A commentary on the potential impact of online communities and crime-related media on the criminal justice system: ‘do you know more? … join the investigation’

ABSTRACT

Criminological research in the media-crime nexus must critically engage with online communities focussed on influencing criminal justice outcomes. This commentary highlights the increasing diversification of such online communities and draws on the only Australian example of a media-led online wrongful conviction campaign – the Exposed Facebook group – to explore new developments in this space. This Australian example is so new that it has not yet been the subject of rigorous empirical criminological enquiry. As such, we pre-empt some of the potential impacts on the operation of the criminal justice system to generate critical thought on the issue and argue the need for further research to explore such impacts.

KEYWORDS:

• digital criminology
• media and crime
• online communities
• social media
• wrongful convictions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Andrew Childs http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1956-3212

Jacqueline Fuller http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-6604

Notes

1 At the time of writing, the Exposed Facebook group consisted of 33,734 members.

2 We make the clear distinction between a Facebook group and a Facebook page. Facebook groups are typically run by an administrator (or a team of administrators). Settings established for Facebook groups dictate the degree of ‘openness’ for the group (ie, individuals wishing to join a ‘private’ group such as the Exposed group need to request access which must be approved by the administrators). In general, groups were established by Facebook to facilitate ‘small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion’. https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook/facebook-tips-whats-the-difference-between-a-facebook-page-and-group/324706977130/

3 http://www.bohii.net/innocence-initiative-bohii-media/media22oct