crime and the media

Question 1

What crimes do Ditton and Duffy believe are over-represented?

Answer 1

• violent and sexual crimes
• 46% of media reports were on these crimes - which make up only 3% of crimes reported by the police

Question 2

What is an example of violent and sexual crimes being over-represented in the media?

Answer 2

• # metoo movement covered many cases of sexual assault over a vast period of time despite the fact that many other types of crime happened more frequently but didn’t make the news

Question 3

What is an A03 to Ditton and Duffy’s argument that violent and sexual crimes are over-represented?

Answer 3

• violent and sexual crimes are arguably the worst crimes to be the victim of, maybe they deserve more focus

Question 4

What is Felton’s arguement that the media over-represents criminals and victims as older and more middle-class?

Answer 4

• age-fallacy
• most crime is actually commited by working class people ages 15-20

Question 5

What is an A03 to Felton’s age fallacy argument?

Answer 5

• Grenfell tower recieved mass amounts of reporting and it mainly affected the working class

Question 6

How does the media represent police success?

Answer 6

• exaggerates it
• police are a major source for crime stories so they want to be presented in a positive light

Question 7

What is an example of the media exaggerating police success?

Answer 7

• violent crime is much more likely to be reported than property crime because it is easier to solve

Question 8

What is an A03 to the exaggerating of police success argument?

Answer 8

• the police were under intense scrutiny and fire by the media after the Mark Duggan and Nicola Bulley cases.

Question 9

How does the media portray victimhood?

Answer 9

• it exaggerates the likelihood
• women, white people and higher-status people are shown to be more at risk whereas young BME males are more at risk

Question 10

What is an example of the media misrepresenting victims?

Answer 10

• during the #metoo movement, white middle class women were at the centre of media coverage

Question 11

What does it mean when crime is reported as a series of seperate events?

Answer 11

• the media never explains underlying structures and causes of crime

Question 12

What is an example of the media never explaining underlying causes of crime?

Answer 12

• in rape cases, the perp is quick to be dehumanised without any context when in reality most perps were once victims themselves

Question 13

What is Felton’s argument about crimes being overplayed?

Answer 13

• dramatic fallacy
• the media makes crime seem daring and clever

Question 14

What is an example of crime being overplayed?

Answer 14

• the Hatton garden heist was made into a film

Question 15

What is an A03 to the argument that crime is overplayed?

Answer 15

• the media over-represents sexual and violent crimes and never presents it as daring or clever

Question 16

What are the five arguments to how the media may cause crime?

Answer 16

• materialism
• desensitisation
• imitation
• arousal
• knowledge

Question 17

How does materialism cause crime?

Answer 17

• the media presents people living the perfect life which leads to the experience of material deprivation, which leads to people committing crime

Question 18

How does desensitisation lead to crime?

Answer 18

• the media exposes people to violence which makes people desensitised to it and more likely to commit it

Question 19

How can imitation lead to crime?

Answer 19

• sometimes viewers of media will attempt to copy crimes they see

Question 20

What is an example of materialism?

Answer 20

• merton’s strain theory

Question 21

What is an example of desensitisation?

Answer 21

• films and videogames

Question 22

What is an example of copycat crime?

Answer 22

• In 2008 Derek Brown was found guilty of killing two women in a similiar way to Jack the Ripper

Question 23

How can arousal cause crime?

Answer 23

• violent and sexual imagery may ‘stimulate’ potential criminals and may become a factor in them turning to crime

Question 24

What is an example of arousal potentially causing crime?

Answer 24

• 50 shades of grey
• violent porn

Question 25

How can knowledge cause crime?

Answer 25

• people can learn criminal techniques through the media

Question 26

Examples of knowledge causing crime?

Answer 26

• people ChatGPTed how to build a bomb

Question 27

What is a moral panic?

Answer 27

• an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem, which is usually driven and/or inspired by the media

Question 28

What is Cohen’s example of a moral panic?

Answer 28

• the mods and rockers
• the media exaggerated a conflict between two working class groups

Question 29

What three ways can the media report a moral panic?

Answer 29

• exaggeration and distortion
• prediction – predicts further violence
• symbolisation – ‘folk devils’ are given a symbol which is identifiable

Question 30

What is Cohen’s ‘deviancy amplification spiral’?

Answer 30

• media makes a problem seem worse than it is which leads to increased marginalisation