HBOs Oz and its Depiction of Crime

Sarah Touhey
Criminology
Professor Durso
April 30, 2015

HBOs Oz and its Depiction of Crime

Crime dramas are one of the few television genres that have remained in the top of charts
for viewers and critics alike consistently for decades. Every major channel has at least one
crime-related program. However, these television programs are fictional. Much of the media out
there that portrays crime does not accurately show what we know about various aspects of crime.
These television shows tend to exaggerate crime statistics, misrepresent the demographic
information of perpetrators and victims, and distorts the way our criminal justice system works.
Although, there are some redeeming television programs that depicts relevant aspects of crime.
One of these crime dramas that tried to accurately illustrate crime and criminals is HBOs
first one-hour television drama, Oz (1997-2003). Oz centers around the fictitious Oswald State
Penitentiary, a maximum security prison loosely based on Sing Sing Correctional Facility located
in Ossining, New York. For the most part, the series focuses on the inmates in a certain cell
block called Emerald, or Em, City. Emerald City is a controlled environment that is led by unit
manager Tim McManus who emphasizes rehabilitation instead of retribution. This rehabilitation
technique is shown in many ways. For example, inmates who are assigned to live in Em City are
usually able to get out of their cells, watch television, and play card games most hours of the day.
This is different than the other cell blocks, both in Oz and in real-life prisons. In the other cell
blocks in Oz, the inmates are only allowed out of their cells during dining hours and an hour of
free time. Throughout the series, the main focus is on the inmates of Em City, from their daily
lives to how they actually ended up in Oz.
The creators of Oz were able to incorporate many aspects of crime to provide an accurate
description of various criminological theories, crime statistics, and other aspects of our criminal

justice system. It is a reoccurring theme of Oz to explain how each inmate ended up in Oswald
State Penitentiary. Using certain criminological theories, we are able to provide some
explanations on what caused these individuals to commit certain crimes.
Using Rational Choice Theory, we can provide some answers as to why two inmates,
Vernon Schillinger and Kareem Said, resorted to crime. Vernon Vern Schillinger, a member of
the Aryan Brotherhood, was found guilty of attacking an African American drug dealer for
selling drugs to his two sons. He was charged with aggravated assault in the first-degree.
Kareem Said, a devout Muslim and Black Nationalist, was found guilty of blowing up a whiteowned warehouse and was charged with second-degree arson. Rational Choice Theory can be
applied to these particular cases because each inmate was able to outweigh the risks of arrest for
the personal rewards that their crime brought. In Schillingers case, he believed that attacking
the man, to whom he already hated based solely upon his race, was a way to get even for selling
drugs to his children. Kareem Said believed that blowing up the warehouse would send a
message to others about the unjust treatment of African Americans in our society. To him,
sending a message meant more to him than the possibility of spending eighteen years behind
bars.
Some other theories that can be applied to the criminal acts are Social Learning and
Social Process Theories, specifically behavior modeling and Differential Association Theory.
These two theory groups try to explain how people resort to crime as a result of social
interactions with the people and institutions that they came in contact with throughout their lives.
The individuals eventually start to adopt the behaviors of those that they are being socialized
around. These influential people are known as carriers because they carry the social norms that
must be learned by the individual. Many of the career criminals of Emerald City, such as

Augustus Hill, Ryan OReilly, and Miguel Alvarez can have their crimes explained by these two
types of criminological theories. Their criminal career tends to start when they are younger, with
these particular inmates all being involved in criminal gangs. In each instance, they grew up in
high gang activity areas and were being socialized into a life of crime.
Augustus Hill was mentored into selling and using drugs since he was a teenager by his
godfather, Burr Redding. In order to succeed in the drug business, Hill had to model himself
after Redding and the other prominent carriers around him. Miguel Alvarez and Ryan OReilly
were in very similar circumstances. They, like Hill, joined gangs when they were teenagers, El
Norte and the Bridge Street Gang respectively. Not much is mentioned on the show about their
start in their gangs, but it can be presumed that these two inmates resorted to crime as a result of
being socialized by people who believed in a life of crime.
Despite the fact that these theories show that many inmates in Oz are incarcerated due to
their own decision-making and socializations into crime, there is one Em City inmate that was
not originally on the course of crime. Tobias Beecher, a once respected attorney, landed in
Oswald Penitentiary due to driving while intoxicated and vehicular manslaughter. Although
there are many criminological theories that can explain Beechers rise to crime, Neutralization
Theory explains how Beecher drifted between a law-abiding and law-breaking citizen. This
theory states that some criminals drift back and forth between conventional and criminal
behavior. When Beecher doesnt engage in drunk-driving, he is an upstanding citizen. But when
rationalizing his alcohol abuse, Tobias Beecher was able to drift to the deviant behavior of
drunk-driving.
Even though Neutralization Theory is used to explain individuals who have a history of
crime, applying this criminological theory to an every-day man can eliminate some important

critiques. For example, one issue with Neutralization Theory states that most criminals take
pride in their deviant and anti-social behavior. To them, this behavior is acceptable so there is no
reason to drift to conventional methods. But, when you apply it to someone like Tobias who
wouldnt praise his criminal acts, it is easy to see why when he commits a crime he would
immediately return to more acceptable ways of behaving.
These criminological theories only explain why each inmate in Oz resorted to crime. But
they dont demonstrate certain information of the people that commit the crime. For example,
their race and ethnicity. In order to compare the television show portrayal and the real-life
statistics of a prison population, I decided to analyze the population of Oswald State
Penitentiarys inspiration: Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York.
Although the prisoners in Em City are purposefully diverse to ease the tensions of racial
disparity, the rest of the prisoners in the other cell blocks fit the race and ethnic statuses that are
present in legitimate prisons. Due to the fact that Oz was on air before the entire New York
prison system consolidated their records into one database, we are only able to examine the
demographic information of Sing Sing after 2007. Although Oz ended in 2003, there have been
no major law changes that would substantially affect the prison population in New York prisons
in the years in which the data is missing.
According to New Yorks Department of Correctional Services, there were a total of
1,713 inmates in Sing Sing Correctional Facility during 2007. Using the information provided,
we are able to visualize the racial disparity that is present in Sing Sing, as well as the fictional
Oswald State Penitentiary. As shown in the graph below, minorities have the largest percentage
of those imprisoned.

Race/Ethnicity
White
African American
Hispanic
Native American
Asian
Other
Unknown

Number Imprisoned
191
958
526
5
17
13
3

Percentage
11.6%
55.9%
30.7%
0.3%
1%
0.8%
0.2%

State of New York Department of Correctional Services

This number raises steadily by about twenty to thirty inmates each year. Using this
information, we can speculate that during the years of Oz, there were approximately 1,500 to
1,600 inmates in Sing Sing. As for the percentage of people of different races, each group only
changes about one to two percentiles, but on average stay very similar. This similarity would
most likely have been present in the early 2000s when Oz was in syndication.
The above data is that of an actual prison system but does Oz portray this data accurately?
Unfortunately the show does not have any mention of race percentiles. We can only go off of the
perceived race and ethnicity of the characters on the show. However, based on my observations,
many of the portrayals seem to fit in with the statistics that are presented by the state of New
York. Em City is comprised of different groups of people, usually divided by race and religion;
the African American Homeboys, the Muslims, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Latinos of El
Norte, the Irish, and the Others. The Homeboys and the Muslims, who are majorly African
American, comprise about half of Oz. The second-largest group is the Latinos of El Norte,
leaving the inmates who belong to primarily white groupsBeecher, OReilly, and Schillinger
as one of the smallest groups in Em City. HBOs representation of crime does not just stop at
who is primarily incarcerated, it also shows various other aspects of crime; such as victim impact
statements and the process of justice that the inmates go through.

One important criminological aspect that Oz incorporates is victim impact statements.

These statements are usually written accounts in which the victim states how the particular crime
has affected them. These affidavits are taken into consideration when sentences or parole
eligibility is being determined. This subject is brought up various times throughout the
television show, most notably when Tobias Beecher is up for parole. The parents of Kathy
Rockwell, the girl Tobias hit and killed while driving intoxicated, had the opportunity to give
their statements and prevent him from getting paroled.
The process of justice is also shown a lot on Oz. Unlike many other popular crime
dramas, Oz shows what happens to the individual after they are sentenced. From the initial
contact with the police to release, each inmate is shown going through the same process. Tobias
Beecher, one of the few to actually be released from Oz shows just how the process of justice
works. After his arrest and arraignment, Beecher was originally going to take a plea deal.
However, when the judge handling is case decided to deny the plea bargain, a maximum
sentence for non-violent vehicular manslaughter was given and Beecher was sent to Oz for
fifteen years. After approximately four years of incarceration, he was released under the
supervision of the parole board.
The creators of Oz tried extremely hard to keep their portrayal of crime and criminals
extremely authentic. They understood that the prison population is very diverse in many aspects.
Due to the various nature the crimes portrayed, they were able to give different reasons as to why
each inmate in Emerald City became involved with crime. Keeping consistent with the
demographic information of Sing Sing, Oz shows a distinct separation of race and ethnicity
throughout the course of the show. Surprisingly, Oz goes further in depth into other aspects of

crime that gives the viewer a different view on crime and criminals. It is able to show the truth
of who commits crime and what happens to them after the handcuffs are slapped on.

I abided with Washington Colleges Honor Code while completing this assignment: Sarah
Touhey

Works Cited

Fontana, Tom. Oz. 1997-2003: Home Box Office, Inc.

Siegal, Larry J. 2014. Criminology: The Core. Boston: Cengage Learning.
New York State Department of Correctional Services. 2007. Profile of Inmate Population Under
Custody.