If there is one thing Australian society has an abundance of, it is images and opinions about crime. It is the central theme running through many forms of communication in the modern society. Whether the issue of crime is, drug-related, violent, juvenile, child abductions, serial killers, youth gangs, or crimes against the elderly, a public consensus exists that crime is rampant, dangerous and threatening to explode.
Crime-wise, Australia is comparatively a safe place to live, though often the perception of crime is much higher.There is a widespread concern that the level and type of crime reported in the media presents a distorted view of the real level of crime in the community. The reality of crime has been manipulated and blanketed by a constructed reality, where the more isolated and rare incidents weave a tapestry of fear, panic and hysteria. This leads to prejudice towards, and stereotyping of certain groups, individuals becoming isolated from the community through fear of crime and the imposition of draconian measures to fight crime.
Crime is seen as deviant behaviour that violates prevailing norms which are the cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave normally. This violation of a law;-offences against the person, violent offences, sexual offences and offences against property, causes injury to the public or an individual and a term in jail or prison, and/or a fine are possible penalties.#
The media play an indispensable role in modern life, and are considered amongst the most powerful and inaccurate sources of social information, education and entertainment. Our mass media is an electronic (TV, film, video, videogames, internet) visually dominated media with print (newspaper, magazine)...
... middle of paper ...
...titute of Criminology, Recorded Crime Rates 2003
# Ibid.
# Carcach, C. 2005. Crime and punishment in Australia, 1980-2000, in Tonry M & Farrington DP (eds), Crime and punishment in Western countries, 1980-1999. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press:295-330
# Gottfredson, M. 1986, ‘Substantive Contributions of Victimisation Surveys’ in Crime and justice: An Annual Review of Research, vol 7, eds Michael Tonry & Norval Morris, University of Chicago Press, Chicago
# Barkan, 1997
# Potter, G., & Kappeler, V. Constructing Crime - Perspective on Making News and social Problems (2nd edition). Griffith University Libraries.
# Chappell, D.(1988) Australian Institute of Criminology, Violence, Crime and Australian Society
# Davis, B., & Dossetor, B. (2010) Trends and Issues - (Mis)perceptions of Crime in Australia, Rex & Tonry 2002; Roberts & Indermaur 2009. No.396
Generally, the study of crime mainly focused on the offender until quite recently. In fact, Shapland et al (1985) described the victim as ‘the forgotten man’ of the criminal justice system and ‘the non-person in the eyes of the professional participants’. A new perspective was brought with victimology, an expanding sub-discipline of crimin...
344. The. Australian Institute of Criminology, [Online]. Available at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/0/C/5/%7B0C5DFDDF-7A72-43F9-80A1-CA6D51B635B6%7Dtandi344.pdf, [Accessed 14 April 2011].
Weatherburn, D., and Indermaur, D. (2004) ‘Public perceptions of crime trends in New South Wales and Western Australia’, Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice, 80: 1-8
Young, J. (1981). Thinking seriously about crime: Some models of criminology. In M. Fitzgerald, G. McLennan, & J. Pawson (Eds.), Crime and society: Readings in history and society (pp. 248-309). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Crime in this country is an everyday thing. Some people believe that crime is unnecessary. That people do it out of ignorance and that it really can be prevented. Honestly, since we live in a country where there is poverty, people living in the streets, or with people barely getting by, there will always be crime. Whether the crime is robbing food, money, or even hurting the people you love, your family. You will soon read about how being a criminal starts or even stops, where it begins, with whom it begins with and why crime seems to be the only way out sometimes for the poor.
Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic. ‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group, frequently a minority group or subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses menace to society. These panics are generally fuelled by the media, although not always caused by, media coverage of social issues… These panics can sometimes lead to mob violence… (newsfilter.co.uk).
Winslow, R. W., & Zhang, S. (2008). Contemporary Theories of Crime. Criminology: a global perspective (). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
The media plays a huge role in forming people's perceptions of crime. Without the media we would remain ignorant to occurrences outside our direct social groups. The media and especially news coverage therefore provides us with an important point of contact with the rest of society. In evaluating its effect on popular perceptions of crime it becomes important to consider where most of the information comes from and how representative it is on actual criminality. If it takes "facts" (the truth, the actual event, a real thing) or if it is heightened to a crime myth. With a myth being based upon "exaggeration" or heightening of "ordinary" events in life. Crime myths become a convenient mortar to fill gaps in knowledge and to provide answers to question social science either cannot answer or has failed to address. Myths tend to provide the necessary information for the construction of a "social reality of crime (Quinney, 1970)." As crime related issues are debated and re debated, shaped and reshaped in public forms, they become distorted into myth, as largely seen in the mass media.
Although we have a general definitions of crime, some criminologists argue that crimes is better placed within the concept of social harm, Stuart Henry and Mark Lanier (1998) as quoted in Muncie, Talbot and Walters (2010). pp 16-17 were leading authors who done just that. Criminologists such as “Tifft, 1995 an...
Canada is viewed as being a very safe and stable place to live because people are lucky enough to have healthcare, benefits for unemployment and family needs, as well as maternity leave. Crime is something that Canadians don’t often think about because people feel as though they are out of harm's way. As Canadians, we’ve watched the world experience different threats and crime, and we’ve seen the world fight back. For example, our neighbors in North America, the United States, have gone through terrorist attacks and issues with guns and violence. Just because we are witnessing these things in other places doesn’t mean that we aren’t at risk as well, and Canada does have certain approaches and regards in place if we are ever in danger. What I wish to address in this paper is how Canada is set up for reacting to crime and jeopardy, as well as an example of where we went wrong in our past. Methods in response to crime, Canada’s legal regime and the issue of Residential schooling for Aboriginals a hundred years ago will be presented.
There was a decline in crime during the 1990s. Our country enjoyed seven years of declining crime for the period 1991-98, the most recent data available. During this period crime declined by 22% and violent crime by 25%. These are welcome developments, particularly following the surge of crime and violence of the late 1980s. This decline occurred during a time when the national prison population has increased substantially, rising from 789,60 in 1991 to 1,252,830, a 59% rise in just seven years and a 47% increase in the rate of incarceration, taking into account changes in the national population (Mauer 21-24).
Maguire, M., Morgan, R., and Reiner, R. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Siegel, L. J., & McCormick, C. R. (1999). Violent Crime. Criminology in Canada: theories, patterns, and typologies (p. 278-287). Toronto: Nelson Canada.
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
One might turn on any evening news broadcast these days and be bombarded with images of war, violence and stories of unsuspecting citizens victimized in their own communities. Is crime on the increase or is it just media hype? There are countless television shows with plots dedicated to the depiction of criminal activities fouled by law enforcement agencies with the helping hand of the law. Newspaper headlines scream out daily in bold print and action photos of the latest tragedies. Should the public be fearful of what the television conveys to us, be cautious of whatever new crime wave is presented on the media? These questions may lead one to wonder if the depiction of crime in the mass media affects the public’s perception of safety and danger in society.