1. Crime and Deviance
Crime and the media

2. How does this film represent crime ????

3. How does this film represent crime ????

4. How does this film represent crime ????

5. Crime and the Media
How does the concept of the media link in with crime:
We live in a media saturated society,
The media is obsessed with crime,
Crime is central theme of media output both fiction or non fiction,
Media is our main source of knowledge about crime.

6. Key questions
How does the media represent crime both in fiction and non fiction such as news broadcast ?

7. Does the media cause crime and fear of crime ?
Key questions
Does the media cause crime and fear of crime ?

8. What roles does the media play in creating moral panics ?
Key questions
What roles does the media play in creating moral panics ?

9. Cybercrime – how does new technology create opportunities for crime ?
Key questions
Cybercrime – how does new technology create opportunities for crime ?

10. You will be able...
Understand the patterns of media representation of crime and how these differ from the picture of crime in official statistics,
Understand and evaluate the different views about the media as a cause of crime and fear of crime,
Understand and evaluate views of the media’s role in the creation of moral panics,
Understand the relationship between the new information media and crime and social control.

11. In nutshell...
Crime and deviance make up a large proportion of news coverage,
Ericson et al (1991) study of Toronto – 45% to 75% of quality press and radio news was about various form of deviance.
Williams and Dickinson (1993) found that British newspaper devote up to 30% of their news space to crime.

12. Media over represent violent and sexual crime
'Most wanted' sex offender arrested
15 sex offenders go missing in our area
The sex offenders' tent camp: Homeless paedophiles told to go live in the woods

13. Media over represents violent and sexual crime (sexual crimes are more likely to be reported in the media that property offence crime),
Media portrays criminals and victims as older and more middle class than those found in the criminal justice system,
Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases,
The media exaggerates the risk of victimisation especially to women, white people and higher status individuals,
Crime is reported as a series of separate events,
The media overplays extraordinary crime and underplays ordinary crimes (dramatic fallacy)

14. You have 10 minutes to complete this task
In pairs
Use the newspapers provided to find examples of each the above forms of media distortion of crime, criminals and policing.
You have 10 minutes to complete this task

15. Type of coverage Schlesinger and Tumber (1994)
1960s focus on
1990s
1990s reporting had widened to
Soothill and Walby (1991) found that newspaper reporting of rape cases increased from under a quarter of all cases in 1951 to over a third in 1985.

16. News values and crime coverage
The distorted picture of crime painted by the news media reflects the fact that news is a social construction,
Crime is the outcome of a social process in which some potential stories are selected whilst other are rejected (Cohen and Young 1973 – news are not discovered but manufactured)
A central aspect of the manufacture of news is the notion of news value which is the criteria by which journalist and editors determine whether or not a story is news worthy.

17. News value Immediacy Dramatisation Personalisation Higher status
Simplification
Novelty or unexpectedness
Risk
Violence

18. You have 10 minutes to complete this task
Using the news articles in the newspapers which one reflect some of the criteria listed in the news value slide ?
You have 10 minutes to complete this task

19. Fictional representation of crime
Fictional representation from TV, cinema and novels are also important sources of our knowledge of crime,
Mandel (1984) estimates that from 1945 to over 10 billion crime thrillers were sold worldwide while about 25% of prime TV and 20% of films are crime shows or movies.

20. Surette (1998) – Law of opposites

21. Media representations of crime summary

22. The media as a cause of crime
Media negative effect on attitudes, values, and behaviour especially those groups thought to be susceptible to influence such as the young, the lower class and the uneducated.
Why would those specific groups be seen as more susceptible to crime than others ?

23. Ways in which the media can influence crime and deviance
Imitation,
Arousal,
Desensitisation,
Transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques,
As a target for crime,
Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods,
Portraying police as incompetent,
Glamourising offending

24. The media as a cause of crime
Fears about the possible negative effects of the media on their audience,
Studies have found that exposure to media violence has at most a small and limited negative effect on audiences,
Schramm et al (1961),
Livingstone (1996)

25. Fear of Crime
The media exaggerate the amount of violent and unusual crime,
They exaggerate the risks of certain people such as young women and old people (personal theft)
Media distorts the public's impression of crime and causing an unrealistic fear of crime
Evidence:
Gebner et al,
Schlesinger and Tumber (1992),
Sparks (1992)

26. The media, relative deprivation and crime.
Left realism – mass media helps to increase the sense of relative deprivation (feeling of being deprived relative to others)
Lea and Young (1996),
Most affected are those from poorer background who have access to the media and thus seek to conform to the lifestyle which is portrayed.

27. Moral Panics Read through the section in your handout on Moral Panics.
Identify a current example of a folk devil covered in the media.
Look for examples of the three elements that Cohen describes (exaggeration, distortion, prediction, and symbolisation)
Is there any evidence to suggest that members of the public do actually panic about the folk devil you have investigated.

28. Global and cybercrime
Cyber deception and theft (identity theft, phishing)
Cyber pornography (pornography involving minors)
Cyber violence (psychological harm or inciting physical harm)

29. Homework Complete the 12 mark question on page 125 of your text book
Examine the ways in which the media stimulate moral panics and create folk devils (12 marks)

30. Recap