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'Logged and Ordered': TV court dramas and public perceptions of the justice system

If you've ever wondered why the public has a skewed view of the criminal justice system and a flawed perception that criminals have "too many rights," look no further than the portrayal of the court system in the popular media. The reality is modern criminal courts have devolved into little more than plea mills, but presentations of the process in the popular media pretend that Atticus-Finch style courtroom drama is the norm instead of the rare exception. From the perspective of dramatic presentation, I understand completely. But an unintended consequence of over-reliance on that dramatic trope is to mis-educate the public on how the system really works.This outstanding post from Overthinking It catalogs outcomes of cases for the first ten years of the famous Law & Order TV series, giving us this awesome chart:So in its first ten years, the proportion of plea bargains as a percentage of L&O cases maxed out at 58...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).