State Crime and the media Flashcards
What is a state crime?
An activity that breaks the state’s own law or public international law.
What are some types of state crimes? Can you give examples of these crimes?
A state causing harm to its citizens e.g The Rwandan genocide, one party killed an opposing tribe, around 800,000 killed in 100 days.
The Holocaust, Nazis murdered approx. 6 million Jews.
States that have ignored their citizens when in need e.g 2010 Haiti earthquake, gov helped rebuild the lives of the wealthy and ignored the poor.
Actions of corrupt leaders e.g 1968 president of Indonesia embezzled $35 billion.
What did Ross argue were the 3 types of state crime?
Crimes of omission or commission (doing/not doing something)
Direct and indirect actions of state apparatus
Crimes within one state or imposed by one onto another
What are techniques of neutralization and what are Matza and Sykes 5 different types?
Providing rationales to explain why it was okay that we did wrong.
- Denial of responsibility - saying you had no choice
- Denial of injury - no one was harmed so it’s okay
- Blaming the victim - they brought about your actions
- Condemn the condemners - they are the problem
- Appealing to higher loyalty - while you violated some norms, you adhered to others.
Give an example of someone using techniques of neutralisation.
Adolf Eichmann, SS officer in Nazi Germany, placed in charge of the ‘final solution’. When brought to trial he said he was just obeying orders.
What do interpretivists argue happens when social control is increased?
crime increases
What does Cohen (interpretivist) suggest about the media?
it creates the crime and deviance that it predicts
What is the interpretivist theory of The Amplification of Deviance?
- media gives distorted view of crime
- this creates public concern
- related incidents are over-reported
- this keeps the issue high in the public agenda
- the public want something to be done
- the police are more aware, so they discover more related crime
- police records then show that there is in fact more crime
How does the media cause crime?
- young people are easily influenced
- young people might try to imitate characters they see on TV
- people might learn how to get away with crime
- being exposed to violence can desensitise people
- media presents crime as exciting
- increases fear of crime as they think it’s more common than it is
Why do some sociologists think that the effect of the media has been exaggerated?
- violence on TV and in games should make everyone who sees it more violent
- evidence between the media and violence isn’t reliable
- other factors must go alongside the media
How do left realists argue that the media causes crime?
it shows people luxury things that other people have, causing relative deprivation, so people may steal things they can’t afford
How does Jewkes argue that the media causes crime in less direct ways?
internet has made crimes more accessible e.g child pornography
the internet has also led to new types of crime e.g fraud and cyberbullying
What does Cohen argue the media creates? and how?
a moral panic from over-reporting e.g mods and rockers, people were encouraged to fight to exaggerate violence, gave them negative labels so people were scared of them e.g terrorism threat, knife crime
What do McRobbie and Thornton argue about the idea of moral panics?
people are getting used to it and more away so are less likely to panic
