Adaptations and Themes of Criminal Offenders through Crime Dramas

Crime media has been a large part of entertainment for decades and the popularity of these shows continues. Because audiences' perceptions are shaped by the media they consume, it is important to understand how these shows portray offenders, and the accuracy of those portrayals. This thematic analysis focuses on the portrayal of offenders and if those portrayals have changed over time. The shows analyzed were Law and Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, and NCIS episodes sampled from seasons airing in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The themes that emerged were the relationship between victimization and offending, gender of victim and offender, relationship between offender and victim, number of offenders, connection between race and crime, lack of remorse, and forms of justice. The findings indicate that some respects changed over time while others remained consistent, with the majority of findings being congruent with justice system statistics.