Crime And Media Essay, Research Paper

Corrections has been a field dominated primarily by men. Women entering in this field have had to struggle against the resistance presented when entering these types of jobs. Criminal justice and women have been terms that have not been heavily associated. However women do play a major role in the criminal justice system, whether they are the offenders, victims or criminal justice professionals. The role of women in criminal justice often depicts women as the victims in order to keep in place the ideologies of women being subordinate, feeble, and unable to take care of themselves against their aggressor. Women are not only victimized women also play roles of the offenders and criminal justice professionals contrary to popular belief. Although women have made strives to progress they still represent lowest line of sworn in officers

Women are very versatile in their involvement with the criminal justices system. It is also important for us a as society to understand that women are major functions in the criminal justice system although their isn?t an enormous amount of literature about it. Women are represented in every dimension of the criminal justice system.

The depictions of women in the media are influential factors for women who have chosen this male dominated work force. The traditional role of women being housewives and mothers have in some ways hindered the process of them becoming a dominant work force in the field of corrections.

Women As Police Officers

In film it is very noticeable how women are depicted as helpless or are in need of some type of assistance from her male counterpart. In the Hale article about women in videos the treatment of women tends to be a social control. It romanticizes the way women and men are especially in uniform. For example the man is usually the hero in the film usually he rescues the woman. The scenario hardly ever plays in the other direction. I personally can?t think of one movie were a woman police officer rescues the male police officer. A woman saving a man would challenge our societal ideologies of women being weak and feeble. I had the a discussion with three women officers, they were all troopers and one was even a captain and this article really elaborated on the discussion that I had with these women. The article really got into the nuts and bolts of women as criminal justice professionals and it also was very informative when it discussed the hierarchical role of women as police officers these women that I spoke with were very clear about the harassment and isolation on the job. In the article I think the emotional trauma that the author was speaking are direct results of the harassment and isolation that many women officers face while on the job. The portrayal of women as not being able to do the job is a justification of treating women so poorly on the job, when the sad truth is in many instances their male counterparts want them to fail in order to assert their male dominance. Women police officers in theory have the same protections as their male counterparts, however this is a claim that can be disputed. Women do not have the protection against the images that are presented in the media. The images that make these women more likely to be taken for granted by society at large. In videos as well as in society it is a natural practice trying to label things to make since of it. In this article I think this claim is justified when we see the woman police officer and we label her a dyke or lesbian. If the media throws these types of images into films and video society tends to think that these women are outside of the norm, their norm being, (heterosexual/straight) females. If we can tag a label on to these women it?s almost saying well it?s wrong to be a woman police officer but it is okay for these women because they are out of the norms of society.

She is smart, beautiful, single, sexy, who is shy? She is the female attorney. Often depicted by the media as the world?s brightest and most endearing person. The sad fact is this is just a depiction like many other professions this one to has character in a sexy body, who is on top of the world. The only sad part about this is she is a fictional character in the real world of female attorneys. These female attorneys have not been seen for their professional techniques as an attorney but rather their vivacious and feminine demeanor. Women attorneys are also depicted as these powerful and dedicated women who?s only objective is to take crime of the street. The article that I chose by Joanne Belknap was a mixture of Donna Hale, article and the Bailey Pollack Schroder article. In the article it talks a lot about the obstacles presented to these women. Women overwhelmingly face discrimination in the work place (Belknap). The article talks about recruiting practices and how agencies must make extended efforts in order to be recruited. Although this article didn?t really talk about women in the adjudication process, women who are judges and police officers still face the same type of discrimination. Women who are police officers have this additional element in their careers. Not only do they have to deal with the stress that the job may present they have to did with external factors that the job brings. Things like discrimination and unfair treatment in the workplace.

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