Meaning-making and crime drama: the case of criminology students

Abstract

Criminology as a discipline maintains an ambivalent attitude towards mass media. Following from Clifford and White’s call for a more nuanced approach to media criminology, the first section of the article contextualises the present study by outlining the uneasy relationship between mainstream criminology and crime drama. The second section explores themes that arose during research that invited criminal justice students to create an outline for a television crime series that they would enjoy watching themselves. The experience of creating and talking about their crime fictions prompted the participants to reflect on aspects of their own lives in some detail, but relatively little on crime per se. Crime drama, including their own creations, provided the participants with an anchor to talk broadly about subjectivities and identities. The piece concludes with observations on the place of emotional engagement when consumers reflect on crime drama.