Framing Law and Crime

Edited by Caroline Joan "Kay" S. Picart; Michael Hviid Jacobsen and Cecil Greek - Contributions by Susan Boyd; ...

This cutting-edge edited collection brings together 17 scholarly essays on two of cinema and television's most enduring and powerful themes: law and crime. With contributions by many of the most prominent scholars in law, sociology, criminology, and film, Framing Law and Crime offers a critical survey of a variety of genres and media, integrating descriptions of technique with critical analysis, and incorporating historical and socio-political critique. The first set of essays brings together accounts of the history of the Law and Cinema Movement; the groundbreaking genre of "post-apocalyptic fiction;" and the policy-setting genesis of a Canadian documentary. The second section of the book turns to the examination of a range of international or global films, with an eye to assessing the strengths, frailties, and possible functions of law, as depicted in fictional cinema. After an international focus in the second section, the third section focuses on law and crime in American film and television, inclusive of both fictional and documentary modes of narration. This section's expansion beyond film narratives to include television series attempts to broaden the scope of the edited collection, in terms of media discussed; it is also a nod to how the big screen, although still a dominant force in American popular culture, now has to compete, to some extent, with the small screen, for influence over the collective American popular cultural imaginary. The fourth section, titled brings together various chapters that attempt to instantiate how a "Gothic Criminology" could be useful, as an interpretative framework in analyzing depictions of law and crime in film and television. The fifth and final section covers issues of pedagogy, epistemology, and ethics in relation to moving images of law and crime. Merging wide-ranging analyses with nuanced scholarly interpretations, Framing Law and Crime examines key concepts and showcases original research reflecting the latest interdisciplinary trends in the scholarship of the moving image. It addresses, not only scholars, but also fans, and will heighten the appreciation of connoisseurs and newcomers to these topics alike.

ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Framing Law and Crime: An Experiment in Interdisciplinary CommensurabilityCaroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart, Michael Hviid Jacobsen, and Cecil GreekPart I: Cinematic Histories and Real/Reel Dystopias of Law and CrimeChapter 1: Law and Cinema MovementStefan Machura, Bangor University, Criminology and Criminal JusticeChapter 2: The Crisis of Law and the Imaginary of Disaster: Reading Post-Apocalyptic FilmsMajid Yar, Independent Scholar, SociologyChapter 3: A Canadian Perspective on Documentary Film: Drug AddictSusan Boyd, University of Victoria, Canada, Studies in Policies and Practice ProgramPart II: Jurisprudence in International FilmsChapter 4: In the Land of Blood and Honey: What's Fair or Just in Love and War Crimes? Lessons for Transitional Justice.Carrie Menkel-Meadow, University of California-Irvine, LawChapter 5: Multifocal Judgment, Intersecting Legal Proceedings and Conservativism: A Separation and Rashomon.Orit Kamir, The Center for Human Dignity, Israel, LawChapter 6: Beyond the Courtroom-Vigilantism, Revenge, and Rape-Revenge Films in the Cinema of Justice.Peter Robson, University of Strathclyde, LawPart III: Law and Crime in American Film and TelevisionChapter 7: Alfred Hitchcock-Visions of Guilt and InnocenceMathieu Deflem, University of South Carolina, SociologyChapter 8: Heroes for Hard Times: The Wire's 'Good Police'John Denvir, University of San Francisco School of Law, LawChapter 9: Documenting Crime: Genre, Verity, and Filmmaker as AvengerMatthew Sorrento, Rutgers University, Film and JournalismChapter 10: Screening the Law: Ideology and Law in American Popular CultureNaomi Mezey, Georgetown University, Law and Mark C. Niles, American University, LawPart IV: Film, Crime, and the Social WorldChapter 11:Race and Serial Killing in the Media: The Case of Wayne WilliamsCaroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart, Tim Bower Rodriguez, P.A., Attorney at LawChapter 12. Globalization and the Rise of the Behemoth: A Study in Gothic CriminologyCecil Greek, University of South Florida, SociologyChapter 13: A Depiction of Evil, Order and Chaos: The Symbiotic Relationship of Law and the Supernatural in Film and TelevisionFarah Britto, University of South Florida, Anthropology, and Cecil Greek, University of South Florida, SociologyChapter 14: From Reel to Real - Conducting Filmic Ethnography in CriminologyMichael Hviid Jacobsen, Aalborg University, Sociology and Anders Petersen, Aalborg University, Sociology.Part V: Epistemology and Ethics in Films of Law and CrimeChapter 15. Fact, Fantasy, Fallacy: Division Between Fanciful Musings and Factual MutteringsJon Frauley, University of Ottawa, CriminologyChapter 16: Tobias Beecher: Law as a Refuge from Uncertainty?Steve Greenfield, University of Westminster, LawChapter 17: Nationalities, Histories, Rhetorics: Real/Reel Representations of the Holocaust and Holocaust Trials and a Poethics of Film and LawCaroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart, Tim Bower Rodriguez, P.A., Attorney at Law