AC1.5- Explain the impact of media representations on the public perceptions of crime
How the media choses to represent different types of crimes has a large impact on how the
public reacts and perceives those crimes.
Moral Panic
Meaning:
Moral panic is an over-reaction and over-exaggeration by society towards a problem. Moral
panic in terms of crime is caused by the media’s representation of crime, originally starting with
the media identifying one person or group as a threat to society and societies values. These are
then condemned by other people which amplifies the original issue into a bigger issue than it
was, and this is a cause of moral panic. Three elements of moral panic are symbolisation of the
cause of panic, prediction of future problem and exaggeration or distortion or statistics and
facts. Argued by Leslie Wilkens, there is an idea that the media can cause a “deviance
amplification spiral”, where attempts to control deviancy causes only more deviancy. Moral
Panic has a high tendency to cause the public to spiral an issue into a bigger one that it originally
was because of over-reaction and exaggeration.
Examples:
The “Mods and Rockers” are an example that fall the idea of moral panic. “Folk Devils and Moral
Panics” by Cohen is a study of this. Initially young people did not identify with either group or
the differences between them were not clear cut. After a minor incident that caused very
minimal property damage, the media overreacted and the amount of damage was distorted to
seem as though it was more than it was, there were predictions that more violence would occur,
and the symbols of the mods and rockers were used throughout and negatively labelled. In the
case of the mods and rockers, media coverage made the public believe the situation was getting
out of hand and made people encourage more to be done which increased the stigmatisation
and hate towards the mods and rockers. The media also dramatized the differences between the
two groups, which encouraged more people to identify with one group and lead to more clashes
and violence. People essentially began acting out the roles that the media had assigned them
with through their representation of the groups. The media and public trying to contain the
deviance of the crime meant that the crime was committed more because of those involved
feeling they must perform to the roles the media had assigned them, which repeats in a spiral.
More of these examples outside of the mods and rockers are the AIDS/HIV crisis or the epidemic
of people fearing “dangerous” dogs like pit bulls. After eleven attacks, an act was introduced
banning the breeding, sale or exchange of four breeds of dogs, Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa,
Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro. This was caused by the Moral Panic after the attacks, and
politicians felt pressure to introduce an act to make it appear as though they were making a change
to prevent further attacks. This was a controversial act and was a result of the moral panic that the
public were thrown into after the original attacks. Another example is Jamie Bulger, a two-year-old
who was kidnapped by ten-year-old boys and tortured and eventually murdered because they were
copying the movie “Childs play 3” they had watched. This threw the country into a moral panic as
everyone became fearful that an entire generation of ten-year-olds would become capable of
murdering younger people.
, Changing Public concerns and attitudes
Meaning:
How the media represents different groups can change public attitudes and throw them into a
moral panic. In the example of the mods and rockers again, media representations of them lead
to public anxiety that all youths were dangerous and to be feared. What the media place out,
the public will understand and begin to follow and turn into their own concerns and attitudes.
Example:
During the AIDS crisis, the media began to blame homosexuals for the cause of aids, which many
of the public picked up into their own beliefs and lifestyles, becoming unnecessarily homophobic
because the media had made them believe that homosexual men were the reason for the AIDS
crisis which caused so many deaths. Since the Islamist Terror Attacks in 2001, many media
reports on Muslims have been widely negative and hate crimes towards Muslims has increased.
Similar to the AIDS crisis and the blaming of homosexual men, the more recent Monkey Pox
outbreak caused an aggressive inbound of hate towards homosexual men. The media often
blamed homosexual men having intercourse for the monkeypox outbreak which led to many of
those absorbing the content spreading homophobic hate towards gay men. As well as this, the
murder and sexual assault of Sarah Everard, who was arrested by a police officer who took
advantage of his power made many women fear and become cautious of the police and other
authority figures. It led to an act that meant an undercover officer cannot approach or arrest a
suspect unless they are in uniform.
Perceptions of crime trends
Perception of crime trends is how the public are viewing the local and national statistics of
crime, and whether crime is increasing or decreasing.
The effect of media:
Local figures are often known by the public because they have knowledge on their area, whereas
knowledge on national statistics is often given by the media and the public are reliant on them
to give them knowledge on the national crime trends and statistics. How the media represent
crime has already shown that the media tend to give more time towards violent crimes and
often exaggerate the extent of the crime occurring, giving the impression to the public that the
crime is increasing and becoming more threatening and imminent to them. 6 in 10 adults believe
that crime has risen in the UK over the years despite these statistics being distorted.
Examples:
This increased sense of imminent danger and the media making the public believe that the crime
is increasing can often make the public feel that their risk of becoming a victim of the crime is
dramatically increasing. The media overreport crime and give the public impressions of who
specifically is at risk of attack. They often portray women as under threat from violent sexual
attacks despite the victims being possibly anyone, as well as portraying the elderly at risk from
attacks on the street, or on street robberies. Similarly, the over reporting in media about crime
towards children such as sexual abuse towards children or the event of abductions can lead to
parents becoming over cautious and not letting their children outside without supervision.
How the media choses to represent different types of crimes has a large impact on how the
public reacts and perceives those crimes.
Moral Panic
Meaning:
Moral panic is an over-reaction and over-exaggeration by society towards a problem. Moral
panic in terms of crime is caused by the media’s representation of crime, originally starting with
the media identifying one person or group as a threat to society and societies values. These are
then condemned by other people which amplifies the original issue into a bigger issue than it
was, and this is a cause of moral panic. Three elements of moral panic are symbolisation of the
cause of panic, prediction of future problem and exaggeration or distortion or statistics and
facts. Argued by Leslie Wilkens, there is an idea that the media can cause a “deviance
amplification spiral”, where attempts to control deviancy causes only more deviancy. Moral
Panic has a high tendency to cause the public to spiral an issue into a bigger one that it originally
was because of over-reaction and exaggeration.
Examples:
The “Mods and Rockers” are an example that fall the idea of moral panic. “Folk Devils and Moral
Panics” by Cohen is a study of this. Initially young people did not identify with either group or
the differences between them were not clear cut. After a minor incident that caused very
minimal property damage, the media overreacted and the amount of damage was distorted to
seem as though it was more than it was, there were predictions that more violence would occur,
and the symbols of the mods and rockers were used throughout and negatively labelled. In the
case of the mods and rockers, media coverage made the public believe the situation was getting
out of hand and made people encourage more to be done which increased the stigmatisation
and hate towards the mods and rockers. The media also dramatized the differences between the
two groups, which encouraged more people to identify with one group and lead to more clashes
and violence. People essentially began acting out the roles that the media had assigned them
with through their representation of the groups. The media and public trying to contain the
deviance of the crime meant that the crime was committed more because of those involved
feeling they must perform to the roles the media had assigned them, which repeats in a spiral.
More of these examples outside of the mods and rockers are the AIDS/HIV crisis or the epidemic
of people fearing “dangerous” dogs like pit bulls. After eleven attacks, an act was introduced
banning the breeding, sale or exchange of four breeds of dogs, Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa,
Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro. This was caused by the Moral Panic after the attacks, and
politicians felt pressure to introduce an act to make it appear as though they were making a change
to prevent further attacks. This was a controversial act and was a result of the moral panic that the
public were thrown into after the original attacks. Another example is Jamie Bulger, a two-year-old
who was kidnapped by ten-year-old boys and tortured and eventually murdered because they were
copying the movie “Childs play 3” they had watched. This threw the country into a moral panic as
everyone became fearful that an entire generation of ten-year-olds would become capable of
murdering younger people.
, Changing Public concerns and attitudes
Meaning:
How the media represents different groups can change public attitudes and throw them into a
moral panic. In the example of the mods and rockers again, media representations of them lead
to public anxiety that all youths were dangerous and to be feared. What the media place out,
the public will understand and begin to follow and turn into their own concerns and attitudes.
Example:
During the AIDS crisis, the media began to blame homosexuals for the cause of aids, which many
of the public picked up into their own beliefs and lifestyles, becoming unnecessarily homophobic
because the media had made them believe that homosexual men were the reason for the AIDS
crisis which caused so many deaths. Since the Islamist Terror Attacks in 2001, many media
reports on Muslims have been widely negative and hate crimes towards Muslims has increased.
Similar to the AIDS crisis and the blaming of homosexual men, the more recent Monkey Pox
outbreak caused an aggressive inbound of hate towards homosexual men. The media often
blamed homosexual men having intercourse for the monkeypox outbreak which led to many of
those absorbing the content spreading homophobic hate towards gay men. As well as this, the
murder and sexual assault of Sarah Everard, who was arrested by a police officer who took
advantage of his power made many women fear and become cautious of the police and other
authority figures. It led to an act that meant an undercover officer cannot approach or arrest a
suspect unless they are in uniform.
Perceptions of crime trends
Perception of crime trends is how the public are viewing the local and national statistics of
crime, and whether crime is increasing or decreasing.
The effect of media:
Local figures are often known by the public because they have knowledge on their area, whereas
knowledge on national statistics is often given by the media and the public are reliant on them
to give them knowledge on the national crime trends and statistics. How the media represent
crime has already shown that the media tend to give more time towards violent crimes and
often exaggerate the extent of the crime occurring, giving the impression to the public that the
crime is increasing and becoming more threatening and imminent to them. 6 in 10 adults believe
that crime has risen in the UK over the years despite these statistics being distorted.
Examples:
This increased sense of imminent danger and the media making the public believe that the crime
is increasing can often make the public feel that their risk of becoming a victim of the crime is
dramatically increasing. The media overreport crime and give the public impressions of who
specifically is at risk of attack. They often portray women as under threat from violent sexual
attacks despite the victims being possibly anyone, as well as portraying the elderly at risk from
attacks on the street, or on street robberies. Similarly, the over reporting in media about crime
towards children such as sexual abuse towards children or the event of abductions can lead to
parents becoming over cautious and not letting their children outside without supervision.
