How Media Influences Copycat Crime & Behavior: Synthesis Paper

During my junior year of college, I took a media literacy course through the Communications Department at the University of Connecticut. I am very passionate about media and have always been interested in how media affects us in our everyday life. The course allowed students to choose a media-related topic to write a paper on. Around that time, 13 Reasons Why, a Netflix television show and novel, was very popular amongst high school and college students. This inspired me to research how the media we consume influences us and in particular, young adults. Below is my full paper and research, where I analyze the ties between fictional and nonfictional events and the copycat crime or behavior following these events. Enjoy!