Realtionship Between the Media, Public Perceptions of Crime and Police

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.

(Torres, S. 1998) Research indicates that fear of crime, whether self-imposed or realistic, can immobilize individuals, harm the local economy and negatively impact social interactions as well as the quality of life (Albanese, 1990 Skogan (1987) argues that crime victims believe that more crime exists, are worried about victimization and attempt to protect themselves. Parker and Ray (1990) as well as Krannich et al. (1989) revealed victimization to be a predictor related to fear of crime. Additional support for these findings was provided by Smith and Hill (1991), who showed that actual victimization appears to increase fear of crime by increasing the perception of vulnerability. (Torres, S. 1998) Research also shows that fear of crime among minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status is related to their vulnerability in the urban environment (Liska et al., 1982). The elderly who are physically vulnerable and less agile are more fearful of crime even though they are less likely to be victims. (Torres, S. 1998) The proliferation and presence of gangs in the United States is also linked to the concept of social incivilities and increased fear of crime. This problem of fear does not go away. The people not only have a constant fear, it continues to the next generation of people in

Assess sociological explanations of the role of the mass media in creating moral panics about crime and deviance:

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.

Pop culture media, like Law and Order, has a way of showing people how crime is portrayed. Case (2013), mentions that past studies about the representation of crime in the media has increasingly shown fear to the public and portraying unrealistic standards of how crime is in the real world. Media likes to exaggerate how things truly are in the real world, which is why people believe what the media portrays. People will believe that everything they see in a television show can truly happen in the real world, which certain things can happen but not everything. If people end up believing in how the media portrays crime then people will be living in fear of their society being more violent than it actually is (Case, 2013).

Fear, in this topic, can be defined as an anticipation of victimization, rather than fear of an actual victimization. This type of fear relates to how vulnerable a person feels. In his article, Fear of crime: A review of the literature, Hale suggests that the mass media frequently create

The role the mass media plays in the public perception of Law Enforcement and the Criminal Justice System is potentially important in relation to the viewer’s attitude and beliefs. Does the general public support law enforcement or does the media create a negative perception of the police in the press and on network television? The CSI Effect has gained huge popularity among researchers, what is it; and how does it affects the public’s role in criminal proceedings? In relation to the mass media, how important of a role do common demographic variables such as race and age play a part in the public’s perception of law enforcement?

Among society, there are many variances in people’s perceptions of safety and the threat of crime. This small essay will discuss whether members of society that are considered the most fearful of crime are accurate in their concerns and are also most likely to become victims of committed crimes. The fear of crime refers specifically to the fear and anxiety a person may feel resulting from a specific perceived threat or out of fear of potentially becoming a victim of crime, as opposed to the actual probability of becoming a victim of crime (Hale, 1996). According to Makkai and Prenzler (2014), both gender differences and age differences are variables that may affect an individual’s level of fear of becoming a victim of crime. Thus, the members of society who are considered to be the most fearful of crime are women, as well as younger and older individuals in respect to age (Davis & Dossetor, 2010; Hale, 1996; Makkai & Prenzler, 2014).

There are several ways that fear of crime has a relationship with violence. In many communities have experience higher fear of crime levels? Franklin (2009) in his current research he tested the vulnerability of female and male to indicated if fear of crime was increase by age. In his finding this facts are significant since there is a higher level among age for males while females tend to reduce fear. Age also plays a big role when fear of crime is concern in the communities.

1.     Is the nature of crime in our society accurately presented by the media?  Discuss.

There is a plethora of crime related movies, TV shows, video games, etc. Violent portrayals of crime are everywhere. As most Americans do not have any personal experience with the criminal justice system, public knowledge of how it operates comes mostly from the media. Dowler (2003) did a study on the relationship between consumption of such media and fear of being victimized by crime. He found that there is, in fact, a relationship and people who consume more of this media are more afraid of crime. “Regular viewers of crime shows are more likely to fear or worry about crime. Similarly, regular crime drama viewers are more likely to hold negative attitudes toward police effectiveness.” (Dowler,

According the to the authors, measuring the relationship between where people live and the fear of crime is one approach to specifying the race-specific crime threat hypothesis. Another method was to measure directly the extent to which people associate crime with blacks. People used to support their data were adults 18 years of age and older, 56.5 percent female 79.8 percent white, 11.4 percent black and 7.5 percent Hispanic. 44 percent of the sample had graduated from college. The median age was 46

Media can impact individuals understanding about the operations of the criminal justice system in different ways. Three ways media impacts individuals are based off the fear of crime, attitudes, and police effectiveness.

In the United States, violent crime has been steadily declining since its peak in the early 1990s (Lott, 2013). Violent crime, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, includes four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault (FBI, 2012). These crimes are measured by the Justice Department in terms of number reported by victims as well as those tried and convicted in a court of law (FBI, 2012). Despite the steady decrease, the vast majority of Americans admit to possessing a very genuine fear of violent crime both in their local neighborhoods and in the nation at large (Lott, 2013). When surveyed over the last several years, nearly half of the American population consistently believed violent crime had increased from the year prior (Cohn, 2013). In reality, the instances of violent crime had been and continue to be deteriorating at a rapid pace (Cohn, 2013).

One example of this "relationship with fear" that the media seems to have can be found in a 1994 article in "US News and World Report" where the authors, despite noting briefly that violent crime by all statistical accounts is actually down, names the previous year as "the scariest year in American history" seeming to assert that the numbers don 't matter (Jackson and Naureckas). The article also makes a good point about the contradiction between perceptions of crime and the reality of crime: "the drumbeat of news coverage [that] has made it seem that America is in the midst of its worst epidemic of violence ever. That sense is not supported by the numbers" (Jackson and Naureckas). Throughout the rest of the article similar contradictions abound and it is difficult to tell exactly what conclusion should be drawn from it. The causes of crime, as with most crime reporting, are not dealt with in the article while "random violence" is examined closely (Jackson and Naureckas). Most violent crime is perpetrated by someone whom the victim knows yet the theme of "random violence receives much more attention in the media (Jackson and Naureckas). The US News piece illustrates how the media engages in a form of "doublethink" where despite knowledge of factual evidence indicating a