Frightening the Victim: Media Representations of Police-Victim Interactions in Prime Time Television

• In Event: Representations of Victimization in Television and Film

Abstract

Criminological literature has shown that public knowledge about issues of crime and justice are shaped by the media. Media has the power to reinforce larger issues of victim blaming, mistrust of the police and the marginalization of the victim’s status in the criminal justice system. This is particularly pertinent to police-victim interactions, particularly in the treatment of victims of gendered crimes, which continue to be significantly under-reported. Here, drawing on literature on gendered victimization, victimology and victim-blaming we examine media presentations of police-victim interactions as depicted by the long running prime time television show Law and Order Special Victims Unit, to expose popular understandings of victim treatment by the justice system. Although media exposure is not direct experience with the criminal justice system, media constructions of victim and police behavior have the potential to deter some victims from seeking assistance when they are most in need.

Authors

• Josh Yeager, Eastern Kentucky University

• Victoria Ellen Collins, Eastern Kentucky University