The way that crime is portrayed in the media significantly varies from what official records and research can tell us. There are few main arguments that demonstrate how media misrepresents the crime problem. These arguments include; newsworthiness, over-reporting, agenda-setting, media effects and media coverage that will lead to ‘moral panic’ about particular crimes. It has been proved that the media is the public's major source of information about crime however it has exploited this by inaccurately presenting the nature of crime to our society.
The types of crime stories that are the most newsworthy thus being shown in the media often contain greater forms of conflict, are prominent and have a large impact rate on society. The majority of
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Thus leading the public to the misconception that violent crime is on the rise.
The short answer to the question ‘is the majority of crime in our society violent in nature’ is actually no. Although Australia might look like a country with high violent crime rates this is just another misconception brought to the public via the media. Reasoning behind this can be found through three arguments including; the historical background, the way that crime is measured in a society and crime myths.
The majority of crime in our society is not as violent in its nature when being compared to the 1800’s and the 1900’s. Australia was considered to have high rates of violent crimes that included; rape, assault, theft and murder. These offences were commonly committed by convicts due to the inadequate supervision by police. In the late 1900’s reported crimes were starting to decline, due to the end of convict transportation to Australia. According to the Australia Bureau of Statistics (2008), the number of crimes that had been reported to police in 2007 was significantly lower than the crimes reported in 1998 for the following offences; homicide and related offences, robbery, unlawful entry with intent and theft. Although there is a
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However, this data does not represent the full picture. Whilst this data is a key component in measuring crime it can also indicate the level of policing and victim behaviour. For example, in 1988 the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research released a study of policing reports regarding serious assaults. Researchers found that these assaults had increased by more than 20 per cent since the early 1980’s (Robb 1988). Whilst administrative data is highly useful for detecting the levels of crime in a society, this data is only measured by reported and/or detected offences. In doing so they fail to incorporate the ‘Dark Figure of Crime’ (offences that have not been reported or detected by police). Additionally, this data provides a greater understanding into how crime in Australia is measured and defined and provides proof into the theory that crime in our societies are not violent in
In contemporary society, there are various methodologies for collecting data (Linden 2012). That being said, there are pros and cons to each that are based on reliability and validity; where reliability is consistency of the statistics, and validity is a measure of how accurate the results are in accordance with the research topic. This ties in with how this paper will explore the Uniform Crime Report system (UCR); a measure of crime that is used the most. UCR statistics reflect the crimes that are reported to the police throughout the country. victimization and self-report surveys, which are statistics that reinforce the findings revealed by the UCR, will also be explored. Lastly, the issue of media coverage of crime news will be examined.
Despite their methodological differences, GSS data and those of the UCR have shown similar trends over the decade between 2004 and 2014. “For example, the GSS shows a 28 percent decline in the rate of violent victimization and a 42% decline in the rate of household victimization. In comparison, the UCR stated a 26 percent decrease in the rate of violent crimes and a 40% decrease in the rate of crime against property” (Perrault, 2015, p.7). In general, victimization rates in both surveys tend to be lower in the eastern and higher in the western part of Canada. “Less than one in three (31 percent) criminal incidents were reported to the police in 2014. This proportion was slightly lower than that recorded ten years earlier (34 percent)” (Perrault, 2015, p.27). Many incidents are not reported, because people feel that the police cannot help with the situation, or they may feel embarrassed. The crime rates appear to be higher for minor incidents, such as property or household crimes in comparison to serious violent crimes in both surveys over the years of
344. The. Australian Institute of Criminology, [Online]. Available at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/C/5/%7B0C5DFDDF-7A72-43F9-80A1-CA6D51B635B6%7Dtandi344.pdf, [Accessed 14 April 2011].
Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic. ‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group, frequently a minority group or subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses menace to society. These panics are generally fuelled by the media, although not always caused by, media coverage of social issues… These panics can sometimes lead to mob violence… (newsfilter.co.uk).
The media plays a huge role in forming people's perceptions of crime. Without the media we would remain ignorant to occurrences outside our direct social groups. The media and especially news coverage therefore provides us with an important point of contact with the rest of society. In evaluating its effect on popular perceptions of crime it becomes important to consider where most of the information comes from and how representative it is on actual criminality. If it takes "facts" (the truth, the actual event, a real thing) or if it is heightened to a crime myth. With a myth being based upon "exaggeration" or heightening of "ordinary" events in life. Crime myths become a convenient mortar to fill gaps in knowledge and to provide answers to question social science either cannot answer or has failed to address. Myths tend to provide the necessary information for the construction of a "social reality of crime (Quinney, 1970)." As crime related issues are debated and re debated, shaped and reshaped in public forms, they become distorted into myth, as largely seen in the mass media.
The 2002 crime figures for England and Wales comprised of two separate reports, brought together for the first time: (i) Crime statistics recorded by constabularies and (ii) The British Crime Survey (BCS), based on 33,000 interviews. The BCS is regarded as a more reliable measure of actual levels of crime because it includes experiences of crime that go unreported. The British crime survey of 2002 revealed:
The general public of Australia has a common aspect when associated with their sources of knowledge of crime. Many would agree the media, especially newspapers and television, are their most frequent and well known source of crime activity. The media updates society with data about the extent, frequency and types of crimes committed (Moston and Coventry, 2011, p.53). Studies highlight our grasp of crime is majorly derived from the media, with a lack of exposure to police statistics or victimisation surveys. There is a concern in correlation to this fact since the media has inconsistency and inaccuracy in reporting crime. Due to this, the media can misrepresent victims and perpetrators, downsizing them to recognisable stereotypes (Moston and
“There is a widespread concern that the level and type of crime reported in the media present a distorted view of the real level of crime in the community” (Media portrayals of crime, 2000). If a crime is portrayed as ‘out of control’ or perceived as ‘dangerous’ to a community through the media, it could create social repercussions, such as isolation of consumers who believe that their community is in a high-crime or high-violence area. Statistics recorded from the Australian Institute of Criminology confirms property crime, such as break and enter, burglary, vehicle theft and shoplifting are continually being reported at a higher rate than violent crime (Media portrayals of crime, 2000). In 2013 alone, there were approximately 739,317 property offences in total (homicide incidents, 2017). Therefore, the increase in property offences in society was the highest recorded in 2013, compared to violent crimes that are decreasing in a total of 151,714 in the same reviewed period. In addition, this evidence shows that the majority of crime in our society is not of a violent nature.
In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story and their selectiveness (Greer, 2007). Furthermore, there has been an increase in both fictional crime programmes and crime documentaries, with Crimewatch particularly becoming a regular part of British viewing. In the modern context, crime has continued to represent a large proportion of news reporting and with the aid of social networking sites and self-publicity via the internet, journalists are now more able to dig even deeper into the lives of people on whom they wish to report. Newspapers continue to keep the public informed with the latest headlines and the internet has also provided opportunities for members of the public to have their input in blogs.
Weatherburn, D. (2011) ‘Uses and abuses of crime statistics’, Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice, 153: 1-16
...it is the advent of television media that have sparked debate over the integrity of reliable news making. Print media was factual, although sometimes sensational, while electronic media made use of the technologies, such as videotapes and live footage to enhance and exaggerate the drama of the event even further. Many research studies have been conducted to show the effects of the media coverage on crime and how it influences the publics of fear of crime. Mass media has perpetuated a notion that crime is on the increase by portraying events and tragedies in the headlines that are sensational. The public buys into that idea, despite statistical accounts that reflect stable or low crime rates. The more stories people read and watch about crime, the more likely they are to think that crime is out of control. Politicians may then enact legal reforms to sooth the public’s outcry for crime control and prevention. As easy as it may be to hold the media accountable for barraging us with images and ideas that affect our views and beliefs, it important that the public take responsibility for the information that we consume. After all, there is always the “off” button on the remote control.
The police records crime reported by the public in 43 police force areas and provides these data to the Home Office and for their Basic Command Units. These data provide a wealth of statistical information on recorded crime rates and possibly identify long-term trends in recorded crime rates. Due to such data collecting process, how crime being reported by the victims or witnesses and recorded by the police may affect the accuracy of such official statistics. Thus, however, the main drawbacks of this kind of statistics are excluding crimes that are not discovered, reported or recorded. Firstly, some criminal activities are not witnessed or discovered then not recorded officially by the police. According to Croall (1998), a crime being counted officially should be perceived and recognised by a member of the public, a victim or law enforcement officers. For example, white –collar crimes such as fraud or misuse of expense accounts may not be discovered easily. Therefore, crimes that are not be seen may be uncounted in the official crime
Throughout society there are both individuals and groups of people with a wide range of perceptions about crime and justice. These perceptions are influenced by the media and what the media presents. Media presents crime stories in ways that selectively distort and manipulate public perception, thus creating a false picture of crime. Therefore the media provides us with perceptions and social constructions about our world. Firstly I will be discussing the role of the media in constructing knowledge about crime. I will begin by explaining why the media is important, and go further to explain that media representations construct knowledge of crime and since knowledge about crime is constructed it does not necessarily capture reality in fact crime stories are often sensationalised. I will then link this to my central argument that the media shapes people’s perceptions of crime and how this is important as it can lead to changes in the law. I will then explain what it is that the public or society needs to be aware of when reading and watching media reports about crime. We need to be aware of bias and moral panics that are created by the media and how the media shapes or influence’s public perception through this, it is important for us to be aware of misleading or false crime stories so that we are not swayed by the media in believing what they want us to believe.
The media today is often taken for granted; as people don’t realize the dominance the media source holds in the modern world. Through media sources such as newspaper, TV and social media crime could be easily spread through out the world within seconds. As a result of this, humans understanding of crime and crime control are largely relied upon the media as evidently most people will not be in those serious criminal situations. The media however takes advantage of this situation by exaggerating crime scenes and focusing on particular crimes to make the public fear. Particular groups in the media are stereotyped to an extent where the public foresees then as ‘dangerous’. As a consequence, a change in the public’s perception of crime has forced
During most of America’s recorded history, measuring crime and violence was not an accurate science. Crime statistics were recorded at local levels, but oftentimes this was not a priority of law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, statistics were often skewed to reflect better performance of these agencies than was the case. Only recently, during the last generation, has crime statistics been measured on a national level to determine crime patterns. The easiest crimes to measure, because of their nature, were homicide and auto theft.