Crime and Law in Media Culture

About this book

* Can we any longer 'separate out' crime, the law, and the media? * What does contemporary media culture do to our understanding of crime and the law? * What is the impact of cyberculture on crime and the law? This book explores the situating of law and crime within the vast range and scope of contemporary media forms. It begins from the premise that the whole of society, including crime and criminal justice, is embraced by media culture. 'The media' are viewed not as a set of institutions, but as a myriad of communicative forms or expressive techniques ranging from soaps to cyberworlds. Sheila Brown shows how crime and the law, or our understanding of them, are produced, reproduced, disturbed, and challenged in and through media culture. A lively and engaging text, this book contains a wide range of topical examples and provides a theoretically coherent examination of the field, providing an accessible critique of cultural theory along the way. It opens up the boundaries between the more traditional aspects of law and criminology, and the broader concerns of sociology and cultural studies. The result will be essential reading for students and a key reference for researchers as well as those with a wider interest in crime and the media.

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