Crime and the Media

Question 1

Crime in the media

Answer 1

• Media over represent violent and sexual crime
• Media portray criminals and victims as older and more m/c than those in criminal justice system
• Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases
• Media exaggerates the risk of victimisation
• Crime is reported as a series of separate events without causes or structure
• Media overplay extraordinary crimes

Question 2

Cohen and Young

Answer 2

news is not discovered but is manufactured.

Question 3

Surette

Answer 3

movies and tv shows etc show the opposite of official statistics, drugs and murder high while property crime is not shown. Cops usually get their man- which is false.

Question 4

Media causes crime

Answer 4

1. Imitation - provides deviant role models
2. Arousal- viewing violent or sexual imagery
3. Desensitisation-repeated showing violence
4. Transmits knowledge of crimes
5. Target of crime- tv’s
6. Stimulates desire for unaffordable goods
7. Portrays the police as incompetent
8. Glamourises offending

Question 5

Gerbner

Answer 5

those who heavily watched tv feared crime more.

Question 6

Hayward and Young

Answer 6

the lines between image and the reality of crime have been blurred by the media. The way the media represents crime now creates the things itself - we have shows eg cops

Question 7

Fenwick and Hayward

Answer 7

crime is used to see goods to the young, using vandalism and car chases to sell cars.

Question 8

Cohen- mods and rockers

Answer 8

they had a small fight in Clayton, media exaggerated it and made a moral panic, media said there would be more conflict, both mods and rockers were labelled as deviant. this created an amplification spiral, more people joined the groups, police arrested more marginalising them. The medias response led to self fulfilling prophecy and more fights happened. Media are the ones who cause a moral panic.

Question 9

Wall- four types of cyber crime

Answer 9

cyber trespass- crossing boundaries into others cyber property, eg hacking
cyber deception and theft- identity theft
cyber porn- porn involving minors
cyber violence- psychological harm

All cyber crime is hard to police.