Crimesploitation

• In Event: Spectacles of Policing, Crime, and Punishment in the United States

Abstract

This paper discusses a genre of media we refer to as “crimesploitation.” We argue that crimesploitation exploits crime for profit and simultaneously often butresses the larger neoliberal culture of control in which it emerged. Crimesploitation had important precursors in the 1980s like Cops, but it came of age with the surge in what became known as “reality television” in the early 2000s. It has thrived predominantly on cable television, but, as shows such as Cops and To Catch A Predator show, it has also found a home on network television. We include in this category popular shows like Gangland, Locked Up, and Intervention. In this paper we theorize basic characteristics of crimesploitation, discuss reasons for its popularity, and discuss how it sometimes advances the culture of control, but sometimes undermines it.

Authors

• Paul Kaplan, San Diego State University

• Daniel LaChance, Emory University