Crime - Media, Globalisation, Green and State Crime

Question 1

What are the media representations of crime? 6

Answer 1

• OVER-REPRESENTS VIOLENT/SEXUAL CRIMES (Ditton and Duffy 1983, 46% of crimes reported by media are violence/sex but is only 3% of official crime stats).
• SHOWS VICTIMS/CRIMINALS TO BE OLDER AND M/C (Felson 1998, ‘age fallacy’).
• EXAGGERATES SUCCESS RATES OF POLICE (over reports violent crimes which has higher clear up rate than property crimes).
• VICTIM RISK EXAGGERATED (women, white and m/c more victimised than truth).
• SERIES OF SEPARATE EVENTS (ignores underlying causes such as social structures).
• OVERPLAYS EXTRAORDINARY CRIMES (Felson, ‘dramatic fallacy’, solved/carried out by daring, clever people, ‘ingenuity fallacy’).

Question 2

What examples are there that crime reporting changes over time?

Answer 2

1960’s - focus on murder and petty crime.
1990’s - sex crimes (1951, under quarter of reporting for sex crimes, 1985, over a third).
– language choices: ‘sex fiend’ suggests psychopathic strangers rather than truth of rapists being known by victim.

Question 3

Reasons for reporting of crime changing?

Answer 3

Schlesigner 1994
abolition of death penalty
crime rate rose so crime had to be more extraordinary to make news.

Question 4

Why is the media coverage of crime distorted compared to official statistics?

Answer 4

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
Journalists have to decide whether a story is ‘newsworthy’.
- crime is seen as newsworthy so has a high percentage of news coverage.

Question 5

What are some criteria which makes a story ‘newsworthy’? 6

Answer 5

• Dramatisation (action/excitement)
• Personalisation (human interest)
• High Status (rich and famous)
• Novelty
• Risk (victim and fear centred
• Violence

Question 6

What is the fictional representations of crime?

Answer 6

Surette (1998) ‘law of opposites’ - fictional representations of crime are opposite of official stats.

• property crime is under-represented but violence/drugs/sex crimes over-represented.
• murder presented as result of greed and calculation not fights go wrong or domestic abuse.
• police always find criminal.

Question 7

How has the fictional representations of crime changed?

Answer 7

Focus of reality shows.

• offenders usually not white, young, belong to ‘underclass’.
• police brutal and corrupt.
• victims centre of drama as public identify with suffering.

Question 8

What are the ways media causes crime? 7

Answer 8

• desensitisation
• age restrictions (gaming, films)
• bullying (social media)
• copycatting
• dark web
• illegal downloading
• hate crime rap

Question 9

Examples of media causing crime? 2

Answer 9

Jamie Bulger case - two 10 year old boys kidnapped, tortured and killed 2 year old Jamie Bulger - blamed watching ‘Chucky’ and playing violent video games.
Banduras bobo doll study.

Question 10

What is zemiology?

Answer 10

The study of harm.

Question 11

What did Ian Taylor (1997) argue about globalisation and crime?

Answer 11

LEFT REALIST
Globalisation has led to changes in the pattern and extent of crime - by giving free rein to the market forces, globalisation has created inequality and rising crime.

Question 12

Example of crime increasing for poor as a result of globalisation? 1

Answer 12

• Lack of legitimate job opportunities therefore creates more illegitimate job opportunities e.g. drug trade.

Question 13

Examples of crime increasing for rich as a result of globalisation? 3

Answer 13

• Allowed trans national corporations to switch manufacturing to low wage countries (produces job insecurities, unemployment and poverty - linking to increase in crime for poor).
• Markets create opportunities insider trading.
• Deregulation creates movement of funds around globe to avoid taxation.

Question 14

Evaluation of crime and globalisation? 2

Answer 14

+ useful for linking global trends in capitalist economy to changes in pattern of crime.

• does not explain how the changes make people behave in criminal way e.g. not all poor people turn to crime.

Question 15

What is Hobbs and Dunningham ‘Glocal System’?

Answer 15

What happens globally affects people locally e.g. drug industry - drop in availability of drugs abroad affects local dealers.
– organised crime is 15% of worlds GDP.

Question 16

What are White’s (2008) key terms on green crime?

Answer 16

Anthropocentric = humans have a right to control the environment for their own ends and put profit first.
Ecocentric = humans and environment are interdependent, harming the environment harms everyone.

Question 17

What are South’s (2008) key terms on green crime?

Answer 17

Primary Green Crime = results directly from destroying earths resources.
Secondary Green Crime = flouting rules that aim to protect the environment.

Question 18

Examples of green crime?

Answer 18

Coca Cola water pollution (primary green crime)
BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico (secondary green crime)
Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion (ecocentric)
Union Carbide Cyanide Gas Leak, India - 20,000 people died, 120,000 injured.

Question 19

What is green criminology?

Answer 19

Rob White (2008) = any action which harms the physical environment/animals and humans is a crime even if no law has been broken. 
Subject matter is: wider, transgressive theory (over steps boundaries to include new issues), zemiology.
-- laws cannot provide consistent standard of harm as the law is different in all places. (global perspective).

Question 20

What is traditional criminology and their view on green crime?

Answer 20

Not usually concerned with green crime as subject matter is defined by criminal law.
Situ and Emmons (2000) = environmental crime is an unauthorised act that violates law.
– investigates patterns and causes of law breaking.

Question 21

What does traditional criminology focus on?

Answer 21

‘Crimes of the street’ and ignores ‘crimes of the suits’.

Question 22

How do Green and Ward (2005) define state crime? Examples?

Answer 22

State crime is an illegal or deviant activities perpetrated by or with the complicity of state agencies.
- Genocide
- War Crimes
- Torture
- Imprisonment without trial
- Assassination
Does NOT include acts which benefit individuals who work for the state.

Question 23

What are McLaughlin’s (2001) 4 categories of state crime?

Answer 23

• Political crimes (corruption and censorship)
• Crimes by security and police forces (genocide, torture and disappearance of dissidents)
• Economic crimes (violations of health and safety laws)
• Social and cultural crimes (institutional racism)

Question 24

What is Stan Cohen’s (2006) ‘spiral of denial’?

Answer 24

Explains justifications to legitimate state actions.

• Stage 1: “it didn’t happen” e.g. state denies - then human right organisations, victims and media show it did (sousveillance).
• Stage 2: “if it did happen, it is something else” e.g. self defence not murder.
• Stage 3: “even if it is that, it is justified” e.g. fight war on terror.

Question 25

What are the techniques of neutralisation? 5

Answer 25

HOW they justify state crimes.

• Denial of victim = exaggeration e.g. terrorists.
• Denial of injury = “we are real victims, not them”.
• Denial of responsibility = obeying orders (usually used by individual police or guards).
• Condemning of condemners = “they are condemning us, their racists”.
• Appeal to higher loyalty = self righteous justifications that claims to serve a higher cause.
• • These techniques do not deny event but ‘they seek to impose a different construction of the event from what appears to be the case’.