Cultural Contours of Justice: Law and Crime Narratives in Popular Imagination

Dear Colleagues,

In our multi-mediated world, popular culture serves as a lens through which societies make sense of behaviors that disrupt social order; it forms a key part of wider discussions on whether criminals are ‘mad or bad’, ‘born or made’. Beyond criminal motivations, popular culture also sheds light on dominant societal beliefs about appropriate responses to crime, the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, and which victims are deemed deserving of our sympathy.

Laws is pleased to announce a call for papers for a forthcoming Special Issue titled “Cultural Contours of Justice: Law and Crime Narratives in Popular Imagination”.

This Special Issue seeks to examine how crime is depicted across various platforms of popular culture (including newspapers, film, television, podcasts, video games, comic books, literature, and social media) and how these representations influence public perceptions, legal frameworks, and cultural norms regarding criminality, victimhood, and law enforcement.

We invite contributions from various disciplines, including law, criminology, sociology, psychology, media, and cultural studies, among others.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Crime and Identity in Popular Culture: Investigating how race, gender, class, and sexuality intersect with representations of crime and law enforcement in popular media;
• Law and Crime Narratives in Popular Media: Exploring depictions of legal and regulatory frameworks within popular culture and their impact on societal perceptions and attitudes toward justice and legal ethics;
• Journalism Ethics and Crime Reporting in Popular Culture: Examining popular portrayals of news media and journalism ethics and their impact on public understandings of media justice;
• True Crime Fandom: Examining the rise of true crime communities, fan engagement, and the ethical considerations surrounding true crime consumption and production;
• Historical Representations of Crime: Investigating how historical crimes and trials are reimagined in popular culture and their implications for historical memory and justice;
• Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Consumption of Crime Media: Reflecting on the ethical implications of consuming and producing crime narratives, including issues of voyeurism, exploitation, and the commodification of tragedy;
• Superheroes, Vigilantism, and Justice: Examining popular portrayals of vigilantes and superheroes in comics, films, and TV series as reflections of public concerns over the effectiveness of the criminal justice system;
• Crime in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Exploring crime and justice in speculative settings and reflecting on the use of science fiction/fantasy narratives as metaphors for contemporary legal and moral debates;
• Crime in Video Games: Analyzing how popular narratives in interactive media like video games reinforce or challenge dominant societal norms and attitudes towards crime, justice, and morality.

Dr. Dimitris Akrivos
Dr. Alexandros Antoniou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• law and popular culture
• cultural criminology
• true crime
• ethics
• justice
• identity
• vigilantism
• representation
• media effects
• crime narratives