the media and crime Flashcards
media representations of crime
how crime statistics differ from what we see in the media
- overrepresents violence and sexual crimes
- criminals and victims are portrayed as older and middle class
- exaggerate police success rates
- exaggerate the risk of victimization
- over plays extraordinary crimes
- give nicknames to criminals - ‘balaclava rapist’ ‘ yorkshire ripper’ and ‘doctor death’
news values and crime coverage
COHEN AND YOUNG
- the distorted picture from the media reflects our social construction of crime
- COHEN AND YOUNG: news is not discovered, it is manufactured
four key criteria used by journalists
IMMEDIACY - breaking news
DRAMATISATION - action and interest
PERSONALISATION - human interest
HIGHER STATUS - involves celebrities
fictional representations of crime
- our knowledge about crime also comes from fiction
- 25% of prime viewing is given to crime stories
- fictional crime is the opposite to crime statistics ‘law of opposites’ - but similar to news coverage
a few examples of how the media portrays crime incorrectly…
- property crime underrepresented: drugs and sex crimes are overrepresented
- homicides usually the result of a brawl, rather than plotted
- fictional sex crimes are committed by psychopathic strangers not by acquittances
- fictional villains tend to be middle aged/middle class
- police usually get their man (not true)
the media as a cause of crime
- imitation
- desensitization
- transmitting knowledge techniques
- desire for goods
- portraying the police as incompetent
- glamourizing offenders
- british newspapers devote 30% of coverage to crime
- the media gives us a distorted view of crime, very different from crime statistics
recent changes in media coverage of crime
1960s more focus on murder and petty crime
1990s onward more focus on drugs, child abuse, terrorism, football hooliganism and sex crimes
how the media create a fear of crime
SCHLESINGER AND TUMBER
- the media exaggerates the amount of crime
- programmes such as crime watch
- tabloids more likely to report crime
- tabloids make headlines more dramatic
- SCHLESINGER AND TUMBER found that tabloid readers and heavy users of tv were more fearful of being a victim
how the media creates relative deprivation and crime
LEA AND YOUNG
MERTONS STRAIN THEORY
- left realists argue the media creates relative deprivation and social exclusion
- marginalized groups cannot afford these goods
- MERTONS STRAIN THEORY - materialistic goals that are flaunted by social media creates relative deprivation
media representation of crime
HAYWARD AND YOUNG
- media turns crime into a commodity that people desire
- encourages audiences to consume crime in the form of images
- HAYWARD AND YOUNG argue that late modern society is a media saturated society
- blurring the image and the reality of crime - the two are no longer separable
- media representations of crime and control now constitutes or creates the real thing
- gang assaults are staged for the camera - police car cameras don’t just record police activity but alter the way police work
media and the commodification of crime
- corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products in the youth market
- gangster rap and hip hop combine images of street hustler criminality with images of consumerist success
- chic clothes, jewelry, champagne and luxury cars
- crime and deviance are a style to be consumed
- crime is packaged and marketed to the young as romantic, cool and fashionable - cultural symbol
examples of how the media sells crime?
HAYWARD
CAR ADS
- featuring street riots, joy riding and graffiti
- containing images of the forbidden
HEROIN CHIC
- images of violence against women
- FCUK
- section 60 clothing named after the act giving the police the power to stop and search
GRAFFITI
- marker of the deviant urban cool
- corporations now use it in guerrilla marketing techniques called brandalism
- placement of corporate slogans or adverts in public buildings such as schools to sell their products
how to companies react to moral panic created by the media?
- companies use moral panics to market products
- designer labels that are used by young people as badges of identity now function as deviance
- pubs and clubs have banned entry for people wearing certain labels
- bluewater shopping center banned the wearing of hoodies
- in some towns police and bars have lists of branded clothing that are seen as problematic
- brands are tools of classification for constructing profiles of potential criminals : christmas jumpers were on the list
how to the media create a moral panic?
- the media identify groups as a problem - folk devils
- the media portray this group in a negative light
- moral entrepreneurs such as police and politicians condemn these groups
- e.g. mods and rockers
- exaggeration and distortion - worse than it actually was
- sensational headlines and photographs
- prediction - media predicts future events
- symbolization - clothes, bikes and scooters became negatively labelled
what is a deviance amplification spiral?
- the media creates this by making a problem seem out of control
- this leads to calls for an increased control response from police and courts
- this product further stigmatisation of mods and rockers as deviants
