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High Profile Crimes: When Legal Cases Become Social Causes Lynn S. Chancer. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Over the past fifteen years America has been fascinated with crime and trials. Enormous amounts of time have been spent watching televised coverage of trials; conversation about major cases has become an obsession with many people. Using several major incidents, including the O. J. Simpson trial, the "Central Park jogger" case, and the Mike Tyson rape case, sociologist Lynn Chancer has endeavored to explain what these events-and their after-effects-mean for our culture. Her primary contention is that certain events have the effect of "provoking" society. The crimes may be unimportant in themselves, but press coverage and public passions allow them to grow beyond their specifics. By doing so, they...