This undergraduate level course aims to provide students with an understanding of the role that media plays in our understanding of criminal justice problems and solutions as well as the role that popular media plays in the lif ecysle of criminal justice issues and policies. This course demostrates to students how the portrayal of crime and justice in the media has real and lasting impacts on the public's perception of crime, fear of crime, and attitudes toward the criminal justice system and thosse involved at all levels of the criminal justice system, as well as significant effects on criminal justice policy.