Crime and Deviance

Media

Lesson Objectives

• Introduce how the media portray crime

• Look at ways in which the media might be a cause of crime and of the fear of crime

• Look at the role the media play in creating moral panics

Starter

• How does the media represent Crime and Deviance?

• Can they be accused of sensationalisation?

• Do they cause a moral panic?• What folk devils have been created

from Media Coverage?

Facts• Richard Ericson et al’s (1991) study of

Toronto found that 45-71% of the press and radio news was about deviance and its control

• Williams & Dickinson (1993)- British newspapers devote up to 30% of their news space to crime

• While the news media show an interest in crime, they give a distorted image of crime, criminals and policing (compared to OS)

Key Words• Age Fallacy- media representations give

impression that all age groups are involved in crime• Dramatic Fallacy- the media focus on violent

crimes therefore creating fear of crime esp among elderly and women by over focusing on crimes against these groups

• Ingenuity Fallacy- Media give impression that criminals are clever, yet most crime is opportunistic

• Class Fallacy- Media give impression that M/C are more likely to be victims of crime

• Police Fallacy- Media give impression that the police are more efficient than they really are

News Values and Crime Coverage

• The distorted picture of crime painted by the news media reflects the fact that news is a social construction.

• Cohen & Young- news is not discovered but manufactured (some stories selected, while others are rejected)

• News value- criteria by which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy

• Key News Values influencing the selection of crime stories include:

1.Immediacy2.Dramatisation- action & excitement

3.Personalisation- human interest stories about individuals e.g. Violent & sexual crimes

4.Higher Status persons- e.g. celebrities

5.Simplification- eliminating shades of grey

6.Novelty or unexpectedness- new angle

7.Risk- victim centred stories

8.Violence- visible and spectacular acts

Activity

• Using the same newspapers as earlier find some crime stories in the national and local press. Which news values do the stories reflect?

Fictional Representations of Crime

• Fictional representations of crime form TV, cinema and novels are important sources of our knowledge of crime (a lot of their output is crime related)

• Mandel (1984)- from 1945- 1984 over 10 billion crime thrillers were sold worldwide, 25% of prime time TV and 20% of films are crime shows or movies (what examples are there?)

• Fictional representations follow Surette’s ‘law of opposites’ (opp to OS, and similar to news coverage).

• Property crime is under represented, while violence, drugs and sex crimes are over represented

• Fictional sex crimes are committed by psychopaths, not acquaintances

• Fictional cops usually catch the bad guy

• However three recent trends are worth noting:

1.Reality shows tend to feature young, non white ‘underclass’ offenders

2.There is an increasing tendency to show police as corrupt, brutal and less successful

3.Victims have become more central, with police portrayed as avengers and audiences invited to identify with their suffering

The Media as a cause of Crime

• Concern that media has –ve effect on attitudes, values and behaviour (esp. on young, lower class and uneducated)

• Blame for decline in behaviour shifted from cinema-horror comics-video nasties-rap lyrics and now computer games

Ways in which the media may cause C&D

• Imitation- providing deviant role models, resulting in copycat behaviour (Bandura)

• Arousal- through viewing violent imagery• Desensitisation- repeatedly viewing

violence• Transmitting knowledge of criminal

techniques• Target of crime e.g. Theft of plasma TV’s• Stimulating desires for unaffordable

goods- through advertising• Glamourising offending

AO2• Most studies have found that exposure

to media violence has at most a small and limited –ve effect on audiences

• Sociologists note that this link is simplistic because it fails to recognise that audiences differ in terms of age, social class, IQ and level of education and so do not react in the same way to media content

AO2

• Fails to appreciate nature of violence caused by a range of factors e.g. Poor socialisation, bad parenting, peer group influences, mental illness, drugs and alcohol

• Most research uses lab experiments (allows control of variables however artificiality undermines validity), also cannot measure LT effects

Fear of Crime• The media exaggerate the amount of

violent crime and the risks of certain groups becoming victims e.g. Young women and elderly

• Research to an extent supports the view that media cause fear of crime

• Schlesinger & Tumbler (1992)- tabloid readers and heavy users of TV expressed greater fear of going out at night and of becoming victims

Media, Relative Deprivation and Crime

• Left Realists argue that the mass media help to increase the sense of relative deprivation (feelings of deprivation relative to others) among poor and marginalised social groups

• In today’s society even the poorest have media access, the media present people with images of a materialistic ‘good life’ as a goal to which they should strive

• Stimulating the sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion felt by marginalised groups who cannot afford the goods

• As Merton suggests pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means is blocked.

• The media is instrumental in setting the norm and therefore promoting crime.

Stan Cohen• Moral Panic: An exaggerated over reaction by society to a

perceived problem- driven/inspired by Media

• Media plays a crucial role in the social construction of C&D

• Distorting and exaggeration by the media create a public reaction. This leads to the public labelling certain groups (sfp).

• Moral entrepreneurs: editors, police officers, politicians, legal profession.

• The media interest and exaggerated reporting leads to a social reaction and amplification (a deviancy amplification spiral), as more interest in fact leads to the identification of more of the offending behaviour.

• Selective reporting actually creates the crime problem.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19xJIedrrfA

Mods and Rockers (pg 122)

• Who were the Mods & Rockers?• What happened in Clacton during the Easter

Weekend?• The media over-reaction to the events involved 3

elements, what were they?• How was the turn of events linked to the idea of

deviance amplification spiral?• How did the Media’s definition of the situation

create a Moral Panic?• How does Cohen link moral panics to a ‘boundary

crisis’?• What criticism of moral panics are there?

Perspectives of Moral Panics• Functionalism- see moral panics as ways

of responding to the sense of anomie (normlessness) created by change. By dramatising the threat to society in the form of a folk devil, the media raise the collective consciousness and reassert social controls when central values are threatened.

• Neo-Marxism- Hall et al argue that the moral panic over ‘mugging’ served to distract attention from the crisis of capitalism (dividing W/C on racial grounds)

H/W

• Thomas and Loader (2000)- cyber crime is computer mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit, and are conducted through global electronic networks

1. Read through Global cyber crime and summarise

2. Mind map Crime and Media topic

Essay Practice

• Examine some of the ways in which deviance may be related to the mass media (21m)

Mass media Mass media and crimeand crime

The media and crimeThe media and crime

The media over-The media over-represent violence and represent violence and sex crimes – this make sex crimes – this make us think its happening us think its happening more and that most more and that most killers are strange killers are strange psychopaths – in most psychopaths – in most cases the perpetrator is cases the perpetrator is know to the victim. know to the victim.

The media portray The media portray criminals and victims as criminals and victims as older and more older and more middle-class.middle-class.

Media coverage Media coverage exaggeratesexaggerates police police success in clearing up success in clearing up cases.cases.

The media exaggerates The media exaggerates the the risk of risk of victimisationvictimisation, , especially women.especially women.

The media The media overplayoverplay extraordinary crimes but extraordinary crimes but underplay ordinary underplay ordinary crimes. crimes.

News as socially News as socially constructedconstructed

‘‘The news is not discovered but The news is not discovered but manufactured’ says manufactured’ says CohenCohen and and YoungYoung. What they mean is . What they mean is what gets coverage depends on what gets coverage depends on what has happened, who is what has happened, who is involved, when and where. involved, when and where. Crime by its very definition is Crime by its very definition is abnormal and ticks most of abnormal and ticks most of these news worthy boxes.these news worthy boxes.

Fictional crimeFictional crime

Our ideas of crime Our ideas of crime don’t just come don’t just come from the news. from the news. Fictional Fictional representation of representation of crime comes from crime comes from books, films and books, films and TV shows. They TV shows. They tend to match the tend to match the incorrect incorrect stereotypes of stereotypes of the the media.media.

Can the media cause Can the media cause crime or fear?crime or fear?

Most studies show media Most studies show media violence has at most a violence has at most a small and limited small and limited negative effect on negative effect on audiencesaudiences. Studies do . Studies do show those that watch TV show those that watch TV for longer periods of time for longer periods of time are more likely to be are more likely to be fearful of becoming a fearful of becoming a victim. victim.

How could the How could the media cause media cause crime?crime?

Imitation – copycats.Imitation – copycats.

Desensitisation.Desensitisation.

Learning criminal Learning criminal techniques.techniques.

Desire for Desire for unaffordable goods.unaffordable goods.

Glamorising Glamorising offending.offending.

Mass media Mass media and crimeand crime

Deviancy amplification spiralDeviancy amplification spiral

This idea says that sensationalist This idea says that sensationalist reporting by the newspapers distorts reporting by the newspapers distorts the act of crime or deviance and the act of crime or deviance and increases public awareness. Public increases public awareness. Public pressure is put on the police and pressure is put on the police and courts to act. This creates a courts to act. This creates a moral moral panicpanic where certain acts or groups are where certain acts or groups are seen as a threat to social order. seen as a threat to social order.

Stanley CohenStanley Cohen

Cohen studied how the Cohen studied how the media has often media has often demonised youth culture. demonised youth culture. This happened to This happened to mods mods and Rockersand Rockers in 1964 in 1964 who were seen as who were seen as modern day modern day folk devilsfolk devils who threatened social who threatened social order. His research order. His research found that actual acts of found that actual acts of deviant acts were deviant acts were minimal. minimal.

New media – new crimeNew media – new crime

Cinema, television, computer games and Cinema, television, computer games and the internet have all been blamed for the internet have all been blamed for corrupting the young. The internet has corrupting the young. The internet has grown so quickly its brought about cyber grown so quickly its brought about cyber crime. Defined as computer-meditated crime. Defined as computer-meditated criminal activities conducted through criminal activities conducted through global electronic networks.global electronic networks.

Cyber-crimeCyber-crime

Cyber-trespass Cyber-trespass – includes hacking – includes hacking and spreading viruses.and spreading viruses.

Cyber –deception and theft – Cyber –deception and theft – identify theft, illegal downloading.identify theft, illegal downloading.

Cyber-pornographyCyber-pornography – illegal porn – illegal porn involving children.involving children.

Cyber-violenceCyber-violence – bullying by text, – bullying by text, threatening e-mails, cyber stalking. threatening e-mails, cyber stalking.