Errors in names, dates, addresses, etc., tend to be repeated because they become part of the boilerplate in coverage. Because a court reporter's sources are often prosecutors and judges, there is a tendency to overreport from that side of the case. Consequently, readers see crimes being committed, but they have no sense of the criminal being processed, convicted and jailed. Our criminal justice system does not always work perfectly, but it often works better than we let our readers see. The result is the impression that violent crimes are increasing and the courts are letting criminals go free.
Prisons are another part of the criminal justice system often ignored by journalists.
There are 1.7 million inmates in this country. As the Freedom Forum book points out, there is great debate on whether U.S. prisons should treat prisoners as ruthlessly as some do, since most inmates eventually will be rejoining society more embittered and less able to cope than they were at sentencing. Nor do newspapers and television dwell on the fact that, as the nation turns more often to criminal law to deal with social problems, prisons are becoming a primary form not just of criminal but of social control as well B with, unfortunately, a distinctly racial cast. Some say, with declining circulation. When surveyed, newspaper readers increasingly are telling us they are sick of the negativity in newspapers.