Carol P. Getty

Stories about crime and criminal justice are staples of the entertainment industry, according to Carol P. Getty, an associate professor of criminal justice at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, and the former U.S. Parole Commission chairperson. In the following selection Getty argues that although the popular media use the criminal justice system as a source for material, portrayals of the real—life institutions and processes are frequently distorted or incomplete. She discusses the real—life criminal justice system, focusing on the prison system, which is all but ignored by the popular media except in "prison films." Pointing to the trends and themes of prison films over the past several decades, Getty asserts that these portrayals demonstrate the public's ambiguous and vague attitude about prison. Further, she...