Learn: CRIM1002 – Media, Crime and Green Criminology

What is content analysis?

Counting and categorising media content to identify trends.

What is discourse analysis?

Examining language and framing to reveal ideologies and power.

What are the limitations of these methods?

They cannot prove media effects or explain how audiences interpret content.

What is hegemony in crime reporting?

Media reinforcing dominant ideologies and social hierarchies.

What is newsworthiness?

Features that make stories attractive to the media, such as violence, drama, novelty and celebrity involvement.

What is agenda-setting?

Media influencing which issues the public considers important.

How does media distort crime?

Overrepresents violent crime, exaggerates risk and downplays broader patterns.

How are police commonly portrayed?

As effective protectors, with little attention to corruption or abuse.

What is Christie's (1986) ideal victim?

An innocent, vulnerable person harmed by a powerful offender.

How do true crime podcasts differ from traditional news?

More immersive, investigative and interactive.

What are criminogenic media effects?

The possibility that media encourages crime or aggression.

Does violent media cause violence?

Research shows small or inconsistent effects; causation is unclear.

What is selective exposure?

Aggressive individuals may prefer violent media.

What did Schramm et al. (1961) conclude?

Violent media can harm some children under certain conditions.

What is the crime-fear gap?

The difference between perceived and actual crime levels.

What is a moral panic?

An exaggerated public reaction to a perceived social threat.

What are the stages of moral panic?

Threat identified -> media exaggeration -> public fear -> political crackdown.

What is a folk devil?

A group portrayed as threatening society's values.

What did Cohen's Mods and Rockers study demonstrate?

Media exaggerated youth violence, creating moral panic and harsher policing.

What do moral panics reveal?

Society's anxieties, cultural conflicts and power structures.

How is drill music linked to moral panic?

Blamed for violence, leading to policing, bans and stigmatisation.

What is citizen journalism?

Ordinary people documenting and sharing news.

How can social media challenge dominant narratives?

Exposes injustice and amplifies marginalised voices.

What is an example of citizen journalism?

Videos of police violence supporting Black Lives Matter.

What are criticisms of social media moral panics?

Evidence of harm is mixed, and online communities can provide support.

What is green criminology?

Studying environmental harm in relation to justice, power and inequality.

How does green criminology challenge traditional criminology?

Examines environmental and social harms beyond legally defined crimes.

What is anthropocentrism?

Human-centred view of the environment.

What is biocentrism?

All living creatures have inherent worth.

What is ecocentrism?

Humans are part of an interconnected ecological system.

What are examples of environmental harms?

Pollution, deforestation, resource depletion and wildlife trafficking.

Why is environmental harm less newsworthy?

Often gradual, complex and less dramatic than street crime.

How does neoliberalism contribute to environmental harm?

Deregulation and capitalism can weaken environmental protections.

What is Beck's risk society?

Modernisation creates large-scale, human-made risks.

What characterises risks in late modernity?

Global, human-made, increasingly visible and partially understood.

How does Fukushima illustrate modern risk?

Natural disasters combined with manufactured nuclear hazards.

What happened to the Aral Sea?

Irrigation caused severe water loss, pollution and ecosystem collapse.

How does colonialism contribute to environmental harm?

Land dispossession and resource extraction damage Indigenous ecosystems.

How do Indigenous environmental perspectives differ from Western approaches?

Emphasise relationships with land, water and non-human life.

What does decolonising green criminology challenge?

Eurocentric definitions of crime, justice and environmental harm.

How does conflict theory explain environmental injustice?

Powerful groups benefit while disadvantaged groups suffer greater harm.

Why are Pacific Islands an example of environmental injustice?

They face rising seas despite contributing little to global emissions.

How is organised crime connected to environmental harm?

Illegal dumping, wildlife trafficking, resource theft and money laundering.

What does 'lawful but awful' mean?

Legal activities that cause serious environmental or social harm.

What prevents environmental crime enforcement?

Corruption, limited resources, unclear responsibility and poor cooperation.

What happened at Juukan Gorge?

Rio Tinto legally destroyed 46,000-year-old Indigenous caves for mining.

Why is Juukan Gorge significant?

Demonstrates how corporate interests can be legally prioritised over Indigenous heritage.

What did the Te Awa Tupua Act (2017) establish?

New Zealand's Whanganui River was granted legal personhood.

What is environmental restorative justice?

Repairing harm through community participation, accountability and dialogue.