Crime And Deviance : Media And Crime

Question 1

Media representations of crime : Williams and Dickinson

Answer 1

12.7% of newspaper space is devoted to crime stories

Question 2

Media representations of crime - the sun v the guardian

Answer 2

the Sun devoted 30.4%, compared to the Guardian who devoted 5.1%

Question 3

Media representations of crime - Cumberbatch et al

Answer 3

40% of news on BBC radio was focused on crime

Question 4

Media coverage being highly selective

Answer 4

Not all crime that takes place is reflected in the media

Certain crimes are given priority over others

Violent and sexual crimes are heavily reported in tabloid newspapers

White collar and corporate crime are underrepresented in tabloid newspapers

Question 5

The media using ‘Interpretative Frameworks’ or ‘Frames’

Answer 5

Stuart Hall

The media doesn’t simply tell us about what’s happening, but offer us particular ways of understanding what they have selected

Framing refers to the way an issue is presented to the public – the ‘angle’

Put attention to certain aspects and ignoring other

E.g. language = rapists are labelled ‘beasts’ or sex fiends

Question 6

Media representations - The media over-represent violent and sexual crime

Answer 6

Ditton and Duffy - media reports would only show sexual/violent crimes – but this only made up 3% of crime statistics.

Question 7

Media representations - The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle-class…

Answer 7

Than those typically found in the CJS

Felson calls this the ‘age fallacy’

Question 8

Media representations - Media coverage exaggerates police success…

Answer 8

…In clearing up cases.

This is partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in good light

Question 9

Media representations - The media exaggerate the risk of victimisation

Answer 9

Especially to women, white people and higher status individuals

Question 10

Media representations - Crime is reported as a series of separate events…

Answer 10

Without structure and without examining underlying causes

Question 11

Media representations - The media overplay extraordinary crime…

Answer 11

…and underplays ordinary crimes

Felson calls this ‘dramatic fallacy’ - the media leads us to believe that in order to commit crime, you need to be clever

– Felson calls this ‘ingenuity fallacy’

Question 12

Felson

Answer 12

The media can be guilty of presenting a picture of the patterns of crime & deviance that is far from the real thing.

He argued the media make the following errors in their reporting of the true nature of crime:

Age Fallacy: the media portrays criminals and victims as older and more middle class than those typically involved in the criminal justice system

Dramatic Fallacy: the media focus on violent & extraordinary crimes and underplays ordinary crime

Ingenuity Fallacy: the media gives impression that criminals are clever, yet most crime is opportunistic

Class Fallacy-: the media gives impression that M/C are more likely to be victims of crime

Victimisation Fallacy: the media gives the impression women, white people and higher status are most likely to be victims of crime

Police Fallacy: the media give impression that the police are more efficient & noble than they really are

Question 13

Agenda setting

Answer 13

The media having a powerful influence over the issues that people think about, because the agenda is already set by journalists.

This is because people can only form views about the issues they’ve been informed about.

By having the ability to set the agenda, journalists decide the main topics of discussion for society.

This can mean the public never discuss some subjects because they are not aware they’re on the agenda for discussion.

Media representations may therefore influence what people believe about crime, regardless of whether or not they are accurate

Question 14

Greer and Reiner

Answer 14

The media are always seeking newsworthy stories of crime, and they exploit the possibilities for a ‘good story’ by exaggerating, over-reporting and sensationalising some crimes out of all proportion to their actual extent in society.

They do this to generate audience interest and encourage audiences to consume / buy their media products

Question 15

Jewkes

Answer 15

News values guide the choices that editors and journalists make when they decide what stories are newsworthy to report, and what to leave out.

Question 16

Greer

Answer 16

It is these news values that explain why all mainstream media tend to exaggerate the extent of violent crime, and why the media fixates on whenever a celebrity deviates / commits crime

Question 17

The backwards law: public perceptions and the distortion / exaggeration of crime

Surette

Answer 17

Surveys (such as the CSEW) show that the majority of people base their knowledge of crime and the CJS on the media rather than direct experience.

Surette suggests that there is a ‘backwards law’, with the media constructing images of crime and justice which are a backwards version of reality.

Question 18

The backwards law: public perceptions and the distortion and exaggeration of crime

Greer and Reiner

Answer 18

They suggest this backwards law is shown by media news and fiction misrepresenting the reality of crime in the following ways:

By over-representing / exaggerating sex, drug and violent crimes (they only make up 3% of stats), and by under-representing the risks of the most common offence of property crime.

By portraying property crime as more serious than most recorded offences, which are fairly routine and trivial.

By over-exaggerating police effectiveness in solving crimes. This is partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in good light

By exaggerating the risks of becoming victims faced by higher-status white people, older people, women and children

By emphasising individual incidents of crime, rather than providing an analysis of crime patterns / the causes of crime.

Question 19

Press reporting of rape and sexual assault

Answer 19

Marhia

Analysed a random sample of news articles about rape and SA of women by men that appeared in UK newspapers and the BBC in 2006

She argues that the way in which these offences are reported construct rape as an outdoor crime committed by strangers, who may be “foreign” and use extreme violence to overpower a victim

This construction is out of line with the picture that emerges from social research; EG:

Attacks by strangers account for 54% of press reports about rape, eventhough only 8-17% of rapes in the UK are stranger rapes

The majority - 56% - of rapes are perpetrated by a current or former partner, but account for only 2% of news stories about rape

This affects the willingness of victims to report rape and the conviction rates for rape

Question 20

Fictional Representations of Crime

Answer 20

We don’t just get our images of crime from the news media

Fictional representations or from TV, cinema and novels are also important sources of information
= so much of their output is crime-related

Ernest Mandel - estimates 1945 – 1984 over 10 billion crime thrillers were sold globally

Question 21

Outline ways in which media representations of crime may not reflect reality

Answer 21

Violent and sexual crimes are over-reported. These crimes represent a significantly smaller percentage (3%) in the official statistics

Under-reporting property crime. This is despite the fact that this type of crime constitutes the majority of crimes reported to the police

The media exaggerates the risk of being a victim. This is particularly true for women and those from higher status backgrounds

The media exaggerates police success in tackling crime. This is despite the fact that some types of crime (EG property crime), have a lower clear up rate

Question 22

How does the media cause crime?

Answer 22

The media and relative deprivation

The media and cultural criminology

Moral panics and deviance amplification

Media violence and real life violence

Question 23

How does the media cause crime? - Relative deprivation

AO1 point + AO2 explain

Answer 23

Left realists (Lea and Young) - media helps to increase the sense of relative deprivation amongst poor and marginalised groups

Today’s society - the poor are exposed to the media presenting everyone’s life with material demands and promote these as the norm (consumerism). Shows importance of materialistic lifestyle = social inclusion and economic exclusion

Question 24

How does the media cause crime? - Relative deprivation

AO2 examples / apply to question

Answer 24

2011 London riots

CONSEQUENCE - Causes the poor to commit crimes to become materially rich (utilitarian crime) and to vent out anger and frustration (non-utilitarian crime)

Question 25

How does the media cause crime? - Relative deprivation

AO3 evaluation

Answer 25

Not everyone who feels relatively deprived will commit crime

Question 26

How does the media cause crime? - commodifies crime

AO1 point + AO2 explain

Answer 26

Cultural criminologists (Hayward and Young) - media turns crime into a commodity that people desire - media encourages individuals to consume crime (feature of late modernity is emphasis on consumption and immediacy) media saturated society - blurring between image of reality and reality of crime

Crime + its thrills become commodified - advertisers use images of crime to sell products (esp youths)
Youth market = ‘gangster rap’ and hip hop combine images of street hustler criminality with images of success - hip hop stars wear designer and have expensive cars, women etc. = this drives a desire to commit crime

CONSEQUENCE - Crime becomes a style to be consumed

Question 27

How does the media cause crime? - commodifies crime

AO2 examples / apply to question

Answer 27

Companies: FCUK, OPIUM, Adidas using graffiti on their logo

Music (drill, pop, rock) glorifying drugs and violence

Question 28

How does the media cause crime? - commodifies crime

AO3 evaluation

Answer 28

Right Realists - People have agency - they make rational choices on whether to pursue a life of crime just because their favourite rapper does

Although, RR would also argue that the WC may be more susceptible to following this way of life due to inadequate socialisation and the underclass

Question 29

How does the media cause crime? - moral panics and deviance amplification

AO1 point + AO2 explain

Answer 29

Media labels individuals
Moral entrepreneurs may disapprove of a certain behaviour
Put pressure on media to ‘do something’ about it
Media creates a moral panic which LEADS TO a crackdown on the group
LEADS TO groups being labelled / SFP - deviance amplification

In a moral panic:
Group labelled as a folk devil - threat to society’s values
Media present the group in a stereotypical way - exaggerate the scale of problem

Question 30

How does the media cause crime? - moral panics and deviance amplification

AO2 examples / apply to question

Answer 30

LEADS TO a crackdown on groups
LEADS TO a SFP that amplifies the problem that caused the panic in the first place

CONSEQUENCE: more crime

EG:
Stan Cohen - Mods and Rockers
Jock Young - Hippie Marijuana users
Stuart Hall - Policing the Crisis

Question 31

How does the media cause crime? - moral panics and deviance amplification

AO3 evaluation

Answer 31

Strength:
Provides a useful way of understanding the relationship between crime / deviance and the media

Weaknesses:
Postmodernist: we live in a postmodern society - we have the agency to know what is exaggerated so people know when a moral panic is happening

We have become desensitised - less shock

Katz and Lazarfield = 2-step flow model of media influence - people discuss what they see in the media with others who’s opinion they value
= audiences are active rather than passive = they select which media messages to expose themselves to (selective exposure) and then interpret them in light of their pre-existing knowledge (selective interpretation)

Question 32

How does the media cause crime? - media violence leads to real life violence

AO1 point + AO2 explain

Answer 32

There is a possible relationship between the portrayal of violence in the media and violent behaviour in the real world

Hypodermic syringe model - audience receives media messages and is passively influenced by them rather than actively engaging with them (violence on the screen can lead to violent behaviour by the audience)

McCabe and Martin = imitation was a likely outcome of media violence because it is the hero who uses it to deal with a problem - they go unpunished and also receive awards

Newson = desensitisation - youth become so used to seeing media violence they become socialised into accepting violent behaviour as normal
= people now have weaker moral codes (especially the younger generation)

Question 33

How does the media cause crime? - media violence can lead to real life violence

AO2 examples / apply to the question

Answer 33

McCabe and Martine = media violence has a disinhibition effect - convinces children that in some situations, the ‘normal rules’ that govern conflict can be suspended
= instead, discussion can be replaced by violence

Examples:
Bandura’s BoBo Doll Experiment (AO2 for HDS model) - children who watched adults attack the doll copied the behaviour - this study PROVES that violence is learned behaviour. This PROVES that children exposed to violent media images learn that such behaviour is normal and act out scenes in real life (imitation or ‘copycat’ violence)
= AO3 - it’s an experiment - unreliable + unrepresentative

James Bulgar case - Aged 10, they kidnapped, tortured and killed James Bulger who was 2 years old
Prior to the crime, they had watched one of the Child’s Play series of horror films

Question 34

How does the media cause crime? - media violence can lead to real life violence

AO3 evaluation

Answer 34

Strengths:
McCabe and Martin = imitation was an outcome of media violence - it is the hero who uses it to deal with a problem
= they go unpunished and receive rewards

McCabe and Martin = media violence has a disinhibition effect – convinces children that in some situations, the ‘normal rules’ that govern conflict can be suspended
= instead, discussion can be replaced by violence

Desensitisation = Newson argues that as children / teenagers become so used to seeing violence through media, they become socialised into accepting violent behaviour as normal
= people now have weaker moral codes (especially the younger generation)

LINK TO SUE PALMER TOXIC CHILDHOOD

Weaknesses:
Correlation does not necessarily prove causation

Doesn’t explain why others do not mimic media violence

Katz and Lazarfield = 2-step flow model of media influence - people discuss what they see in the media with others who’s opinion they value
= audiences are active rather than passive = they select which media messages to expose themselves to (selective exposure) and then interpret them in light of their pre-existing knowledge (selective interpretation)

Question 35

Further effects of the representation of crime in the media

Answer 35

1. Media and fear of crime
2. Ideological effects of media representations
3. Impacts on the criminal justice process

Question 36

Further effects of the representation of crime in the media - media and the fear of crime

Answer 36

Representation of crime in the media increase the fear of being a victim of crime in real life

Gerbner and Gross – TV overstates the risk of criminal victimisation. Heavy viewing (4+ hours a day) is associated with higher levels of fear of crime

Women are more fearful of being victims (over-represented in the media as victims)

AO3 for Gerbner and Gross:
Ditton el al: only 27% out of 73 studies found a positive r/ship between a connection of media consumption and fear of crime
Jewkes: other factors increase someone’s risk of becoming a victim (ethnicity, gender, class)

Question 37

Further effects of the representation of crime in the media - ideological effects of media representations of crime

Answer 37

Marxists - media = ISA

It justifies present social arrangements e.g. the media focuses on ‘bad individuals’, and not the cause of the problem which is capitalism

National press in Britain is predominantly right wing = their selection and presentation of new stories can be used to fuel their agenda (agenda setting)
= E.G. between 1995-2011, 29% of news stories referenced benefit fraud, yet it only makes up 0.7% of all fraud

CONSEQUENCE: Audience are influenced – W/C to blame for issues in society rather than the system

Austerity policies (2010-2015): the media played a massive part in reinforcing the idea that benefit claimants are ‘scroungers; - people accepted austerity as a result of this

Hate crime may occur as a result – increasing since 2008

Question 38

Further effects of the representation of crime in the media - impacts on the criminal justice process

Answer 38

Kelly - reporting of rapes generates a host of myths - EG rape is only committed by strangers, anyone facing the possibility of rape will resist (many freeze through fear)

This set of myths is called the Real Rape Template - plays a crucial role through the criminal justice process in influencing:
- whether a victim is likely to report the rape
- whether the police are likely to believe the complainant
- whether it gets sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and if the CPS prosecute

The closer a case conforms to the Real Rape Template, the more likely to progress through the stages

Question 39

The new media and crime

Answer 39

New Media has offered criminals the opportunity to commit old crimes in new ways (e.g. terrorist offences) + opportunities to commit a wide range of new crimes (such as computer hacking)
=known as cybercrimes:

This refers to criminal acts committed via ICT – the
internet. Cybercrime is the fastest growing criminal activity in the world

The UK government’s National Cyber Security Strategy (2016) distinguishes between the following:

Cyber-dependent crimes – crimes that can be committed only through the use of ICT devices

Cyber-enabled crimes – traditional crimes that can be increased in scale by the use of computers

Question 40

Types of cyber crime

Answer 40

Cyber-dependent crimes
Hacking
Malware attacks

Cyber-enabled crimes
Fraud
Piracy
Cyber bulling and trolling offences
Cyber stalking
Child sexual offences – online grooming