Law & Order is a television drama series that depicts the procedural practices of the legal system in the United States. Scholars have emphasized that the show falsifies images about policing styles and prosecution methods beyond mere recognition. Unfortunately, Law & Order and other similar legal drama shows has had a negative impact on the legal system in the United States because viewers believe the events that occur are factual. According to Neubauer and Fradella (2014), “Professors have to help students unlearn information that they have inaccurately learned from viewing television shows, such as Law & Order. This paper will examine how real the portrayal of events are in Law & Order using current laws and criminal procedures. For
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The nurse had informed the detectives that it takes more than two weeks for the child’s body to deteriorate due to their organs developing an infection. Therefore, Keith would have known that the children were being neglected by their mother. He stated that he visited the home two weeks ago but he was not sure. This was a sign that he was not visiting the home. The detectives informed the district attorney that they wanted to have Keith prosecuted. The district attorney stated that he would need for information about the case. Therefore, the detectives went to the Department of Child Services to review the records. They analyzed the reports and concluded that there were no reports filed in the system for four months into the death of Keisha. There was an arraignment hearing conducted before a judge where the formal charges were read. Keith pleaded not guilty to the charges of “reckless endangerment of child, official misconduct, and obstruction of governmental administration.” These charges was also filed against his supervisor Jeanette and Matt, who signed off on the reports that were allegedly falsified. Bail was set at $50,000. Next, Keith was offered a plea bargain in exchange for …show more content…
He informed the prosecutor that Jeannette instructed him that he did not have to visit the homes of everyone, since his cases were overload. She stated the only thing that he had to do was write a report and she would sign off on them. Lastly, there was the trial. At the trial, the district attorney presented information before the judge that the defendants nor the defense attorney knew they had obtained. He presented 139 different case folders that was filed Keith and other case workers after Keisha died. All of these documents were falsified records. In class, we discussed that the prosecutor must give out any known information during discovery. Law & Order include the concept of discovery because everyone was surprised. We are left to assume that the defendants were found guilty.
In conclusion, Law & Order does not accurately represent practices of the legal procedures in the United States when solving a crime. Everything that happens within the show occurs within 60 minutes, such as the crime, the identification of the suspect, the trial process, and sentencing the defendant. This is misrepresentation of the actually time span that it takes to solve a crime. It could take months or years to identify a suspect
The nurse had informed the detectives that it takes more than two weeks for the child’s body to deteriorate due to their organs developing an infection. Therefore, Keith would have known that the children were being neglected by their mother. He stated that he visited the home two weeks ago but he was not sure. This was a sign that he was not visiting the home. The detectives informed the district attorney that they wanted to have Keith prosecuted. The district attorney stated that he would need for information about the case. Therefore, the detectives went to the Department of Child Services to review the records. They analyzed the reports and concluded that there were no reports filed in the system for four months into the death of Keisha. There was an arraignment hearing conducted before a judge where the formal charges were read. Keith pleaded not guilty to the charges of “reckless endangerment of child, official misconduct, and obstruction of governmental administration.” These charges was also filed against his supervisor Jeanette and Matt, who signed off on the reports that were allegedly falsified. Bail was set at $50,000. Next, Keith was offered a plea bargain in exchange for …show more content…
He informed the prosecutor that Jeannette instructed him that he did not have to visit the homes of everyone, since his cases were overload. She stated the only thing that he had to do was write a report and she would sign off on them. Lastly, there was the trial. At the trial, the district attorney presented information before the judge that the defendants nor the defense attorney knew they had obtained. He presented 139 different case folders that was filed Keith and other case workers after Keisha died. All of these documents were falsified records. In class, we discussed that the prosecutor must give out any known information during discovery. Law & Order include the concept of discovery because everyone was surprised. We are left to assume that the defendants were found guilty.
In conclusion, Law & Order does not accurately represent practices of the legal procedures in the United States when solving a crime. Everything that happens within the show occurs within 60 minutes, such as the crime, the identification of the suspect, the trial process, and sentencing the defendant. This is misrepresentation of the actually time span that it takes to solve a crime. It could take months or years to identify a suspect