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Book review: Crime and Racial Constructions: Cultural Misinformation about African Americans in Media and Academia

these high profile events to be a resource to the community suffering harm, but they also gain access to a large national media audience. Second, it is likely that the contexts and content of victim advocacy documents changed over time—these organizations learned what works from their mistakes and other successes and one would expect transformations in the texts. The reader is given very little information about the sample of texts used and whether an analysis that documents changes and their importance would have been enlightening. Third, although I agree with her conclusion about the changing status of victims in the media, it would be worth considering how child abuse, domestic abuse and sexual assault, and advocates against these acts, impacted and were impacted by the broader victim discourse. Fourth, I think it would have been helpful to engage journalists more directly about these issues as most victim stories are never covered by reporters, and for most of the crimes that are presented, journalists make no effort to engage family members for information. Only about six of 10 homicide stories make it in the news, and most are referenced in passing. There are critical biases in what gets ignored: race, gender, and social economic status all seem to matter. I wonder if victim advocates who push the ‘ideal’ victim imagery in the news are self-aware that the image that gets promoted in the media and then the legislation overlooks the vast majority of victims. One would expect that in the rapidly changing media world that the decisions to engage or not engage victims are also evolving, but there is little discussion of the differences that have occurred over time. These are minor points. Overall, this book is excellent—well written, thoughtful, and thorough. The author draws on multiple disciplines in framing her argument and her analysis is appropriate for the goal of the project. I highly recommend the book.