ABSTRACT

This study examined newspaper coverage of crime and criminal justice issues from 2015 through 2017, a period that encompassed significant political change. A total of 300 articles from four major national newspapers were coded for the presence of punitive and progressive crime- and criminal justice-related themes in order to assess whether, and how, the presence of these themes may have changed over time. Results indicated that the average number of articles with at least one progressive theme did not decrease overall, and there were substantially more articles with at least one progressive theme than those with at least one punitive theme. The progressive themes displayed a greater emphasis on arguments for reform rooted in social and justice-based considerations, compared to those based on fiscal savings or other practical considerations. However, keyword searches indicated that there may have been a decreased focus overall in major broadcast news and newspaper on the criminal justice system and criminal justice reform during this time period.

摘要

本研究调查了 2015 年至 2017 年期间报纸对犯罪和刑事司法问题的报道，这一时期发生了重大的政治变革。来自四家主要全国性报纸的总共 300 篇文章针对惩罚性和渐进性犯罪和刑事司法相关主题的存在进行了编码，以评估这些主题的存在是否以及如何随着时间的推移而发生变化。结果表明，至少有一个进步主题的文章的平均数量总体上没有减少，并且至少有一个进步主题的文章比至少有一个惩罚性主题的文章多得多。与基于财政储蓄或其他实际考虑的改革论点相比，进步主题更加强调基于社会和正义考虑的改革论点。