James Bulger's Murder

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February 12th, 1993, a two-year-old boy goes missing in a busy shopping centre. Two days later his mutilated body was discovered by police on railway tracks. The people responsible for his murder were two males, aged just 10 years old. James Bulger’s murder was a watershed event in terms of criminal law, the justice system and the media. The media coverage was intense and went against the normal protocols on the reporting of juvenile crime. The pressure exerted by the media was also felt by politicians to answer questions on how this crime could happen and what they were going to do so it never happened again.
The aim of this report is to discuss the ways in which the media reports on crimes committed by children and teenagers. Using the James Bulger murder it will analyse and evaluate how the reporting of crime affects public perceptions of children, teenagers and crime. It will consider how the media influences governments, policies and legislation. The report will argue how the reporting of previous, high-profile cases concerning children and crime have impacted on the Youth Justice system and on society.
The relationship between ‘Youths’ and crime is the mainstay of media coverage but, does the media truly reflect what is happening in …show more content…

New technology has fuelled the expansion with the growth of phone apps, social media formats, smartphones able to capture video and upload instantly onto the web. The public is now recording, documenting, sharing and viewing events as they happen, often before professional journalist or reporters. Technology allows people to view major events in real time anywhere in the world, creating a ‘global village’ in which everyone is connected (McLuhan 1964; cited in Giddens 2013). However, the mass medias of television, radio and newspapers both in print and online, continue to be the mediums the public accesses the news and events on a local, national and international

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