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How crime shows like Law & Order: SVU normalize bad police behavior

posted 4 years ago by TMC-4 (19409)
3 replies | jump to latest

https://www.mic.com/p/how-crime-shows-like-law-order-skew-our-sense-of-police-behavior-21746781

The nonprofit Color of Change's 152-page report released earlier this week showed how people of color are overrepresented in commiting crime on TV while being underrpresented in writers' rooms. But the report also showed how shows like SVU normalize bad police behavior via what it calls the “Good Guy Endorser” ratio. In past episodes of SVU, Detective Stabler would be shown illegally beating confessions out of suspects, whether they were guilty or innocent. But the bad behavior was justified in viewers' minds because of the framing of the series. “Almost all series depicted bad behavior as being committed by good people, thereby framing bad actions as relatable, forgivable, acceptable and ultimately good,” the Color of Change study states. “Remarkably, the data shows that scripted crime series depicted 'Good Guy' Criminal Justice Professionals committing wrongful actions far more than they depicted 'Bad Guys' doing so. The likely result? Viewers feeling that those bad behaviors are actually not so bad, and are acceptable (even necessary) norms.”

[–] aavfreak (2861) 4 years ago

I have this conversation a lot. So many people think it's perfectly okay for cops in real life to do things like stop you and ask for ID or ask where you're going and where you've been.

No US citizen is required to comply with any such nonsense. However, people tend to believe that cops are justified for doing so. It's a big problem in certain communities where cops see themselves as overlords rather than public servants. And those not affected are quick to say some "you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide" Joseph Goebbels nonsense.

And if you assert your rights, then somehow you *must* be a criminal.

Police procedural shows in general always have a feel that it works out for the best in the end. Or that they stopped the bad guy from committing the atrocity against the innocent. When in real life, the overall effect is more of oppression of normal people just trying to live their lives.

[–] liscarkat (16513) 3 years ago

"No US citizen is required to comply with any such nonsense."

Yeah, that's technically true, but try pulling that attitude next time you're stopped by a cop. Most of us don't feel like getting roughed up, handcuffed, and arrested, and don't have the time to sit in jail or the money for bail and lawyers.

[–] aavfreak (2861) 3 years ago

You are absolutely correct. And it's a big problem. You'll see the thin blue line crowd say something like "just comply and fight it in court." But the courts and judges are even worse "just us" system. Normal people don't have the time or resources for such a thing anyway. We just have to accept the fate we're given.

Which goes back to the original point. We, as a society, are accepting of it because we've been conditioned to believe that it's somehow necessary for them to do their jobs. That it's for the greater good or some shit. The public school system emphasizes this mentality from day one and shows like this reinforce it.

Eventually, it will reach a critical point where the general public will be outraged enough to demand change. The big irony is the same people that rail against police overreach are the SAME dumbasses that are calling for more government power like COVID lockdowns.