Media and crime

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The media and crime
The media give an overly distorted image of crime - for instance, by over-representing violent crimes. This is because the news is a social construction based on news values that explain the media's interest in crime. Some sociologists see media as a caus
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The media as a cause of crime
Imitation - the media provides deviant role models, which results in copying their behaviour
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Arousal - viewing violent or sexual imagery
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Desensitisation - repeated viewing of violence
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The media as a cause of crime 2
Transmission of knowledge of criminal techniques
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Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods (eg. through advertising)
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Glamourising offending
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Distorted image of crime
Overrepresentation of sexual and violent crime
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Exaggerates police success
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Exaggerates the risk of victimisation
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Overplay extraordinary crimes
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Fictional representation of crime. Surette
Fictional representations of crime follow the ‘law of opposites’, meaning they are opposite to official statistics:-
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Property crime is underrepresented, while violence, sex and drug crimes are over-represented
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Fictional representation of crime. Surette 2
Fictional sex crimes are caused by psychopathic strangers, whereas most sex crimes are committed by acquaintances
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Fictional villains are higher-status, middle-aged, white males
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Fictional police usually catch criminals
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Mods and rockers
Cohen examined media's response to disturbances between working-class teenagers (mods and rockers) in the 1960s. Cohen revealed that although this disorder was relatively minor, the media amplified and exaggerated this, producing a deviance amplification
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Mods and rockers
Exaggeration and distortion - exaggerated the numbers involved, the extent of violence and damage
Prediction - assumed and predicted further conflict
Symbolisation - the symbols of the mods and rockers defined them
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The media cause moral panics nowadays
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Cohen and Young news values
News is not discovered, but it is manufactured. A central feature manufactured news is the concept of ‘news values’, these are criteria in which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the news. Key news values
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Cohen and Young news values 2
Immediacy - ‘breaking news’
Dramatisation - action and excitement
Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals
Higher status - celebrities
Simplification - eliminating shades of grey
Risk - victim-centred stories about vulnerability and fea
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Lea and Young
The media present everyone with the image of a materialistic ‘good life’, which is the norm in which everyone should conform. However, this stimulates the sense of relative deprivation and marginalisation felt by groups who cannot afford these goods.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

The media as a cause of crime

Back

Imitation - the media provides deviant role models, which results in copying their behaviour
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Arousal - viewing violent or sexual imagery
​
Desensitisation - repeated viewing of violence
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Card 3

Front

The media as a cause of crime 2

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Distorted image of crime

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Fictional representation of crime. Surette

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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