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This article presents the results of content analyses of media coverage of two widely reported "crimes" that occurred in the Rochester, New York area in 1994: the disappearance of a four-year-old girl and the collapse and flooding of the largest salt mine in North America. An individual is the central figure in one case; the other case focuses on a business. In many other respects, these cases are quite similar. They provide an opportunity to examine and critique media coverage of very different types of behaviors, each of which is definable as crime.Media coverage of crime is a matter of growing academic interest, and criticism of this coverage is widespread. In covering traditional or street crimes, media are accused of focusing on sensational cases (

Public perceptions that the civil justice system is in crisis are apparently widespread, but little is known about the causes or correlates of such views. This article analyzes the litigation crisis attitudes of a sample of civil jurors. Like the public, jurors endorsed a number of statements suggesting that there is a litigation crisis. Factor analysis identified two independent components: general concern over excessive litigation, and criticism of the civil jury. Litigation crisis views were found in all demographic and attitudinal subgroups. However, attitudes about the civil justice system were related to the respondent's political efficacy, claims consciousness, belief in a just world, age, religion, and race.

This study is a quantitative analysis designed to compare two groups of factually innocent capital defendants: those who were exonerated and those who were executed. There are a total of 97 cases in the sample, including 81 exonerations and 16 executions. The primary objective of the authors is to identify factors that may predict case outcomes among capital defendants with strong claims of factual innocence. Through the use of a logistic regression model, the following variables were significant predictors of case outcome (exoneration vs. execution): allegations of perjury, multiple types of evidence, prior felony record, type of attorney at trial, and race of the defendant. These results point toward significant problems with the administration of capital punishment deriving primarily from the quality of the case record created at trial.

Using data on post-Gregg executions and death sentences, we explore the previously observed, but not well understood, relationship between slavery and the death penalty. We classify modern states into categories focused on their jurisdictional law and practice of slavery circa 1860. Our analyses reveal that the relationship between slavery and modern executions is stronger even than previously recognized, with 90.6% of post-Gregg executions occurring in states that supported the practice of slavery, whether or not they were in the Confederacy or inside the traditional boundaries of the South. We conclude that capital punishment is one of the enduring legacies of American slavery.