Media and Crime - Crime Flashcards
What does living in a media-saturated society mean?
We are able to access a wide range of of media and media about crime
- The media has become our main source of knowledge about crime
How does the media give a distorted image of crime?
It over represents certain crime such as violent and sexual crime
What did Ditton and Duffy find about the media representation of crime?
46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes yet these made up only 3% of all crime recorded by the police
What did Marsh find about media reporting in the USA?
Found violent crime was 36x more likely to be reported that property crime
How does the media portray criminals and victims? (Felson)
Shows them as older and more m/c
Felson: age fallacy
How does the media show police clear up rates?
Exaggerates their success:
- Police are a major source of stories and want to present themselves in a good light
- violent crime, which the media shows, has a higher clear up rate
What is Felson’s idea of ‘dramatic fallacy’?
Overplaying extraordinary crime and underplaying ordinary crime
How is news a social construction?
It doesn’t exist waiting to be gathered it is written up by a journalist
What do S. Cohen and J. Young suggest about the news?
Argues it is not discovered but is ‘manufactured’
What are ‘news values’?
The criteria by which journalists or editors decide wether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the news
What is ‘agenda-setting’?
What the police and government prioritise
How are news values and agenda setting linked?
The media have the power to influence what the public see as important
What are the 8 news values?
1) Immediacy
2) Dramatisation
3) Personalisation
4) Higher status persons and celebrities
5) Simplification
6) Novelty
7) Risk
8) Violence
What are the news values in the James Atfield murders?
Dramatisation
Violence
Simplification
Novelty
How can fictional representations of crime present a distorted image of crime?
- Murder, violence and sex crimes are over-represented
- Fictional sex crimes are committed by psychopathic strangers
- Fictional police usually ‘get their man’
How does reality crime TV present a distorted image of crime?
- Focuses on murder, armed robbery and sexual crimes as these entertain
What 8 ways can the media cause crime?
1) Imitation of acts seen via the media (copycat)
2) Arousal (due to violent or sexual imagery)
3) Desensitisation due to repeated viewing of violence
4) Transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques
5) Media hardware is a target for criminals
6) Stimulates the desire for unaffordable goods
7) Portrays the CJS/policies as incompetent
8) Glamorises offending
What is Schramm’s evaluation of the media causing crime?
Media exposure of violence has, at most, a small and limited effect on children. The majority of children seem to be unaffected
How can the media cause an unrealistic fear of crime?
Media exaggerates the amount of violent and unusual crime that happens and what groups are at more risk e.g. m/c women
= we have an unrealistic fear of violent or unusual crimes
What did Gerbner find about the media creating fear?
Found that heavy users of TV had higher levels of fear of crime
What is Sparks’s evaluation of the media creating fear?
Argues we must consider the meanings that viewers give to violence:
Different meanings are given to violence in cartoons or horror films or news reports
How do Left Realists argue the media emphasises relative deprivation causing more crime?
The wealthy may be presented in the media which makes us feel more deprived. Feel more marginalised = more likely to form subcultures
How does Merton argue the media emphasises relative deprivation causing more crime?
If the goal of wealth is constantly shown on the media then this may cause more people who cannot achieve this goal legitimately to become innovators.
What is a moral panic?
A panic in society usually caused by the media
