criminology wjec a level unit 1 controlled assessment
changing awareness of crime
lo1 lo3 criminology unit 1
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A/AS Level
WJEC
Criminology
Changing Awareness of Crime
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Mia Lunt
AC 1.4 - describe media representation of crime
Crimes main influence is the media and there are a lot of ways how public perceptions of crime are
influenced by the media, as it is it mostly exaggerated. There are many different media influences
including film, video games, newspapers, TV, music and social media.
Film portrays crime in a fictional way as they are dramatized for entertainment and about 1/5 of all
cinema movies are about crime. Earlier crime films in the 1930’s featured more violence than more
modern crime films, an example of this is a film called The Big House which emphasised the
brutalities of prison. Also, earlier films about crime tended to be focused around gangs such as the
mafia and an example of this is American Me which portrayed explicit gang activities and drug
trades. However, more modern movies are less violent and some are about more complex crimes.
For example, The Wolf of Wall Street was focused around white collar crime such as money
laundering and fraud and also included humour for entertainment purposes. However, films such as
The Wolf of Wall Street tend to glamourise crime as there was only a small punishment for the
crimes committed and this could influence people to think the crime is worth doing.
Video games portray crime in a fictional way as the graphics are mostly extremely violent and severe
as they are dramatized for the players entertainment. Also, there is often no justice for the victim
and no consequences for the offender which isn’t an accurate representation of real-world crime.
Additionally, the absence of consequences for the offender could influence younger players to think
that crime is acceptable. Examples of violent video games are Grand Theft Auto, Mafia 3, Red Dead
Redemption and Saints Row 2.
Newspapers display news through the use of bold headlines, photos and dramatic language. There
are two types of newspapers; tabloids and broadsheets. Tabloids tend to be more dramatized and
simplified than broadsheets because they based more around local and immediate news, tabloids
also use more informal language. Examples of tabloids include The Echo and The Daily Mail.
Broadsheets are more factual, including lots of statistics, and use more professional language. An
example of a broadsheet is The Guardian. Newspapers can create bias opinions on things that
happen as people tend to base their judgement on what they see in the headlines and headlines are
usually exaggerated and manipulated by the use of language. Also, people’s opinions can be
influenced even if they don’t buy the newspaper as the headlines are printed very big, bold and eye-
catching.
Television is one of the main ways to find out about crime as it is portrayed both factually and
fictionally and roughly around 1/4 of fictional TV is devoted to crime. Fictional dramas tend to
glamourize crime and make it seem more sever/exciting that it actually was. This could therefore
influence people to commit crime as it is portrayed as being exciting. An example of a fictional
drama is Honour, based on the honour killing of Banaz Mahmod. The characters in honour were
overdramatic for entertainment purposes. Also, there are sometimes no consequences for crimes
such as murder in fictional TV shows and this could lead an individual to think severe crimes are
justified and not that bad. However, there are also factual crime TV programmes that are based
around real life cases such as Rachel Nickell: The Untold Story. Factual crime programmes like this
will show real life footage and interview real people who were involved with the case at the time
such as police, suspects, the family etc. and they are solely based on real life facts. Another example
of this is the news which people will see daily and the news can create fear within the public as
crimes on the news can sometimes be exaggerated and this makes people think these crimes things
are happening.
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