Crime in One Long‐Lived Comic Strip: An Evaluation of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy'

Abstract

Abstract. A six‐months run of the popular and long‐lived newspaper cartoon, “Dick Tracy,” was analyzed in terms of the frequency with which certain characters were used, the location and setting in which they appeared and the criminal activity and law enforcement technique portrayed. Also studied were physical characteristics of criminals and police, and the use of violence. The results indicated the continued theme of the cartoonist, Chester Gould, was a “morality play,”i.e., the triumph of good over evil. All pictured criminals were either apprehended or killed as a result of police expertise, and police violence was both minimal and reactive. However, contrary to similar analyses of primetime television, the majority of offenses pictured were crimes against the American economic system, rather than violent crime, and offenders were disproportionately White, middle‐aged males.