The media is doing a great job of making money off a brutal part of American society. The problem is that there's little in the field of law enforcement that needs to be viewed by civilians, let alone sensationalized by the media. I wonder how law enforcers feel when the media falsely portrays their arduous job, or how the offenders feel, as if they had a say, when the media makes a buck off of their pain and suffering. On the job, enforcers often face the problem of punishing a criminal with serious problems. The point is not how hard it is for the enforcer to punish the offender, but rather that marketing this type of dilemma is unforgivable.
Cop shows fight our morals with a double-bladed sword.
While they satisfy our craving for violence, they also perpetrate existing stereotypes as they show people turning to crime in the face of poverty. There's no question that part of this market is showing the struggle these poor people face each day as they try to live. The fact that wealthier people generally don't reach out to them is bad enough, let alone the media sensationalizing their troubles for popular enjoyment. The media takes no time to explain what actually happens to the criminals, poor or not. If there's anything worse then fictional violence in the media, it's real violence in the media portrayed as though it were fictional.