The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how my personal experiences has formed my opinion of how the Criminal Justice System has targeted groups of American’s based on the public/media perceptions and is influenced by those in power. I will state my personal opinion of the Criminal Justice System. Then describe by personal experiences with the Criminal Justice System. After that I will reveal my sources that brought me to my conclusion of what the Criminal Justice System is. Finally I will describe my typical monthly intake of media-based crime in relation to the Criminal Justice System.

My opinions of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) are first, that it is based on public perception. What I mean by this is that the (CJS) detains and holds the people that the public and media perceive to be biggest threat to society. This person tends to be a young African American male. I also believe that the (CJS) targets our poor youth culture because those in power, “rich and older” people are the one’s making the laws and influencing the actions of the (CJS). Last but not least I believe that the (CJS) is influenced by politics and special interest groups because these are the people who hold most of if not all of the legal power and financial resources.

My personal experience with the (CJS) are very much limited because I have personally have had any encounters with the authorities or the courts. Although I have in the past made numerous visits with family members and friends. So I guess you could say that I have had most of my contacts with the corrections branch of the (CJS). Law enforcement and the court branch both are the same in lack of contact that I have had with them which is very little to none.

The data which my opinion of the (CJS) is based on several different factors, the first is my personal experience is going to visit family and friends in the correctional facilities and seeing about 85% or more of the inmates in these institutions being you African American males. The next thing that formed my opinion of the (CJS) was just having conversations with fellow African Americans and listening to them perceiving young black males to be the most volatile member of our society because this is what they have learn by observing the media portray of what a criminal is. When I formed my opinion of the (CJS) there is only one book that comes to mind, “The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison”. This book illustrates how the wealthy influences laws and determine, what is a crime and what is not one which leaves the poor as the target for the (CJS). Because most of our laws in place are designed to protect the rich from the poor, how else can you explain a man who steals from a convent store to feed his family would receive 3 to 5 years of prison? When at the same time another man who embezzles millions of dollars from a corporation and costs thousands of people to lose their jobs receives a slap on the wrist. News papers and television news is self explanatory because when you look at either of the two the first thing that you usually see is a poor, young, African American male having his and the black community reputation being dragged through the mud for a crime “that person” committed. Movies and television crime dramas really do not influence my opinion of the (CJS) because I know that it is not real, only an idea of what crime is and therefore has true value to me.

My typical monthly intake of media-based criminal justice information usually consists of the daily news and the Tallahassee Democrat. I usually read the Tallahassee Democrat for the sports page but usually get bomb-barded by criminal stories on the front page and no later than the second page. I also read the FSU View because they usually have some good stories about acts around campus. The only television show that I watch about crime is CSI Miami. The latest documentary that I watched featuring crime stories was on HBO called America Undercover. It featured “The Iceman and the Psychiatrist”; this documentary was about a violent hit man who could not keep his emotions in check and had no remorse for his victims. I do not rent movies or go see crime films because it is a waste of my money. I also do not surf the internet either for crime web pages. However I do own a computer game that portrays the criminal world. It is called “Hit Man 2” and the title says it all because you go all around the world killing people for money just like a hit man.

In conclusion my current understanding of Criminal Justice has been mainly through the media perception of what crime is before I became criminology major. I received my data to form my opinions from mainly news sources and the personal experience of seeing correctional facilities first hand. I look forward throughout this semester to see how the relationship of the media and crime intertwine.

Excellent essay 75 points