media

Question 1

How does the media distort crime?

Answer 1

1. over-reports violent and sexual crime,
2. Under-reports corporate crime
3. Exaggerates police success, creating moral panics.

Increases public fear but may not reflect reality — not everyone believes media narratives.

Question 2

What are moral panics? (Cohen)

Answer 2

Media amplifies deviance by labelling groups as ‘folk devils’ (e.g. mods and rockers), leading to public fear and harsher policing.

Still relevant, but harder to create panic in the age of social media and fragmented audiences.

Question 3

What is the DAS?

Answer 3

DEVIANCY AMPLIFICATION SPIRAL Media increases public concern, leading to more police attention and more arrests — which ‘proves’ the concern was valid.

Explains the cycle, but doesn’t address root causes of deviance.

Question 4

How does the media encourage crime?

Answer 4

Glamourise criminal lifestyles
Encourage imitation
Show criminal **techniques. **
E.g. Bandura’s bobo doll study showed imitation of aggression.

Not all viewers are passive — ignores personal agency and context.

Question 5

Link cybercrime to media

Answer 5

created new crimes which are often under-policed and fast-changing

many online crimes are still rooted in traditional motives like money or power.

Question 6

How does the media create fear of crime?

Answer 6

Constant reporting of violent crime and stranger danger creates a ‘fear of crime’ that is often often exxadurates to the actual risk.

Fear may lead to greater social control or prejudice, especially toward minorities.

Question 7

How does the media link to right realist thinking?

Answer 7

Media emphasis on crime supports right realist views on the need for harsher punishment and surveillance to reduce moral decline.

May reinforce stereotypes and justify over-policing of certain groups.