Melodramatic and consentient images in introductory criminal justice textbooks

Previous scholarly attention to introductory criminal justice textbooks observed the texts' organization, structure, and content. This study added to this literature by examining the photographs used in ten leading criminal justice textbooks when providing demographic portraits (e.g., race, gender) of alleged and convicted criminals, criminal offenses, clothing and appearances (of suspects/criminals), and the degree to which authorities confined suspects/criminals. In regard to the above, this study distinguished between consentient (relying on systematic empirical findings) and melodramatic (relying on more sensationalized news coverage) images and representative (quantitatively standard) and notorious (qualitatively distinct) crimes. Results suggested texts provided consentient images of suspect/offender race and gender, but relied on melodramatic images in disproportionate depictions of suspects/defendants charged with, or convicted of murder. Further, it was found that although notorious crimes and criminals represent qualitative rarities in the overall criminal justice system, they were depicted in 31 percent of images presented in texts.