Crime and the Media

1
Crime and the Media

• What do Americans believe about Crime and the
  Justice System?
• Where and how do they develop these beliefs?
• What are the consequences of these beliefs?

2
Criminology vs. Other Science

• How many crime related T.V. shows can you name
  off the top of your head?
• Crime and the CJS on T.V. news or newspapers?
• Crime and the CJS in movies and fiction books?
• How does this compare to biology, psychology, or
  physics?

3
Who Cares?

• People get information about most things from
  television, newspapers
• BUTwith regard to crime, the question becomes,
  How accurately does the media reflect crime,
  criminals, and the criminal justice system?
• Back stage behavior

4
Sources of Media Biasor Reasons for Skepticism

• Newspapers and T.V. news
• Crime in general captures audiences
• Violent crime, especially stranger violence
• If it bleeds it leads
• Politicians
• Get tough on crime political payoff
• Entertainment
• Need for excitement belies accurate portrayal
  of criminals and criminal justice system

5
Types of Distortion

• Creation of crime waves
• Attention to violent crime
• What about white collar crime?
• Creating/Spreading Crime Myths
• Halloween psychopaths
• The Serial Killer Epidemic
• Satanic Daycare

6
Class Survey Crime Trends

• In the past 10, has crime increased, decreased,
  or remained stable?
• 46 said crime has increased
• How many murders occur in the U.S. in any given
  year?
• Mean (average) 44,472
• Actual 13,500

7
Class Survey Myths

• Halloween, strangers with bad candy
• 43 yes
• Percent of murders by serial killers?
• Average 12 (actual about 2)
• Random child abductions
• Average 12,000 (actual less than 300)

8
Operation of the Criminal Justice System

• What is the nature of police work? How effective
  are police?
• What is profiling and how many cases are solved
  using this technique?
• What typically happens after arrest?
• What are prisons like?
• How often are criminals let go because of
  loopholes in the system?

9
Class Survey Answers The Criminal Justice System

• Percent found guilty by jury trial? 40
• Actual Less than 10 of felonies, less than 5
  of all crimes
• Percent of police time fighting crime? 30
• Not too bad.nice work.
• Is profiling an effective way to catch serial
  killers? 73 yes
• Remember the sniper case folks?
• Behavioral Science Unit of FBI?

10
Media and Crime Summary

• Tendency to distort reality
• Political rhetoric
• If it bleeds it leads (other types of crime?)
• Overemphasis on crime (crime waves)
• An effective criminal justice system
• Why is any of this important
• Dorthy and W.I. Thomas (1928), if people believe
  it, it is real in its consequences.

11
Fear of Crime

• Why is fear of crime important?
• How fearful are Americans?
• Are some Americans more fearful than others?
• Structural Factors (size of town/city)
• Individual Factors (age, race, gender)

12
Class Survey, Afraid of Victimization by Gender
13
Seriousness of Criminal Events

• Why important?
• General trend here is agreement across groups
• But, some differences exist
• What about White Collar Crime?

14
Attitudes Towards Punishment

• When polling questions are broad/general, it
  appears that Americans are punitive and
  punishment oriented
• Do you support the death penalty for convicted
  murderers? (75 yes)
• In general, do you think the courts in this
  country deal too harshly or not harshly enough
  with criminals? (80 not harsh enough). (Our
  Class 50 not harsh enough)
• Consistency across race, class, other factors
• BUT Adding complexity to the questions affects
  answers

15
More Complex Questions

• Class Survey Responses
• Do you support the Death Penalty?
• 64
• If given the option of life without parole?
• 54
• Applegate, Cullen, Turner and Sundt (1996)
• 3 Strikes legislation
• 90 of Ohio residents supported 3 Strikes in
  general
• Only 17 choose life in prison as a punishment
  when given specific cases

16
What about Rehabilitation or Prevention?

• Again, public attitudes are complex
• Does the public want their pound of flesh?
• YES, believe in retribution and deterrence
• Does the public also want rehabilitation?
• YES, especially for drug/property offenses
• Is the public willing to use tax dollars for
  prevention?
• YES

17
Feature Presentation

• 4 Things to Watch for
• Ideology (not my primary reason for showing)
• BUT, very ideological movie
• Role of media
• Fear of crime
• What is the central question of the movie?
• This is a question we will address in theory