Prompted Post #4: Blogs vs: Books. Compare and contrast

      There are many different types of writing styles. Whether it be a blog similar to this that is mostly based around the opinion of the writer, or a scholarly article or journal that uses facts to draw conclusions. No matter what the style is, there always is a message to a certain audience that the author or researcher is trying to get across. Here we will compare and contrast two different styles of writing in Criminal justice. The first is a blog from the Second City Cop, written by current and former Chicago Police officers. You can read their latest article (February 27th) on the recent controversies after the LaQuan McDonald shooting. It was a response to a Chicago Tribune article on the increased hostilities between the Chicago PD and the community. This writing style is pretty easy to understand and follow. There are abbreviations and other slang that would suggest that the audience would be current and former law enforcement officers. Biased? Yes, but what are you going to expect from a CJ blog written by police officers? They are trying to show their side of issues in a mainly liberal, pro-peoples' rights mainstream media, who often condemn entire professions (I.E. law enforcement) for the actions of few. The officers in Second City have insights on some of the politics behind the policing, specifically Mayor Rahm Emmanuel of Chicago.
       Overall I find this blog to be trustworthy. Being police officers, they have very credible sources (Themselves often) when talking about issues in law enforcement and everything that surrounds it. I think their message is to talk about current events in law enforcement while providing insight on why events may occur and how they deal with them.

Image Credit: Law Enforcement Today

       I'll be honest, for this next one I did not have to look far. After Googling "Criminal Justice" in Google Scholar, I clicked on the first one that popped up. However after looking at numerous professional articles and books I decided that the first one I saw was the best. "The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice" by Jeffery Reiman and Paul Leighton offers a look into what their title is about. Both men are professors at universities, American University and Eastern Michigan University respectively. The book itself contains lots of theories and studies to prove a point on why the justice system in the USA is class biased. It has lots of facts and stats to back up their statements. I suppose their audience is anyone interested in the justice system or people who are interested in their civil rights as people. I find this source also trustworthy because of its numerous sources to back up their statements. This takes a more liberal stance on the justice system, a contrary to the blog above, which is relatively conservative.

       Overall I think you have to trust both. The Second City Cops have the advantage because they have been in the field and have seen firsthand what it is like to protect our great country. However, they can be understandably biased on issues, because often criticism of the justice system is directly pointed towards them. The book has the advantage of using studies and other repuatable sources to prove their thesis. However where they lack is hands on experience in the field. Have either of the authors been involved in law enforcement? Either way I think these are two sources that can be taken seriously. Let me know what you think.

• Reiman, Jeffrey H. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2007. Print. 
• SCC. "Looking Fetal." Second City Cop. 27 Feb. 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.