Media and crime

Question 1

The media as a cause of crime - factors

Answer 1

Desensitisation, arousal, glamorising offending, imitation of deviant role models

Question 2

The distorted image of crime

Answer 2

Exaggeration of violent and sexual crime
Exaggerates police success
Overplays extraordinary crimes

Question 3

Fictional representations of crime (Surette)
Law of opposites

Answer 3

Fictional representations of crime follow the ‘law of opposites’, meaning they are opposite to official statistics:-
​Property crime is underrepresented, while violence, sex and drug crimes are over-represented
​Fictional sex crimes are caused by psychopathic strangers, whereas most sex crimes are committed by acquaintances
​Fictional villains are higher-status, middle-aged, white males
​Fictional police usually catch criminals

Question 4

Moral panics (Cohen)

Answer 4

Mods and rockers were distorted on news reports therefore made the public demonise them into ‘folk devils’
Produced a deviance amplification spiral by assuming further conflict and making assumptions

Question 5

News values (Cohen and Young)

Answer 5

News is manufactured
Key values:
Immediacy - ‘breaking news’
Dramatisation - action and excitement
Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals
Higher status - celebrities
Simplification - eliminating shades of grey
Risk - victim-centred stories about vulnerability and fear
Violence

Question 6

The media, relative deprivation and crime - lea and young

Answer 6

The media present everyone with the image of a materialistic ‘good life’ or American Dream through advertising, which is the norm in which everyone should conform. However, this stimulates the sense of relative deprivation and marginalisation felt by groups who cannot afford these goods