time frame allotted but in reality many cases are being investigated and solved at one time out of which some may remain unsolved as well (Brown, 2001). The main reason why the television series back down while portraying the criminal justice system is the motive behind their series and the reality. Their motive is to create an attractive, exciting and dramatic program that gains popularity while the motive of the real criminal justice system is to trace criminals and solve crimes. If the series start portraying the accurate legal phenomenon then their programs wont remain fast paced and exciting. So basically the series portray the investigations and the arrest of the suspect but skip out all the steps in between such as arrangements, hearing before trial, the selection of the jury, plea bargaining, the trials and the sentencing. Another major difference is that in television series usually they show the defendant breaks down and confesses the whole story himself, whereas in reality the research shows that a defendant never admits his fault and knows how to react under pressure (Orthmann, 2009). There are a number of consequences of the portrayal of the criminal justice system on television. Mostly the viewers forget that these programs are merely drama and fictional and start believing what they show. People start having the wrong perceptions about the criminal justice system and this affects them when they themselves get into some legal problem. For example the jobs of certain people are shown twisted on television such as the jobs of crime investigators and the detectives. The programs usually show a collision of these occupations and portray the investigation jobs done by the only major detective and his partners. In reality the jobs of the detective, the crime investigator and the forensic examiner are totally different to one another and they cannot interfere in each other’s jobs. This creates a negative perception for the jobs, and shows that one detective or officer is the one responsible for every investigation (Watson, 2007). The consequence of the Hollywood portrayal of the criminal justice system puts a burden on the prosecutors and affects the ways in which lawyers actually prepare their cases. Moreover, it also increases the expectations of the public in the way a criminal case is going to be solved. This means that the impacts of the Hollywood series does not only remain on the viewers and the public but also affects the lawyers and the jury members. It has been observed that just as the television series, the jurors expect the real life cases to be accurate and fast paced too. Jurors who are fans of the popular television series such as Law & Order find it difficult to believe that in real life cases the crime investigations are not covered this quick and there are few instances where DNA evidence is found at a crime scene. Their verdict is also impactful by the belief that there should be a lot of forensic evidence. The television programs may also educate the criminals about the technical ways to commit crimes and getting away with it without being traced. Some prosecutors also say that these series tend to have benefits for the lawyers and prosecutors as they educate more people and provide a better understanding of the use of scientific evidence (Watson, 2007). The evolving problem is the way to handle these impactful consequences of the television series. About the problem of the jury being influenced by the television series, some of the prosecutors suggest the solution to be the careful selection of jury members. When the jury is being selected, there should be close attention given so that the members who are enthralled by the Hollywood portrayal of the justice system are not selected for serious offences being trialed. The judge should ensure that every member of the courtroom is at their genuine mind level and informed that they are not in any television drama (Watson, 2007). It is the duty of the law enforcement agencies that they ensure that the real life courtroom proceedings are not influenced by the television dramas and they maintain the discipline necessary for a criminal proceeding. They should also spread awareness about the real courtroom proceeding being different than the ones portrayed in the Hollywood dramas by engaging more case proceedings in news and documentaries. It is important for the public to change their perceptions and understand that reality is different than the television world. Strategies and techniques should be adopted by the government and the creators of the television crime series to ensure that it does not impact the society negatively (Marsh, 2008). The creators of the television series should give disclaimers for the viewers stating that these procedures and investigations do not hold legal accuracy and they are merely for the purpose of entertainment and drama. There can also be regulations imposed by the laws to permit certain activities to be shown on the television and certain things that may not be allowed to be shown. Although it seems to be difficult to control the impact and widespread of these series from the public, there are only some matters that can be controlled for example the courtroom proceedings being uninfluenced (Marsh, 2008). However, the appearance of the crimes and the justice system may be the same but in reality they are very different from one another. The basic purpose of the television series Law & Order and many others is to purely entertain the viewers and keep them attracted towards the program, rather to educate them about the accurate legal proceedings. These programs do not provide accuracy which is merely left for the real life. Accurate legal proceedings may be boring for a television series thus they are left for the reality. A trial where the defendant confesses under pressure, the DNA matches exactly and the jury and attorney read the document after document, it is evident that the trial is for the television, and far from reality. Many of the aspects are not accurately defined and the viewers should realize that building legal concepts on the basis of such programs is not feasible. Crime and Hollywood has had a long running relationship ever since crime has evolved to become one of the major concerns of the society, but merely till the limit of entertainment. References Brown, M. (2001). Criminal Investigation: Law and Practice. NY: Butterworth-Heinemann Forbes, W. (2008). The Investigation of Crime. NJ: Kaplan Publishing Marsh, I. (2008). Crime, Justice and the Media. London: Routledge Orthmann, C. (2009). Criminal Investigation. London: Cengage Learning Ruble R. (2008) Round Up The Usual Suspects: Criminal Investigation in Law & Order, Cold Case, And CSI. NY: ABC-CLIO Siegel L. (2009) Introduction to Criminal Justice. London: Cengage Learning Watson, V. (2007). Crime Scene investigation: TV versus reality. USA: Helium Inc. Read More