Media and Crime

Question 1

Media and Crime

Media’s Influence

Answer 1

• Stimulating desires by advertising unaffordable goods (Marxism).
• Glamourising offending/criminal behaviour or producing arousal through violent and sexual imagery.
• The presence of this imagery in the media can lead to desensitisation.
• Transmission of knowledge and learning techniques.

Question 2

Media and Crime: Evaluation

Limited Impact

Answer 2

• At most there is a limited impact.
• The correlation between violence in children and violence TV shows does nothing to explain the link between the two.
• Are children more violent because they watch violent shows, or are violent children just more likely to watch those shows?
• For some children television can be harmful, or beneficial, or have no impact.

Question 3

Media and Crime

Image of Crime

Answer 3

• Cultural criminology argues the media might do more than just produce crime in their audiences.
• Media creates a blurring between the image they create and the reality of crime, making the two hard to separate.
• It is argued that crime is packaged and marketed to young people as romantic, exciting, cool and fashionable.
• Corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products.