crime and the media

Question 1

How does the media show a distorted image of crime compared to official stats

Answer 1

• the media over represents violent and sexual crime (46% about violent crime compared to 3% recorded by police)
• media portrays criminals/victims as older and more middle class, Felson calls this ‘age fallacy’
• media coverage exaggerates police success (violent crime has higher success rates)

Question 2

what evidence is there for changes with the media

Answer 2

• widened to drugs, child abuse, terrorism etc
• 1960s focus was on murder but less interest in 1990s
• came about partly due to abolition of the death penalty and rising crime rates meant crime had to be ‘special’

Question 3

what did cohen and Young argue about news values

Answer 3

news is not discovered but manufacturing - outcome of a social process where stories are selected or rejected

Question 4

what key values influence the selection of crime stories

Answer 4

examples include:

• dramatization - excitement
• higher-status -celebrities
• risk ‘fear’ - risky articles to shock reader

Question 5

what does Mandel argue about fictional representations of crime

Answer 5

over 40 years, 10 billion crime thrillers were sold

Question 6

what does Surrette argue about fictional representations of crime

Answer 6

calls the ‘law of opposites’ argues that fictional representations of crime, criminals and victims are the opposite of official stats

Question 7

what is argued about fictional representations of crime in books and novels

Answer 7

in books and novels

• property crime is underrepresented
• Homicides are product of greed and not domestic
• sex crimes committed by psychopaths
• cops get their criminal

Question 8

what are the trends in fictional representations of crime

Answer 8

• reality shows depict on underclass
• there is a tendency to show police as corrupt
• victims have become more central

Question 9

what concerns are there for the negative impact of crime

Answer 9

• computer games such as GTA has been criticised for increasing violence and criminality
• in the 1920s and 30s, cinema was blamed for corrupting youth
• in the 1950s horror comics were held responsible for moral decline

Question 10

what ways are there that the media might cause crime and deviance

Answer 10

• desensitisation eg repeated viewing of violence
• imitation
• arousal

Question 11

what did Livingstone argue about the media as a cause of crime

Answer 11

despite the findings on the negative impact of the media on children, people continue to be preoccupied with the effect of the media on children because of our desire as a society to regard childhood a innocent

Question 12

what does research show there is a link between in fear of crime

Answer 12

supports the view that there is a link between media use and fear of crime. eg Gerber et al found that heavy users of television had high levels of fear and crime

Question 13

what did schlesinger and Tumber argue

Answer 13

found that correlation between media consumption and fear of crime, with tabloid readers and heavy users of TV expressing greater fear of becoming a victim, especially a physical attack and mugging

Question 14

what do left realists argue

Answer 14

that the mass media help to increase the sense of relative deprivation - the felling of being deprived relative to others- among poor and marginalised social groups

Question 15

how does what left realists argument link to merton

Answer 15

This links to Merton as he argues, pressure conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means is blocked. In this instance, the media are instrumental in setting the norm and thus promoting crime

Question 16

what does cultural criminology argue

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What do Hayward and young see modern society as

Answer 17

see modern society as a media- saturated society, where we are immersed in the ‘media scape’ - an ever explaining tangle of fluid digital images, including images of crime

Question 18

How is crime used to sell products

Answer 18

corporations and adversities use media images of crime to sell products especially in youth market

Question 19

How do Fenwick and Hayward describe crime

Answer 19

‘crime is packaged’ + marketed to young people as romantic, exciting, cool, and fashionable cultural symbols

Question 20

what is brandalism

Answer 20

a ‘guerilla marketing’ technique to sell everything from theme parks to cars and video games. Companies use moral panics, controversy and scandal to market their products

Question 21

How does designer labels link to deviance

Answer 21

designer labels valued by young people as badges of identity now function as symbols of deviance eg some pubs and clubs refuse entry. Brands become tools of classification for consuming profiles of potential criminals

Question 22

what is a moral panic

Answer 22

an exaggerated over reaction by society to a perceived problem driven by the media. The media identify a group as folk devils and present them in a negative way. Moral entrepreneurs then condemn their behaviour. This can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy, creating a deviance amplification spiral

Question 23

what did Cohen argue about mods and rockers

Answer 23

wrote a book about folk devils and moral panics

examined the medias response to WC teenagers at English seaside resorts

Question 24

what are mods and rockers

Answer 24

mods - smart dressers and scooters
Rockers- leather jackets and motor bikes
* small scuffle between them but the media overreacted

Question 25

what does Cohen argue that he analogy of a disaster, where the media produce an inventory of what happened creates

Answer 25

contained three elements:

1. distortion: exaggerated the numbers involved and damage day of terror
2. prediction: assumed further conflict
3. symbolism: clothes and bikes associated with deviance

Question 26

what does Cohen argue that the medias portrayal of events produce

Answer 26

produced a deviance amplification spiral by making it seem like it was getting out of hand. increased controlled response + stigmatisation.
The media further amplified the cycle by defining two identities which led to more people joining, encouraged polarisation

Question 27

why are media definitions important

Answer 27

media definitions are crucial in creating a moral panic as people rely on this information of things they haven’t experienced

Question 28

what does Cohen argue about moral panics in wider context

Answer 28

• ## moral panics occur at times of change, reflecting anxieties results of a boundary crisis eg affluence after the war

Question 29

How do functionalists see moral panics

Answer 29

as a way of responding to anomie, raises collective conscience when values are threatened

Question 30

what do neo marxists argue about moral panics

Answer 30

Hall- distracts attention from the crisis of capitalism and divide the WC eg crisis of mugging.
Example: asylum seekers, dangerous dogs

Question 31

what are the AO3 for moral panics

Answer 31

• who decides what is propriate reaction/panicky
• why do panics not go on once started
• late modernity: McRobbie and Thornton - moral panics are now routine, little consensus about what is deviant

Question 32

what is argued about cyber crime

Answer 32

arrival of the internet has led to fear of cyber crime

Question 33

what does Wall argue about crime

Answer 33

argues that there are 4 types of crime

1. cyber trespass- hacking and sabotage
2. cyber deception- identify theft
3. cyber porn- access for children
4. cyber violence- stalking and bullying

Question 34

what else does new information and greater technology allow

Answer 34

also provides opportunities for greater surveillance from police