CSI, Law & Order, Cold Case, NCIS, Homicide: Life on the Street, America’s Most Wanted, COPS… Is it just me, or has there been an overabundance of crime-based television programming in recent years? Sure, crime makes for compelling drama; the whodunnit has been around for ages, and it always sells like hotcakes (which, it may be assumed, is pretty fast). But as with all media consumed by the public, there’s always a big ol’ question hovering over it: How is what we’re consuming affecting us in real life? Given what importance the United States places on the strength of its criminal justice system, this question is especially relevant in relation to all of this crime-based stuff TV inundates us with today. But how can we even begin to answer it? Some folks at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln had an idea: why not conduct a study examining this very thing? More »