Public perceptions of police misconduct and discrimination: Examining the impact of media consumption

The media portrayal of policing is juxtaposed with both positive and negative representations. As a result, a complex relationship exists between media consumption and public attitudes towards the police. The purpose of this study was to test the impact that media consumption had on attitudes toward police misconduct and discrimination. The findings revealed that heavy consumers of network news were more likely to believe that police misconduct was a frequent event. This was especially true for minority respondents. Similarly, minority respondents that frequently viewed network news were more likely to believe that Whites received better treatment by the police. Finally, the findings revealed that frequent viewers of police dramas believed that the wealthy received preferential treatment from the police. Conversely, frequent viewers of crime solving shows believed that the wealthy did not receive preferential treatment.     

The Middle Kingdom, Media and Mobility

Today’s modern world has increased the speed in the way we as individuals and as cultural groups,think,feel,and respond to our world and the people in it with us.This is because of enormous changes in media and migration.Digital media(Internet,cell phones)and migratory freedoms offer savvy youth in particular more access to all kinds of resources,both tangible and intangible.The tangible are easily guessed:e.g.,things like consumer goods and vacation     

Representation through Participation: A Multilevel Analysis of Jury Deliberations

Fully participatory jury deliberations figure prominently in the idealized view of the American jury system, where balanced participation among diverse jurors leads to more accurate fact‐finding and instills public confidence in the legal system. However, research more than 50 years ago indicated that jury‐room interactions are shaped by social status, with upper‐class men participating more than their lower‐class and female counterparts. The effects of social status on juror participation have been examined only sporadically since then, and rarely with actual jurors. We utilize data from 2,189 criminal jurors serving on 302 juries in four jurisdictions to consider whether—and in what conditions—participation in jury deliberations differs across social groups. Our results indicate the continuing importance of social status in structuring jury‐room interactions, but also reveal some surprising patterns with respect to race and gender that depart from earlier research. We also find that contextual factors including location, case characteristics, and faction size shape the relationship between social status and participation. We conclude with a critical discussion of our results and urge other researchers to take into account contextual factors when examining how individual juror characteristics shape what happens inside the jury room.