Crime in the Media

Question 1

How do the media portray crime?

Answer 1

News values: William and Dickinson found British newspapers devote 30% of their news space to crime. Found the media overrepresent violent and sexual crimes, exaggerate police success and exaggerate the risk of victimisation. News is based on values, dramatization, higher status people, immediacy

Question 2

How might the media cause crime?

Answer 2

Imitation, stimulating desire for unaffordable goods, glamorising offending. Albert Bandura bobo doll experiment, people copy the behaviour they see

Question 3

How might the media cause crime: evaluation

Answer 3

Bobo doll experiment was a lab experiment, so cannot measure long term affects

Question 4

The media creates moral panics

Answer 4

The media exaggerates the amount of violent crimes and the risk of certain groups becoming victim, e.g., women or old people. Schlesinger and Tumber found heavy users of TV and readers of tabloid papers expressed greater fear.

Question 5

The media creates moral panics: evaluation

Answer 5

Those who are afraid stay inside, therefore not committing crime

Question 6

New communication technology increases the opportunities for more crime and deviance in society

Answer 6

Thomas and Loader define cyber crime as computer mediated activities that are illegal or illicit. There are four categories, hacking, identity theft, pornography, text bullying

Question 7

New communication technology: evaluation

Answer 7

Surveillance- ICT provides police and the state with tools to control people, e.g. through CCTV