topic 3- crime in contemporary sosciety; the media and crime

what did ericon et al find about proportin of news coverage

Richard Ericson et al's (1991) study of Toronto found that 45-71% of quality press and radio news was about various forms of deviance and its control,

what did williams and dickinson find about british newspapers

Williams and Dickinson (1993) found British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime.

stati of media overrepresenrtation of violent and sexual crime

• The media over-represent violent and sexual crime For example, Ditton and Duffy (1983) found that 46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes, yet these made up only 3% of all crimes recorded by the police. One review by Marsh (1991) of studies of news reporting in America found that a violent crime was 36 times more likely to be reported than a property crime.

• The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle-class than those typically found in the criminal justice system. Felson (1998) calls this the 'age fallacy'.

• Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases. This is partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in a good light, and partly because the media over-represents violent crime, which has a higher clear-up rate than property crime.

• The media exaggerate the risk of victimisation, especially to women, White people and higher status individuals.

• Crime is reported as a series of separate events without structure and without examining underlying causes.

• The media overplay extraordinary crimes and underplay ordinary crimes - Felson calls this the 'dramatic fallacy. Similarly, media images lead us to believe that to commit crime (and to solve it) one needs to be daring and clever - the 'ingenuity fallacy'.

who talks about rape

Sylvia Walby

(1991) found that newspaper reporting of rape cases increased from under a quarter of all cases in 1951 to over a third in 1985. They also note that coverage consistently focuses on identifying a 'sex fiend' or 'beast, often by use of labels (such as 'the balaclava rapist). The resulting distorted picture of rape is one of serial attacks carried out by psychopathic strangers. While these do occur, they are the exception rather than the rule - in most cases the perpetrator is known to the victim.

news values, explain

The distorted picture of crime painted by the news media reflects the fact that news is a social construction. That is, news does not simply exist 'out there' waiting to be gathered in and written up by the journalist. Rather, it is the outcome of a social process in which some potential stories are selected while others are rejected. As Stan Cohen and Jock Young (1973) note, news is not discovered but manufactured.

what are news values

News values are the criteria by which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the newspaper or news bulletin. If a crime story can be told in terms of some of these criteria, it has a better chance of making the news. Key news values influencing the selection of crime stories include:

• Immediacy - 'breaking news'

• Dramatisation - action and excitement

• Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals

• Higher-status persons and 'celebrities'

• Simplification - eliminating shades of grey

what does manfel estimat about fictional crime

Fictional representations from TV, cinema and novels are also important sources of our knowledge of crime, because so much of their output is crime-related ro example, Ernest Mandel (1984) estimates that from 1945 to 1984, over 10 billion crime thrillers were sold wordivide While about 25% of prime time TV and 20% of films ate crime shows or movies.

what does surette explain about fictional crime

Fictional representations of crime, criminals and victims follow what Surette (1998) calls the law of opposites: they are the opposite of the official statistics - and strikingly similar to news coverage.

• Property crime is under-represented, while violence, drugs and sex crimes are over-represented.

• While real-life homicides mainly result from brawls and domestic disputes, fictional ones are the product of greed and calculation.

• Fictional sex crimes are committed by psychopathic strangers, not acquaintances. Fictional villains tend to be higher status, middle-aged White males.

• Fictional cops usually get their man.

there has been a concern that media has a negative effect on attitudes, values and bejavour what are examples of such

in the 1920s and '30s, cinema was blamed for corrupting youth;

in the 1950s, horror comics were held responsible for moral decline,

while in the 1980s it was 'video nasties'.

More recently, rap lyrics and computer games such as Grand Theft Auto have been criticised for encouraging violence and criminality.

what are the ways media might possibly casue crime and deviance

• Imitation - by providing deviant role models, resulting in
  'copycat' behaviour.

• Arousal, e.g. through viewing violent or sexual imagery.

• Desensitisation, e.g. through repeated viewing of violence.

• By transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques.

• As a target for crime, e.g. theft of TVs.

• By stimulating desires for unaffordable goods, e.g. through advertising.

• By portraying the police as incompetent.

• By glamourising offending.

however, eval that media has a small negative effect on audience

As Schramm et al (1961) say in relation to the effects of TV viewing on children:

For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For some children under the same conditions, it may be beneficial. For most children, under most conditions, most television is probably neither particularly harmful nor particularly beneficial!'

connection betwen media use and fear of crime, examples

Research evidence to some extent supports the view that there is a link between media use and fear of crime. For example, in the USA, Gerbner et al found that heavy users of television (over four hours a day) had higher levels of fear of crime.

Similarly, Schlesinger and Tumber (1992) found a correlation between media consumption and fear of crime, with tabloid readers and heavy users of TV expressing greater fear of becoming a victim, especially of physical attack and 'mugging'.

what do left realists argue

others however, have argued that media’s portrayel of normal rather than criminal lifestyle encourages people to commit crime

left realists argue that the mass media heip to increase the sense of relative deprivation - the feeling of being deprived relative to others - among poor and marginalised social groups. As Lea and Young (1996) put it:

'The mass media have disseminated a standardized image of lifestyle, particularly in the areas of popular culture and recreation, which, for those unemployed and surviving through the dole queue or only able to obtain employment at very low wages, has accentuated the sense of relative deprivation.' In today's society, where even the poorest groups have media access, the media present everyone with images of a materialistic 'good life' of leisure, fun and consumer goods as the norm to which they should conform. The result is to stimulate the sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion felt by marginalised groups who anot afford these goods

Merton argues, pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant bejaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitmate means is blocked, thus the media re instrumental in setting the norm and thus promoting crime

how does relative deprivation causse crime

relative deprivation explains how the media produce or cause crime. By showing people lifestyles they desire but cannot afford, the media create a sense of relative deprivation that causes people to resort to crime to get the commodities they cannot obtain legitimately.

what does cultural criminology argue

By contrast to relative deprivation, cultural criminology argues that the media turn crime itself into the commodity that people desire. Rather than simply producing crime in their audiences, the media encourage them to consume crime, in the form of images of crime.

example of cultural criminologists, what do they say

cultural criminologists such as Mike Hayward and Jock Young (2012) see late modern society as a media-saturated society, where we are immersed in the 'mediascape' - an ever-expanding tangle of fluid digital images, including images of crime. In this world, there is a blurring between the image and the reality of crime, so that the two are no longer clearly distinct or separable. The way the media represent crime and crime control now actually constitutes or creates the thing itself.

For example, gang assaults are not just caught on camera, but staged for the camera and later packaged together in

'underground fight videos'. Similarly, police car cameras don't just record police activity; they actually alter the way in which the police work, with US police forces for example using reality TV shows like Cops as promo videos.

what is a further feature of late modernity, what do hayward and young argue

A further feature of late modernity is the emphasis on consumption, excitement and immediacy.

In this context, Hayward and Young argue, crime and its thrills become commodified. Corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products, especially in the youth market. For example, hip hop combines images of street hustler criminality with images of consumerist success.

Similarly, leading hip hop stars parade designer chic clothing, jewellery, champagne, luxury cars and so on.

thus, crime and deviance thus become a style to be consumed.

what do fenwick and hayward argue about commodifcation of crime

As Fenwick and Hayward (2000) put it, 'crime is packaged and marketed to young people as a romantic, exciting, cool, and fashionable cultural symbol.'

This is also true of mainstream products. For example, Hayward and Young cite examples of car ads featuring street riots, joyriding, suicide bombing, graffiti and pyromania.

Likewise, the fashion industry and its advertisers trade on images of the forbidden (with brands such as Opium, Poison and Obsession), heroin chic, sadomasochism and violence against women, and the retailer FCUK 'brands' transgression into its name. Designer clothing Section 60 is named after the section of the Act giving police the power to stop and search.

Even counter-cultures are packaged and sold. Graffiti is the marker of deviant urban cool, but corporations now use it in a 'guerrilla marketing' technique called 'brandalism' to sell everything from theme parks to cars and video games.

another way in whih the media may cause crme and deviance is through labelling

One further way in which the media may cause crime and deviance is through labelling. for example moral entrepreneurs who disapprove of some particular behaviour- drug taking, for instance - may use the media to put pressure on the authorities to 'do something' about the alleged problem.

If successful, their campaigning will result in the negative labelling of the behaviour and perhaps a change in the law, such as the introduction of the Marijuana Tax Act in the USA. By helping to label marijuana smoking, which previously had been legal, as criminal, the media helped to cause crime.

what is moral panic

A moral panic is an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem - usually driven or inspired by the media - where the reaction enlarges the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness. In a moral panic:

what happens in moral panic

• The media identify a group as a folk devil or threat to societal values.

• The media present the group in a negative, stereotypical fashion and exaggerate the scale of the problem.

• Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, police chiefs, bishops and other 'respectable' authorities condemn the group and its behaviour.

what does moral panic lead to

This usually leads to calls for a 'crackdown' on the group.

However, this may create a self-fulfilling prophecy that amplifies the very problem that caused the panic in the first place. For example, in the case of drugs, setting up special drug squads led the police to discover more drug taking. As the crackdown identifies more deviants, there are calls for even tougher action, creating a deviance amplification spiral.

what is the most influential study of moral panics and the role of the media

Stanley Cohen's (1972) book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics. Cohen examines the media's response to disturbances between two groups of largely working-class teenagers, the mods and the rockers, at English seaside resorts from 1964 to 1966, and the way in which this created a moral panic.

description of mods

Mods wore smart dress and rode scooters; rockers wore leather jackets and rode motorbikes - though in the early stages, distinctions were not so clear-cut, and not many young people identified themselves as belonging to either 'group'. The initial confrontations started on a cold, wet Easter weekend in 1964 at Clacton, with a few scuffles, some stone throwing, some windows being broken and some beach huts wrecked.

the disorder seen in clacton was relatively minor however, how did the media react

although the disorder was relatively minor, the media over-reacted. In his analysis, Cohen uses the analogy of a disaster, where the media produce an inventory or stocktaking of what happened. Cohen says this inventory contained three elements

what are the three elemtns that cohen says

1.      Exaggeration and distortion

-        The media exaggerated the numbers involved and the extent of the violence and damage, and distorted the picture through dramatic reporting and sensational headlines such as Day of Terror Dy Scooter Gangs' and Youngsters Beat Up Town - 97 Leather Jacket Arrests'. Even non-events were news - towns 'held their breath' for invasions that didn't materialise.

 

2.      Prediction

-        The media regularly assumed and predicted further conflict and violence would result.

 

 

3.      Symbolisation The symbols of the mods and rockers

-         their clothes, bikes and scooters, hairstyles, music etc - were all negatively labelled and associated with deviance.

-        The media's use of these symbols allowed them to link unconnected events. For example, bikers in different parts of the country who misbehaved could be seen as part of a more general underlying problem of disorderly youth.

what did cohen argue that the media’s portrayel produced

Cohen argues that the media's portrayal of events produced a deviance amplification spiral by making it seem as if the problem was spreading and getting out of hand. This led to calls for an increased control response from the police and courts. This produced further marginalisation and stigmatisation of the mods and rockers as deviants, and less and less tolerance of them, and so on in an upward spiral.

the media further amplified the deviance by defitning the two groups and thier subecultural styles, explain

The media further amplified the deviance by defining the two groups and their subcultural styles. This led to more youths adopting these styles and drew in more participants for future clashes. By emphasising their supposed differences, the media crystallised two distinct identities and transformed loose-knit groupings into two tight-knit gangs.

This encouraged polarisation and helped to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of escalating conflict as youths acted out the roles the media had assigned to them.

cohen puts the moral panic about mods and rockers into the wider society, what was it

wider context of change in post-war British society.

This was a period in which the newfound affluence, consumerism and hedonism of the young appeared to challenge the values of an older generation who had lived through the hardships of the 1930s and 1940s.

acc to cohen when do moral panics occur

moral panics often occur at times of social change, reflecting the anxieties many people feel when accepted values seem to be undermined. He argues that the moral panic was a result of a boundary crisis, where there was uncertainty about the where the boundary lay between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in a time of change. The folk devil created by the media symbolises and gives a focus to popular anxieties about social disorder.

functionalist view of moral panic

From a functionalist perspective, moral panics can be seen as ways of responding to the sense of anomie or normlessness created by change. By dramatising the threat to society in the form of a folk devil, the media raises the collective consciousness and reasserts social controls when central values are threatened.

what does stuart hall argue about moral panic

Stuart Hall et al (1979) adopt a neo-Marxist approach that locates the role of moral panics in the context of capitalism. They argue that the moral panic over 'mugging' in the British media in the 1970s served to distract attention from the crisis of capitalism, divide the working class on racial grounds and legitimate a more authoritarian style of rule.

other examples of folk devisla nd moral panics

dangerous dogs,

New Age travellers,

'bogus' asylum seekers,

child sexual abuse,

Aids,

binge drinking,

'mad cow' disease

single parents.

criticsm of moral panic: assumes

It assumes that the societal reaction is a disproportionate over-reaction - but who is to decide what is a proportionate reaction, and what is a panicky one? This relates to the left realist view that people's fear of crime is in fact rational.

what do mcrobbie and thornton argue about moral panics

in late modernity, moral panics are now routine and have less impact. Also, in late modern society, there is little consensus about what is deviant. Lifestyle choices that were condemned forty years ago, such as single motherhood, are no longer universally regarded as deviant and so it is harder for the media to create panics about them.

the arrival of new types of media is often met with a moral panic, example

For example, horror comics, cinema, television, videos and computer games have all been accused of undermining public morality and corrupting the young. The same is true of the Internet - both because of the speed with which it has developed and its scale: two-thirds of the world's population are now online.

what sociologists look at the arrival of the internet as causing fears of cyber crime

Douglas Thomas and Brian Loader 2000) see the arrival of the internet as causing fears of cyber crime, which they define as computer-mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit by some, and that are conducted through global electronic networks.

what does Ybonne Jewkes note

As Yvonne Jewkes (2003) notes, the Internet creates opportunities to commit both 'conventional crimes', such as fraud, and 'new crimes using new tools', such as software piracy.

who identifies 4 categories of cuber crime

Wall (2001) identifies four categories of cybercrime:

1. Cyber-trespass - crossing boundaries into others' cyber-property. It includes hacking and sabotage, such as spreading viruses.

2. Cyber-deception and theft - including identity theft, phishing' (obtaining identity or bank account details by deception) and violation of intellectual property rights (e.g. software piracy, illegal downloading and file-sharing).

3. Cyber-pornography - including porn involving minors, and opportunities for children to access porn online.

4. Cyber-violence - doing psychological harm or inciting physical harm. Cyber-violence includes cyber-stalking (e.g sending unwanted, threatening or offensive messages) and hate crimes against minority groups, as well as bullying by text or on social media.

why is policing cuber crime difficult

Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly because of the sheer scale of the Internet and the limited resources of the police, and also because of its globalised nature, which poses problems of jurisdiction (e.g. in which country should someone be prosecuted for an Internet offence?). Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it is seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing.

however, the new information and communication technology also provides police and state with what>

provides the police and state with greater opportunities for surveillance and control of the population.

As Jewkes (2003) argues, ICT permits routine surveillance through the use of CCTV cameras, electronic databases, digital fingerprinting and 'smart' identity cards, as well as the installation of listening devices called 'carnivores' at Internet service providers to monitor email traffic