Crime & Media - 4.6 Flashcards
Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
> Overrepresents violent & sexual crime
> Criminals & victims portrayed as older & more MC than reality
> Exaggerate police success in clearing up cases
> Exaggerate risk of victimisation
> Reported as series of separate events
> Overplays extraordinary crime
Social Construction of News - Cohen & Young
> Media gives distorted picture of crime - news isn’t discovered but manufactured
> Not simply out there to be collected, rather process of selection/rejection occurs
> So some stories are selected & others rejected
News Values - Cohen & Young
Criteria used to decide if story is newsworthy enough & has more chance of making news if it meets values
Examples of News Values
> Risk
Violence
Celebrities
Unexpectedness
Personalisation: Human interests stories about individuals
Immediacy: Breaking News
Dramatisation: Action & Excitement
Simplification: Clear stories
Link vs News Values & Crime
Media give lots of attention to crime as it focuses on unusual & abnormal behaviour, making it more newsworthy
Surette - Fictional Representation (FR) & Law of Opposites
> Fictional representations are direct opposite to reality
> FR of sex crimes are done by psychopathic stranger, but in reality it is usually acquaintances
> FR of cops always seen as getting their man, but lots of crimes are unsolved
General view on Media as cause of Crime
> Negative effect on young & WC, rap lyrics, horror films & games
> e.g. GTA criticised for encouraging violence & criminality.
Ways in Media Causes Crime
> Imitation > Arousal > Desensitisation > Transmitting Knowledge > Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods > Glamourisation of Offending
Criticisms of Media Causing Crime
Research shows exposure to media violence has little negative effect
Livingstone - Criticisms of Media Causing Crime
Despite findings, societies still obsessed by desire for childhood to be golden age of innocence
Media & Fear of Crime
> Media exaggerate violent crime & risks of certain groups becoming victims e.g. young women and pensioners
> Causing unrealistic fear of crime
Greer & Reiner - Fear of Crime
> Ignores that people give different meanings to media violence e.g. in cartoons, horror films & news
> Shows interactionist idea if we want to look at effects of media, need look at meanings of what they see & read
Lea & Young - Media, Relative Dep & Crime
> Stimulates RD & social exclusion felt by poor, who can’t afford material goods, so turn to crime
Cultural Criminology - Hayward & Young
> In media-saturated society now immersed in media scape incl. images of crime
> Blurs boundary vs image & reality
> e.g. gang assaults staged for camera & put together in underground fight videos
Cultural Criminology - Fenwick & Hayward (Media & Commodification)
> Images of crime used to sell product, so it becomes a style to be consumed & marketed to youth as e.g. romantic & exciting
> Fashion industry trades on images of forbidden brands e.g. Opium, Poison & Obsession & S60
> Works opposite way too e.g. if brands associated with criminality it’s banned in pubs & clubs & become tools of classification for potential criminals
Moral Panic
Exaggerated & irrational overreaction by society to a perceived problem.
Process of Moral Panic
> Media see group as threat to societal values, negatively stereotyping them, exaggerates issue
> Media reject behaviour, leads to call for crackdown, creating self fulfilling prophecy & amplifies issue causing initial panic
> e.g. special drug squad, so police discover more drug taking
> Crackdown identifies + deviants, calls for tougher action, creates deviancy amplification spiral
Cohen - Moral Panic & Mods & Rockers
> 2 teen subcultures were initially friends & not deviant but their were confrontations during easter weekend
> e.g. a few scuffles & minor property damage, exaggerated by media
> Overnight a new folk devil was created & created moral panic
3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Symbolisation
Exaggeration & Distortion
Prediction
Symbolisation - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media used symbolic shorthands e.g. hairstyles, clothing & music as icons of troublemakers
> Provided list 2 wider society to beware of these people & so negatively labelled
> Media use of symbols allowed them to link, unconnected events
Exaggeration & Distortion - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media exaggerated numbers & seriousness of violence & damage, distorting picture, through sensational headlines
> Non-events even reported as news e.g. invasions not materialising
Prediction - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media predicted + conflict would ensue
Cohen - Wider Context, Moral Panic & M&R
> Moral panics due to boundary crisis, uncertainty on boundary vs moral & immoral behaviour at time of social change
> Folk devils give focus to popular anxieties about social disorder
Functionalist view on Moral Panics
> Moral panics responds to anomie created by change, dramatises threat to society
> So media raises collective conscience & reassert social control when central values are threatened.
Neo-Marxist view on Moral Panics
> NM used concept of MP e.g. Hall, argue MP on mugging used to distract attention from crisis of capitalism
> Dividing WC on racial grounds & legitimate authoritarian rule.
General Criticisms of Moral Panic
> Why some problems are amplified & others not, why do they die down instead of increasing infinitely
Left Realism - Criticisms of Moral Panics
> Assumes societal reaction is over the top, but who decides what’s proportionate reaction
> LR feel fear of crime is rational
Thomas - Definition of Cybercrime
Computer-mediated activities illegal or illicit & done through global electronic networks
Wall - 4 Categories of Cybercrime
> Cyber-Trespass
Cyber-Deception
Cyber-Porn
Cyber-Violence
Cyber-Trespass
Hacking others property e.g. spreading viruses
Cyber-Deception
Identity theft e.g. phishing & violation of intellectual property rights e.g. illegal downloading
Cyber-Pornography
Involves minor & chances for kids to access it on the net
Cyber-Violence
Physiological harm e.g. cyberstalking, hate crimes vs minority groups & text-bullying
Policing Cyber Crime
> Difficult due to scale of internet, limited resources of police & globalised nature
> But new ICT, gives police & state + chances to surveil pop
> e.g. CCTV, Electronic Databases, Fingerprints etc
