Media and crime

  1. Media representation of crime

Key points-

  • Crime is overrepresented in the media- especially violent and sexual crimes

  • Media exaggerates police success and risk of victimisation

  • Media ignore structural causes of crime

Key study-

  • Williams and Dickinson- Found that violent crimes make up 65% of news reports, but only 6% of actual crimes

Evaluation

  • Creates public fear and distorted understanding of crime patterns

  1. Media as a cause of crime

Media can encourage crime through:

  • Limitation (Copying behaviour)

  • Desensitisation (Less shocked by violence)

  • Glamourisation of crime

  • Relative deprivation

Key studies-

  • Banduras bobo doll experiment: imitation of aggression

  • left realists (Lea and Young): Media increases relative deprivation, especially for working class youths

Evaluation-

  • Hard to prove causation, more correlation

  • Media affects may be short term or symbolic

  1. Moral panics and Folk devils

Key concepts-

  • Moral panic- Sudden concern over a group seen as a threat to societal values

  • Folk devil- The scapegoated group blamed for wider social issues

Key study-

Cohen: Mods and Rockers- Media exaggerated youth conflict, leading to public panic and harsher policing

Evaluation

  • McRobbie and Thornton- Moral panics are less effective today due to media saturation and audience scepticism

  1. Cybercrime and the media

Key types-

  1. Cyber trespass- hacking, spreading viruses

  2. Cyber deception/theft- Phishing, scams

  3. Cyber pornography- Illegal pornography

  4. Cyber violence- Cyberbullying, hate speech

Key point-

  • Cybercrime is difficult to police, cross-border and increasingly rapidly

Evaluation-

Governments struggle to regulate the internet without regulating freedom

  1. Media and fear of crime

key point-

  • Heavy TV watchers (Especially older people) overestimate risk of victimisation

Study-

  • Gerbner et al- ‘Mean world syndrome’- More media= More fear

Evaluation-

  • May not apply to younger people who use social media more than the TV