Gary Burns's View Of Crime Reporting In South Australia

The public has a fascination and obsession over crime and criminals, but people want to know how those crimes are dealt with in the criminal justice system, in court and on the streets. “Now that the penal system has forsworn the former, and confined the latter within prison walls, the public turns to the news media. Stories relating to criminal justice are never far from the front pages and from the collective consciousness” (Roberts 99). We as American citizens have no choice but to watch the news or read the daily newspaper and get the latest crime right across the headlines. Learning about the new political and economic burning topics of the day seem to be at the majority of peoples interest.

Criminology is continuously changing and developing. Advances of technology have made media our primary news source for crime. We believe the stories told by our local news media, not doubting a word because these sources are supposedly reliable. Nevertheless, they sometimes do spread false information. It may be intentional or unintentional. According to Cohen, media presence amplifies a problem which did not previously exist (Steeves and Milford, 2015) thus creating a moral panic. As media influence increases, it is necessary for criminologists to study moral panics, such as the Columbine School shootings or the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

From a common perspective, being an NCR offender would be injustice for victims due to the belief of NCR offenders not receiving the wanted sentence. The media may play the case(s) as unjust or unfair, however the perspective of the offenders and their mental disorders are usually absent. As several stories, there is more than the publicized perspective, such as in federal cases; the perspective of the victims in major crimes is more broadcasted compared to the defendants, resulting in misunderstandings, judgments, and opinionated comments without all the facts. This can damage the reputation of defendants who are either innocent or suffering him/herself, such as NCR. Since the Not Criminally Responsible laws were placed in the judicial system

The New South Wale’s police system have failed to meet the needs of its society due to the misuse and misconduct of its given powers. The police have a large amount of discretion

Weatherburn, Matka and Land (1996) reported that there is a extensive difference between the actual levels of violent crime within society and societies observations about the nature of this crime. In Australia, within the period of 1990 to 2007, the rate (per 100,000 population) of homicide incidents decreased from 1.9 in 1990-91 to 1.3, in 2006-07 (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2012) despite the public’s perception of a crime increase. This study found there were several inconsistencies between the crime television reported and the crime that actually occurred within society. Very serious crimes such as homicides, abductions, armed robbery and sieges were over-represented in the news reports. Children and the elderly were over-represented

A factor that the public don’t take into consideration when judging the justice system is budget and staffing levels. The different arms, although part of the criminal justice system, work independently to serve the community but can be affected by budgeting, staffing levels and space restrictions, in turn affecting public perception. In 2007-2008 approximately 70% (majority of this being salaries) of the justice system expenditure was spent on the police force showing that the majority of the budget is being spent on the investigative arm (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009). The corrective services sector made up 24% and the criminal courts administration took up a tiny 6% of the budget. There has been a dramatic increase in prisoners which shows that police are apprehending criminals and Judges are providing suitable sentences but prisons are chronically overcrowded (Martin, 2010). The Government listened and announced that new prisons will be constructed, but this would take

Criminal cases being more publicised will cause the viewers to be distressed about the number of murders and robberies occurring in Canada. The media will catch fire over these felonies causing many people to talk and spread the news making it seem like there is an epidemic of crimes even though the police-reported crime rate in Canada has been decreasing for over 2 decades. However, since the news stations and media will be broadcasting to the public about all these scandals and modify some of the facts to make it more “entertaining”, many people will believe it and think there are many criminal acts committed in Canada than there really are. The point here is that what the media chooses to focus on often times becomes the facts regardless of what the actual facts

While reading this chapter, I was quite surprised to see the high rates of incarceration in the United States when compared to other Western countries. By simply examining opinion polls of Americans, it would seem that the criminal justice system is too lenient, which results in the propagation of the leniency myth. These findings have important implications for public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system. Confidence arises out of positive attitudes; if people believe that sentences are overly lenient they will have little confidence in the courts, regardless of the reality of sentencing practice (NCSC, 2007). On the basis of these survey findings alone, politicians, policy-makers and the media have concluded that the public

His statement supports the idea that society tends to focus on any mental problems or defects in the individual who commits a crime, suggesting that he or she should be feared, rather than the issues in society which contribute. This practice takes away any responsibility of society and places it solely on the individual. This allows people to feel safer with the notion that the incident is isolated and not a reflection of society and its influence which would create more

Australia is no longer influenced by the previous colonial policing due to the fact that society is changing and the perspective in policing is different.

When considering all the different types of victims out there, it is important to keep in mind the hardships they experienced to be labeled a victim. Although victims may come out the situation stronger, so victims still prefer to keep the crime to themselves. We like to think to ourselves, “Why would someone keep a crime amongst themselves?” A victim may have had a horrific past experience with law enforcement and feel they would be unsuccessful or not take the situation seriously. The victim may think the crime could be better handle personally, or that the crime is a personal matter. There is also the possibility of the victim feeling they

Also the report will comment on the problems that are associated with recorded crime figures, including the limitations of recorded crime figures and then how they can be linked back to the statistics from the Lowville Community. Another potential reason that this report will discuss is the dark figure of crime other concepts such as cuffing. This report will additionally look at how media representations affect how crime is seen and what this makes the residents think also. Finally this report will touch upon the crime filter that exists within every constabulary and community. With all this evidence and arguments this report will eventually explain why the crime figures reported by the Lowville Constabulary do not appear to reflect the experiences of crime that the elderly residents have experienced in their community.

The criminal justice system in Victoria consists of three main agencies with values that both overlap and contradict one another: the Police force, the Courts and corrections. The police force is designed to investigate and prevent crime, (Victoria Police, 2014) the courts exist to adjudicate on legal matters (ABS, 1997) and corrections is designed for retribution, to rehabilitate and incapacitate offenders and deter the public from committing crime. (Kifer, Hemmens, Stohr, 2003, p. 1)

All things considered, what the media covers and how much they chose to cover has significantly changed over the years, the most apparent in crime coverage. This consistent coverage of crime gives the audience an opportunity to interact with the media. They can feel a part of the intensity of an investigation, cheer on the enforcers, become immersed in their stereotypes. On the other hand, they can appreciate deviance for its resilience to overcome and resist

The importance given to certain crimes in the daily newspapers and other media sources shows us proof to the fact that crime is a topic that has the public’s interest and is a focus of their worries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001). It goes on to discuss the fact that crime as reported on by the media increases the public’s levels of fears and that there is little or no correlation to actual levels of violent crime in our society today.