Media and crime Flashcards
(8 cards)
In a nutshell
The media give an overly distorted image of crime - for instance, by over-representing violent crimes. This is because the news is a social construction based on news values that explain the media’s interest in crime. Some sociologists see media as a cause of crime through imitation and the deviance amplification of moral panics.
THE MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME
Imitation - the media provides deviant role models, which results in copying their behaviour
Arousal - viewing violent or sexual imagery
Desensitisation - repeated viewing of violence
Transmission of knowledge of criminal techniques
Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods (eg. through advertising)
Glamourising offending
FICTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CRIME
SURETTE:
Fictional representations of crime follow the ‘law of opposites’, meaning they are opposite to official statistics:-
Property crime is underrepresented, while violence, sex and drug crimes are over-represented
Fictional sex crimes are caused by psychopathic strangers, whereas most sex crimes are committed by acquaintances
Fictional villains are higher-status, middle-aged, white males
Fictional police usually catch criminals
THE DISTORTED IMAGE OF CRIME
Overrepresentation of sexual and violent crime
Exaggerates police success
Exaggerates the risk of victimisation
Overplay extraordinary crimes
MORAL PANICS
COHEN - THE MODS AND ROCKERS
Cohen examined media’s response to disturbances between working-class teenagers (mods and rockers) in the 1960s. Cohen revealed that although this disorder was relatively minor, the media amplified and exaggerated this, producing a deviance amplification spiral. This resulted from:
Exaggeration and distortion - exaggerated the numbers involved, the extent of violence and damage
Prediction - assumed and predicted further conflict
Symbolisation - the symbols of the mods and rockers defined them
The media cause moral panics nowadays with issues such as acid attacks and terrorism.
NEWS VALUES
COHEN AND YOUNG:
News is not discovered, but it is manufactured. A central feature manufactured news is the concept of ‘news values’, these are criteria in which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the news. Key news values include:
Key news values include:
Immediacy - ‘breaking news’
Dramatisation - action and excitement
Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals
Higher status - celebrities
Simplification - eliminating shades of grey
Risk - victim-centred stories about vulnerability and fear
Violence
THE MEDIA, RELATIVE DEPRIVATION AND CRIME
LEA AND YOUNG:
The media present everyone with the image of a materialistic ‘good life’, which is the norm in which everyone should conform. However, this stimulates the sense of relative deprivation and marginalisation felt by groups who cannot afford these goods.
