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Field Trip
The field trip for Semester B has been organised All students will attend a field trip to one of two Hong Kong correctional institutions Attendance at one of the field trips is compulsory The maximum number of students per field trip is 28 The details are as follows: 2 March 2012 - Lai King Correctional Institution 9 March 2012 - Cape Collinson Correctional Institution Please check Blackboard for further details
Lecture Outline
Introduction Media Representations of Crime
Accuracy and Inaccuracy Impact of Distortions of Crime Fear of Crime Moral Panic
Lecture Objectives
By the end of this lecture, students should be able to: 1. Discuss the impact of media distortions of crime 2. Comment on the medias role in increasing the fear of crime 3. Describe examples of moral panics in Hong Kong and elsewhere 4. Analyse the role the media may play in causing crime
Perceptions of Crime
Studies suggest that approximately 90% of people will never be the victim of a serious crime Most people have little or no direct contact with Criminal Justice professionals or systems
Police Legislature Courts Prisons
Perceptions of Crime
Studies in the US suggest that the media is the primary or only source of crime information for 95% of people Sources of information include
Television news Newspapers and other news sources Fictional sources Internet sources
The overwhelming majority of peoples knowledge of crime is from the media, not from direct experience How accurate is the information the media provides?
Homicide is the most widely reported of all crimes Up to 26% of all news stories focus on murder but murder makes up less than 1% of all recorded crime The most unusual or violent murders receive the most news coverage (Robinson, 2011)
Hierarchy of victimisation The most common type of murder involves young male victims and perpetrators
Fear Of Crime
Numerous criminologists have suggested that media images of crime can increase fear of crime. According to this theory: Heavy consumption of media distorts audience beliefs The greater the exposure to the media, the more likely ones beliefs will match media portrayals The media depicts a world with high levels of crime committed randomly by strangers Repeated viewing of the media will increase fear of crime
Fear Of Crime
Numerous studies have reported a link between media and fear of crime Chicoros et al. (1997) reported that frequency of exposure to television and radio news is associated with fear of crime Weitzer and Kubrin (2004) reported that people who rely on the television for most of their news were more fearful of crime Dowler (2003) reported that people who regularly watch crime shows and read crime news in newspapers are more likely to fear crime
Fear Of Crime
Heavy viewing of television is associated with: Increased fear of crime Overestimation of the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime Belief that ones neighbourhood is unsafe Belief that crime rates are increasing Support for harsh punishments Reduced critical thinking ability However, what is the direction of causation?
Moral Panics
On Easter Sunday 1964 the town of Clacton in England was crowded with young people A rumour spread through the crowd that a bartender had refused to serve several young people A fight broke out and the youths began protesting Motorcycles were raced up and down the streets A gun was fired into the air and several windows were smashed The total damage was about 500 (equivalent to about HK$95,000 today
Moral Panics
The police overreacted and arrested about 100 young people The next day the incident was the lead story in every major newspaper
Day of Terror Youngsters Beat Up Town
The international media reported various theories of the causes of mob violence Politicians were pressured to respond to the youth violence problem
Moral Panics
The idea of moral panics was first proposed by Stanley Cohen. Cohen argued in a moral panic: 1. An episode, person, group or behaviour emerges and is defined as a threat to societys values 2. Its nature is presented in an exaggerated and stereotypical way by the media 3. Politicians, religious leaders, the media and others argue that a moral crisis has emerged using narrative chains of disaster 4. Solutions are proposed and enacted 5. Sometimes the crisis passes fairly quickly, at other times permanent changes are left behind
Moral Panics
Examples of moral panics include Fear of school shootings after the Columbine massacre in the United States in 1999 The reaction to teenage drug use in Hong Kong in 20072009
There is no evidence that places with more violent TV or higher viewing rates have higher rates of violence
Homework
Between now and tutorial 2, find an example of crime depicted in the media It can come from newspapers, television or other Bring the example to Tutorial 2 Analyse the way crime is depicted using some of the concepts from todays lecture