Representations of Transgression, Gender, and Redemption in Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up and College Behind Bars

Abstract

Media scholars as well as cultural criminologists have long pointed to television and film representations of incarceration as vital in shaping public views of criminal justice practices. Drawing from the literature on media representations of incarceration, we examine College Behind Bars and Girls Incarcerated: Young and Locked Up to assess the patterns and themes that appear. We focus on issues of transgression, regression, stereotypes, gender, trauma, coping, support, and redemption. By assessing these themes, we show that these television productions reproduce the tendency in fictional television and movie depictions of incarceration to emphasize stereotypes and reproduce myths about the criminal justice system and people held captive within it. While these shows foster consumption and commodification of the harms of the criminal justice system, we contend these TV programs also partially allow for the voice of women to emerge and their stories to be heard.