A Level Sociology

Crime and Deviance

Topic 4

Crime and the Media

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Objectives:

Know the patterns of media representations of crime and how they differ from official statistics

Understand and evaluate different views on the media as a cause of crime Know and evaluate different views on the media as a cause of moral panic Understand the relationship between the new information media, crime and social control

Crime and the Media:Today, we live in a media saturated society. The media are all around us – and the media are obsessed with crime. Crime is the central theme of media output, both fiction and non-fiction.

Sociologists are interested in:

How the media represent crime, both in fiction and non-fiction Do the media cause crime and fear of crime Moral panics: What role do the media play in defining some groups as ‘folk devils’ and in

amplifying deviance? Cybercrime: how far do the internet and other communication information technology

create new opportunities for crime, and for the surveillance and control of the population.

Mind map the different types of media. Be sure to include ‘new media!’

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Types of Media

Media Representations of Crime: Crime and deviance make up a large proportion of new coverage. William and Dickinson (1993) found British newspapers devote up to 30% of their new space to crime.

The risk of becoming a victim of crime has fallen sharply in recent years. While in 1995 the risk was 40%, by 2009 it had fallen to 22%. However, perceptions of crime rates vary by people’s characteristics; for example those who read national tabloids are more likely to think that crime nationally has risen ‘a lot’.

The media over represent violent and sexual crime: Ditton and Duffy (1983) suggests 46% of crime in the news is sexual or violent. In reality this only represents 3% of actual crime.

The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle class than those typically found in the criminal justice system. Felson (1998) calls this ‘the age fallacy.’

Media coverage exaggerates police success in clearing up cases. Partly because the police are a major source of crime stories and want to present themselves in a good light and partly because of the over representation of violent crimes.

The media exaggerates the risk of victimisation especially to women, white people and higher status individuals.

Crime is reported as a series of separate events without structure and without examining underlying causes.

The media overplay extra-ordinary crimes and underplay ordinary crimes – Felson calls this ‘dramatic fallacy.’

Activity AO2/3: Page 123

Summarise the evidence that suggests that there have been some changes to the way crime is represented in the media:

Summarise the evidence that suggests an increasing preoccupation with sex crimes:

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News Values and Coverage: News values (what journalists use to decide if a story is newsworthy) and agenda setting (where the press/media decides which topics need to be discussed)

Activity AO2 Application: Read about the news values on page 124, complete the table describing each one and then provide an example of a recent news story. You can use your device to conduct research!

News Value Description ExampleImmediacy/scale

Drama

Human Interest

Higher Status

Simple

Novelty

Risk

Violence

Fictional representations of Crime:Surette (1998) suggests that in fiction:

Crime is distorted Murder is calculated committed by the middle class Police clear up rates are high

Example How it links to Surette’s study

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AO2 Application: record examples of crime shows and make links to each of Surette’s bullet points above.

Despite the above, three recent trends are worth noting:

The new genre of reality infotainment shows tend to feature non-white ‘underclass’ offenders

There is an increasing tendency to show police as corrupt and brutal (and as less successful) Victims have become central with law enforcers portrayed as their avengers and audiences

are invited to identify with their suffering

Example How it links to Surette’s study

What are you watching on Netflix? Does it support the recent trends above?

The Media as the Cause of Crime:There has long been a concern that the media may have negative effects on attitudes, values and behaviour, especially on those groups thought to be the most susceptible to influence such as the young, the lower classes and the uneducated. In the 1920s and 30s cinema was blamed for corrupting the youth.

What are the ways in which the media may corrupt young people? Use page 124 of the textbook to help you.

Overall most studies have tended to find that exposure to media violence has at most a small and limited negative effect on audiences.

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Fear of Crime:As we have seen the media exaggerates the amount of violent and unusual crime and they exaggerate the risks of certain groups of people becoming its victims, such as young women and old people. There is therefore concern that the media may be distorting the public’s impression of crime and causing an unrealistic fear of crime.

Research evidence to some extent supports the view that there is a link between media use and fear of crime. For example, in the USA, Gerbner et al found that heavy users of television (four hours a day) had higher levels of fear of crime. Tabloid readers and heavy users of TV express greater fear of becoming a victim, especially of physical attack and mugging.

However, the existence of such correlations doesn’t prove that media viewing causes fear. For example, it may be that those who are already afraid of going out at night watch more TV just because they stay in more.

Sparks notes, much ‘media effects’ research – whether on the media as a cause of crime or as a cause of fear of crime – ignores the meanings that viewers give to media violence. This criticism reflects the interpretivist view that if we want to understand the possible effects of the media, we must look at the meaning people give to what they read and see.

The media, relative deprivation and crimeLaboratory based research has focused on whether media portrayals of crime and deviant lifestyles leads viewers to commit crime themselves. An alternative approach to consider how far media portrayals of ‘normal’ rather than criminal lifestyles might also encourage people to commit crime.

For example, left realists argue that the mass media help to increase the sense of relative deprivation – the feeling of being deprived in relation to others – among poor and marginalised groups. In today’s society, where even the poorest groups have media access, the media present everyone with images of a materialistic good life of leisure, fun and consumer goods as the norm to which they should conform. The result is to stimulate the sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion felt by marginalised groups who cannot afford these groups. As Merton argues, pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means is blocked. In this instance, the media are instrumental in setting the norm and thus promoting crime.

Cultural Criminology, the media and crimeCultural criminologists argue that the media turns crime itself into a commodity that people desire. The media encourages audiences to consume crime in the form of images of crime. Hayward and Young (2012) see late modern society as a media saturated society where we are ‘immersed’ in the ‘media scape.’ In this society there is a blurring between the image and reality of crime. For example gang assaults are not just caught on camera but they are staged for the camera.

Media and the commodification of crime

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A further feature of late modernity is that crime and its ‘thrills’ become ‘commodified.’ Corporations and advertisers use media images to sell crime of crime to sell products, for example ‘gangster’ rap and hip hop combine images of street hustler criminality with images of consumerist success thus ‘crime and deviance’ becomes a style to be consumed.

Even counter cultures are packaged and sold, graffiti is the marker of deviant urban cool, but corporations now use it in a guerrilla marketing technique called ‘brandalism.’

Moral PanicsOne further way in which the media may cause crime and deviance is through labelling. Moral entrepreneurs, who disapprove of some particular behaviour – drug taking for instance – may use the media to put pressure on authorities to do something about the alleged problem.

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If successful their campaigning will result in the negative labelling of the behaviour and perhaps a change in the law, such as the introduction of the Marijuana Tax Act in the USA. By helping to label marijuana smoking, which previously had been legal, as criminal the media helped to cause crime.

An important element in this process is the creation of a moral panic:

‘An exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem – usually driven or inspired by the media. The reaction enlarges the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness.’

In a moral panic:

The media identify a group as a folk devil (threat to societies values)

The media present the group in a negative, stereotypical fashion and exaggerate the scale of the problem

Moral entrepreneurs, editors, politicians, police chiefs condemn the group and its behaviour

This leads to a crackdown on the group and could potentially lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy that amplifies the problem that caused the panic

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AO2 Application, Stretch yourself: Choose an example of one moral panic and explain it using the stages identified above:

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Mods and Rockers

The most influential study of moral panics and the role of the media is Cohen’s book ‘Folk devils and moral panics’. Cohen examines the media’s responses to disturbances between two groups of largely working class teenagers, the mods and the rockers, at English seaside resorts for 1964 to 1966 and the way in which this created a moral panic.

Mods wore smart dress and rode scooters, rockers wore leather jackets and rode motorbikes – though in the early stages distinctions were not always clear cut, and not many people identified themselves as belonging to either ‘group’. The initial confrontations started on a cold wet Easter weekend in Clacton, with a few scuffles, some stone throwing, some windows being broken and some beach huts wrecked.

However, although the disorder was relatively minor, the media over-reacted. In his analysis, Cohen argued that the media portrayed the event in the following ways –

Exaggeration and distortion – both in terms of numbers and the extent of the violence. ‘Day of terror by scooter gangs’ and ‘youngster beat up town’

Prediction – the media assumed and predicted further conflict Symbolisation – the symbols of mods and rockers and their clothes, bikes, scooter, hairstyles and music

were negatively labelled and associated with deviance

Cohen believed that the media’s portrayal of events produced a deviance amplification spiral by making it seem as if the problem was spreading and getting out of hand. This led to calls for an increased control response from the police and the courts. This produced marginalisation and stigmatisation of the mods and rockers as deviants. The media further amplified the deviance by defining the two groups and the subcultural styles. This led to youths adopting these styles and drew in more participation for future clashes

Activity AO3 Evaluation: Page 127

Functionalist Explanation:

Neo Marxist Explanation:

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Moral Panic Theory is useful because… Moral Panic Theory is not useful because…

Cyber Crime:

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The arrival of new types of media is often met with a moral panic. For example horror comics, cinema, television, videos and computer games have all been accused of undermining public morality and corrupting the young.

The same is true of the internet – both because of the speed with which it is developed and its scale: almost half of the world’s population are now online. The arrival of the internet has led to cyber-crime, which Thomas and Loader define as computer-mediated activities that are either illegal or considered illicit by some, and that are conducted through global economic networks

Jewkes notes the internet creates opportunities to commit both conventional crimes such as fraud and new crimes using new tools such as software piracy.

Wall identifies four categories of cyber crime:

1. Cyber-trespass:

2. Cyber-deception and fraud

3. Cyber-pornography

4. Cyber violence

Policing cyber-crime is difficult partly because of the sheer scale of the internet and the limited resources of the police and also because of its globalised nature, which poses problems of jurisdiction (eg which country should someone be prosecuted in for an internet offence?). Police culture also gives cyber-crime a low priority because it is seen as lacking the excitement of more conventional policing.

However, the new information and communication technology also provides the police and state with greater opportunities for surveillance and control of the population. ICT permits surveillance through the use of CCTV cameras, electronic databases, digital finger printing and smart identity cards as well as the installation of listening devices to monitor email traffic.

Exam Questions

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Concept DefinitionAge Fallacy

Dramatic Fallacy

Cause of crime

Fear of crime

Moral Panic

Folk Devil

Mods and Rockers

Cyber crime

Outline two ways in which the media give a distorted view of crime (4 marks)

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Outline three ways media influences levels of crime in society (6 marks)

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Item B

The news media are one of our main sources of knowledge about crime and deviance. Often the media will create a moral panic surrounding crimes and criminals or deviants. Moral panics can lead

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to a range of responses by the public, by agents of social control and by the criminals or deviants themselves. Over-representation of certain types of crimes may lead to heightened fear of these

crimes by the public. In some cases, moral panics may also result in a change in the law.

1. Applying material from Item A and elsewhere, evaluate sociological explanations of the role of the mass media in creating moral panics about crime and deviance. (30 marks)

Use the item to Define moral panic and folk devils Use the concept of ‘deviance amplification spiral’ to help you to explain the stages of a

moral panic, ensure you highlight the ‘role of the media’ Explain moral panics using interactionism using labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy that

results from societal reaction use studies from Cohen, Young and also use contemporary examples such as The London Riots. Criticise moral panic theory using Late Modernity, McRobbie and Thornton (page 127)

Locate a discussion between perspectives by considering alternative explanations from Functionalists and Neo Marxists

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