Media and crime

Question 1

What does the media represent of crime?

Answer 1

• Over-represent violent and sexual crimes.
• Portrays victims as older and middle-class.
• Exaggerates police success in clearing up cases.
• Overplay extraordinary crimes and underplay ordianry ones.

Question 2

How does the media cause crime?

Answer 2

• Desensitisation: as the media is full of shocking images, people see violence as normal.
• Crime has become a style to be consumed e.g. heroin chic
• Corporations use ‘barndalism’ as a marketing technique.

Question 3

Why do moral panics occur according to Cohen?

Answer 3

The media generate an over-reaction within the public to a specific perceived problem.

Question 4

What is an example of moral panics?

Answer 4

Mods and Rockers.

Question 5

What was the mods and rockers study?

Answer 5

• They were two groups of young people who got in a ‘scuffle’.
• Rather than reporting it as a ‘scuffle’ it was labelled ‘Day of terror’.

Question 6

What are the categories of cyber-crime (Wall)?

Answer 6

• Cyber-trespass: hacking systems.
• Cyber deception/theft: identify stealing or stealing from bank accounts.
• Cyber pornography: sharing + watching child porn.
• Cyber violence: causing emotional/encouraging physical violence.

Question 7

Why is policing cyber-crime difficult?

Answer 7

• Large scale + globalised.
• Limited resources of the police.