Text Box: of the hunt are paraded before us. The story of the hunt and the hunted can be viewed regularly in the print and broadcast media when police and law enforcement officers recount the story of the hunt and bring the hunted before a waiting battery of cameras and recorders.

Police and law enforcement officers represent the executive branch of government. They possess not only arrest powers, but they are authorized to use the ultimate power: deadly force. The print and broadcast media possess the immense power to influence and sway public opinion. Although police and law enforcement agencies traditionally have had a stormy relationship with the news media, the fact is they are codependent. It has long been the custom of police and law enforcement officers to alert the news media of confiscated contraband or the capture of the alleged  perpetrator(s) of a crime, and it is of the latter to which the essay is devoted.

Police and law enforcement agencies need the news media to distribute stories and visuals of those arrested for crimes and contraband seized as a demonstration of their power to be effective. On the other hand, the news media need the stories and visuals that police and law enforcement officers provide to feed the public’s limitless appetite and maintain ratings and readership. However, in the rush to display police and law enforcement effectiveness, satisfy the public, and increase readership and ratings, due process and the presumption of innocence is often ignored at the expense of the arrested person(s). What effect does such imagery have on the potential jury pool, the accused’s relationship with family, friends and employment, and last, but not least, the alleged perpetrator’s self-image?

The act of placing the accused in a position or location in which the news media can capture their image and/or ask questions of the accused is called a “Perp Walk.” Perp is a contraction for perpetrator. Perp walks are common, and they are a natural outgrowth of the symbiotic relationship between police and law enforcement agencies and the news media. In an attempt to justify the images of those accused of a crime, the news media has always hidden behind the claim of “the public’s right to know.” But, does such a right exist? And even if it does, how do we balance this with the accused’s right to the presumption of Text Box: The Critical Criminologist
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Text Box: Five thousand years after the drawings near Ain Sokhna Road were made, the Roman Coliseum was the scene of a type of hunt for which we never seem to tire: Man hunting man. Like sports heroes of today, individual gladiators found fame and fortune in the arena. Gladiatorial contests were mass entertainment paid for by the government as a way to impress its poorer citizens with the power of the state while distracting them from any thoughts of change through the mass execution of condemned prisoners. 

The popularity of such games was well known and persons were hired to advertise the coming games. Scriptores specialized in painting the advertisements on columns, walls and the sides of buildings. The name of the editor or sponsor was given, as was the reason for the games. The number of gladiators was indicated and as well as any other entertainment or special attraction. An inscription from a wall in Pompeii announces:

“Twenty pairs of gladiators belonging to Decimus Lucretius Satrius Valens, priest for life of Nero, son of Caesar Augustus, and ten pairs of gladiators belonging to Decimus Lucretius Valens his son will fight at Pompeii 8-12 April. There will be a full program of wild beast combats and awnings. Aemilius Celer [painted this], all alone in the moonlight.”

Little has changed since the dawn of civilization until now. Nine thousand years after our ancestors told their stories on canvases of stone; we record tales of the hunt on film and electronically for the same reasons. Hunters are still viewed as powerful figures, and the story of the hunt continues to fascinate and entertain. 
Despite our claim to being participants in a civilized society, we still hunger for news of the hunt, and we take comfort when the trophies