Popular culture: history, impact, and contemporary significance

TV, Movies & Criminal Justice

Portrayal of Criminal Justice in TV Programs and Movies

Mass media has been a major influence in shaping the nature and dynamics of popular culture in different societies and cultures today. Through popular mass media such as the television and film, entertainment through fictional and non-fictional portrayal of life (real or imagined) have manifested itself in the way people perceive specific aspects of their lives or particular individuals or groups in the communities or societies they live in.

Take as an example TV programs about criminal justice and forensics. Before, portrayals of characters and dynamics of the criminal justice system are only reflected through legal dram programs like Law & Order, Boston Legal, and The Practice, among many others. In the 21st century, forensics drama dominated the mass media and popular culture. TV programs like CSI, Criminal Minds, Bones, and NCIS have influenced the way people perceive not only about how the criminal justice system works from the forensics perspective, but it also developed specific perceptions about people who work in forensics, and how they are relevant to the overall criminal justice system in the country.

The most influential forensics drama on television is CSI or "Crime Scene Investigation." The program highly depends on scientific inquiry and processes to solve a crime presented to the CSI team. Through experimentation, forensics methods and analyses, and hypotheses, the CSI team is able to solve each problem and throughout the show, demonstrate through reenactments or simulations how the crime happened based on the scientific evidence that has been used as the clue to the eventual solution to the crime problem. Oftentimes, the program also shows some scenes in the courtroom to show to the TV viewers how forensics evidence is presented and used in court.

Law & Order, one of the longest running legal drama series in television today, highlights the dynamics between the police and the litigation system of the country. Each episode covers specific cases, always highlighting how sometimes police and lawyers can work together and actually strengthen a case against a criminal or an offender, or oftentimes, how lawyers' interests clashes with the police's that it is illustrated as a constant struggle on who shall prevail or who has the better judgment about the case.