Law and Order: Images, Meanings, Myths

Law and Order: Images, Meanings, Myths
ISBN-10
0813538807
ISBN-13
9780813538808
Series
Law and Order
Category
Performing Arts
Pages
188
Language
English
Published
2006
Publisher
Rutgers University Press
Author
Mariana Valverde

Description

This book discusses how the forces of law and order visualize and represent danger and criminality and how they represent themselves as authorities. The first two chapters cover basic terms and tools in the study of culture and representation. The rest of the book discusses such topics as : the history of justice - system methods for visualizing criminality, from fingerprinting to DNA; the emergence of a 'forensic gaze' that begins with Edgar Allan Poe and Sherlock Holmes and culminates in the American television show 'Crime Scene Investigation'; and, the rise of ways of seeing urban space that constantly divide the city into 'good' and 'bad' areas. The final chapter uses some recent conflicts regarding the legal admissibility of 'gruesome pictures' to reflect on the importance of the visual in our everyday experiences, both of safety and of danger.

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