Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Challenging The Media-Incarceration Complex Through Media Education, Bill Yousman

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Focusing on prime-time dramatic television as the most prevalent source of fictional images of violence, crime, and incarceration, in this chapter I address the distorted narratives and images that saturate popular television dramas. I also draw upon interviews I conducted with ex-prisoners to show how media representations of imprisonment, though inaccurate and misleading, shape the perceptions even of those who have themselves been incarcerated.