High-profile crimes when legal cases become social causes - Chancer, Lynn S. (University of Chicago Press, 2005)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-306) and index
Larger symbolism of symbolic cases -- - When cases become causes -- - Rape of the Central Park jogger -- - Murder of Yusef Hawkins -- - In re the legal system -- - More on the press : journalistic divides -- - Taking sides : diverse public reactions -- - High-profile crimes and American culture
O.J. Simpson. The Central Park jogger. Bensonhurst. William Kennedy Smith. Rodney King. These are more than crimes and criminals, more than court cases. They are cultural events that, for better or worse, gave concrete expression to latent social conflicts in American society. In High-Profile Crimes, Lynn Chancer explores how these cases became conflated with larger social causes on a collective level and how this phenomenon has affected the law, the media, and social movements. An astute and incisive chronicle of some of the most polarizing cases of the 1980s and 1990s, High-Profile Crimes sh