Crime And Media Analysis

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It is common place for the public to think that the largest portion of crime in society today is violent in nature. This essay will provide a definition of crime, identify the types of crimes associated with both violent and non-violent crime, discuss the origin of the public’s knowledge of the crime problem and examine the historical and more recent data for both violent and non-violent crimes in society. The findings of the essay will conclude that the principal portion of crime in society today is not violent in nature. What is crime? And what is considered a violent crime? Hayes, (2014) defines crime as an act of omission that is forbidden by law, causes public harm and that is punishable by law. Crimes can be committed against communities, …show more content…

The research indicates that the public obtains its knowledge of the crime problem and the justice system primarily from the media (Roberts & Dobb, 1990, Surette, 1998), and the media tends to overemphasise crimes of violence, such as murder and robbery, and property crimes are rarely reported to the public (Surette, 1998). The crimes presented by the media are portrayed to the public as being more typical and more of a threat to society, when in fact, some crimes have decreased and others have remained stable (Indermaur & Roberts, 2005). The misrepresentation of information by the media influences the public’s perception of the crime problem in society, and by overemphasising violent crimes, the media perpetuates the myth that most crime in society is violent in …show more content…

Crime varies over time and place and crime fluctuates (Hayes, 2014). One approach to gain perspective of the problem of crime is to look at how it has changed over time. Historical data tells us that crime was at marathon proportions in the 18th and 19th centuries (Hayes, 2014), and Australia was considered a country with a high rate of crime (Mukherjee, Walker & Jacobsen 1986). More recent data shows property crime, serious assault and robbery rose markedly between the 1970’s and the 1990’s where homicide remained stable with no increase (Hayes, 2014). From the late 1990’s to 2011 both recorded violent crime and recorded property crime declined, though property crime made up a much larger proportion of overall crime than violent crime (Hayes, 2014), An analysis by Graycar and Grabosky (2002) concluded that the rate of property crime is significantly higher in Australia today than it was in the 18 and 19th centuries and that Australia is a considerably less violent place to live today. Since the 18th-century crime has fluctuated; however, recent data reveals a decline in both recorded violent crime and non-violent crimes also revealing that the larger portion of overall crime was that of property

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