As shown in the book, the popular crime/cops show creates major misconceptions in viewers. For example, only about half of the episodes on TV deal with sex crimes, and many deal with murders of white males. Two-thirds of victims are white (black female victims almost completely absent from show, even though they have the highest rates of victimization in reality). Further, women are overrepresented as offenders (33%) and are depicted as particularly cruel and violent. Finally, most victims (60%) are dead by end of show, even though less than 10% of sex crimes actually result in death.
This week, Newsweek magazine shows us the real Special Victims Unit in New York in this article.
Here is some of what it says:
"Understaffed, underfunded, and overworked, Special Victims detectives often sleep on grimy mattresses or cots in the office and can seem like victims themselves ....
"The door on the second-floor office bears a fading poster: “Manhattan Special Victims Squad, MSVS, Home of the World’s Greatest Detectives,” but it opens onto piles of cardboard boxes filled with files and a motley collection of clothes on hangers. This is nothing like the sets for the television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and ironic, slightly sad smiles break out among the cops whenever you mention the show. There used to be 28 detectives here, doubling up on desks. Now, thanks to budget cuts and jurisdictional changes, just nine Special Victims detectives cover all of Manhattan. One woman detective, since transferred, put up holiday decorations last year, or was it the year before? Nobody’s taken them down or remembers exactly when they went up. Over the door to the conference room, cutout paper letters proclaim 'Happy Halloween.'"
Sounds like a great place to work, no? Or perhaps a great TV show?
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