Crime is an action or omission that constitutes a violation that may be prosecuted and can be punishable by a higher ruling. Crime is diverse throughout this world even through the smallest of wrongdoings. Crime is in many places such as schools, governments, work places, and even major corporations. Even the people that are closest to you have committed crimes, though they may not be aware of the delinquency. Movies are types of visual communications that have become one of the number one types of entertainment throughout people’s lives and crime can be conveyed through many of these films. Rafter even states that “Crime films feeds our apparently insatiable hunger for stories about crimes, investigations, trials and punishments.” There are …show more content…
three main cinematic ways that crime films depict an ideological message to viewers as to what caused a character or characters to act out in a criminal approach.
Some of these ways that crime films can be depicted are even found in the films A Simple Plan and Erin Brochovich. According to the readings of Rafter there are four primary explanations used in crime films to explain to audiences “why criminals go bad?”
Cinematic ways have a major impact on crime films. They depict an ideological message to viewers as to what caused a character or characters to act out criminally. Rafter states, “Beyond their criminological messages, movies communicate other meanings that are best defined as ideological because they contribute to our taken for granted beliefs about the causes of crime.” The main ideological message is that crime can be explained. This is one of the most relatable ideological messages for criminals because it offers narratives for their misdeeds and mistakes individuals have made
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in their lives. Through cinema narrative you can see why the criminal has acted out in a bad or a good way even if it is illegal. There are many explanations, such as stealing money for their families, murdering someone for cheating, embezzlement, or even hiding money. Out of all the crime movies, the list can continuously go on. Another ideological message is there are individuals who are able to figure out the causes of and explanations to these crimes. Such as police officers, private investigators, and even a school principal are examples of this message. This ideology gets passed on to the viewers to assume that there is some social right and authority who can explain these criminal activities and knows what to do about it. The last ideology is “the crime problem”. This ideology portrays murder, one of the most common problems in crime movies to viewers. “But In reality the most common types of crime are nonviolent property offenses” stated by Rafter. These three ideological messages never simply tell a story but, through the choices they make about character, setting, and theme, conveys ideological assumptions about what is and what is not important. There are four reasons why people become involved in delinquent acts of nature.
These four reasons are environmental causes, mental illnesses, having an aspiration for a better life and bad biology. Many people take part in crimes because of their environment. If they are brought up in an environment where crime is at its upmost high, than they will part take in crime as if it is second nature. When children grow up seeing acts of crime, they adapt to their environment, making them believe that creating crimes are normal events in life. Rafter states that “ Bad environment movies tells us that violence originates in a violent society… even the most murderous characters starts as innocence, no worse than the worst of us, but with fewer chances to escape the destiny that circumstance decrees…The bad-environment explanation is the one that movies draw on most frequently.” This explains why many people try to get their children out of poverty and crime-stricken areas so that their children will not overdose on criminal behavior. Which leads to the next reason why people partake in criminal behaviors: The aspiration for a better life. Many people in these films commit crimes because they want a better life and they believe committing the crime will get them to where they want to be in life. This rationale best explains the crimes that are depicted in “A Simple Plan” and also “Erin Brochovich”. As seen in “A Simple Plan,” Hank, Sarah, Lu and Jacob faced many moral dilemmas which
led them to make the wrong decisions even though they thought that the choices that they made were going to give them a better life. As for “Erin Brochovich”, occupational crime was being portrayed and showed individuals partaking in a crime throughout their occupation for personal gain. “Many films attribute crime to aspiration ,ambition, lust or simply a desire to escape boredom…Criminals in aspiration and longing movies, like those in bad environment films, are normal human beings driven but the mundane motives of need and greed but they have more choice”. People in these criminal films tend to be very difficult and are torn between a plethora of moral decisions hoping the choice that they make will provide them with a more fulfilling life. Mental illnesses also contributes to why people can develop violent, criminal behaviors in life. People with mental illnesses sometimes cannot distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. Unlike people who do not have a mental illness, people who have mental illnesses will commit a crime to get what they want to achieve without contemplating whether it is the right or wrong thing to do. They are sometimes lacking that one chemical substance in their brain. People have mental illnesses due to chemical imbalances in the brain. Throughout the reading of ‘Shots in the Mirror’, many movies such as Psycho, Gun Crazy, The Jagged Edge, American Psycho, The Woodsman, Seven, and The Killers were shown to have psychotic individuals that partook in crime. The last of the four reason people commit crimes is bad biology. Individuals that are born bad, commit crimes repeatedly because they are criminal by nature. It is part of their genetic material. People who are born with the bad gene, have no remorse and do not care if what they do is considered right or wrong. They will continue to commit crimes because they could care less about the outcomes of their crimes. Some films that convey these types of criminals are Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Frankenstein, Deliverance, Born to Kill, and Murder My Sweet. Crime is conveyed through many of these films. There are four major reasons why criminals partake in the behavior. Those four major reasons are bad biology, their environment, their aspiration for a better life and different mental illnesses. All of these reasons are shown throughout many different films throughout history. Crime is diverse throughout this world even through the smallest of wrongdoings. No matter how much the world changes, there will always be some type of criminal behavior due to at least one of these primary explanations. Which in turns, film will ALWAYS thrive off of criminal behavior.
There are many views on crime and deviance and many theories to why they occur.
During the course of our class we have encountered plenty of important topics and vital information that is essential to the field of the Criminal Justice system. Such as; Crime and justice including laws, Victimization and Criminal behavior, Laws, Police officers and Law enforcement and the criminal justice system in itself. These topics are daily situations yet individuals are oblivious to what's going on and that in it can be a major problem to the community. On that note this paper will express the ignorance and selfish values of twelve individuals by fully explaining the movie "Twelve Angry Men"
Crime is some action/omission that causes harm in a situation that the person/group responsible ‘ought’ to be held accountable and punished irrespective of what the law book of state say.
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.
I was reading threads on Reddit the other day about multiple serial killer cases and I always questioned myself, “Why would someone do this? Are they even human?” It is fascinating when these characters are presented in movies since we get to understand their backgrounds sometimes, but in the real world, not so much. Movies that include these type of qualities help us try to sympathise and understand the complications going on behind an
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
The two movies, Gun Crazy and Bonnie and Clyde, hinge around the notion of violence. The major themes that these movies address are violence, and general crime. Each movie indicates some elements of order and elements of chaos. This explains why the classical narratives and Hollywood genres address the issue of chaos and order as they prevail in society. Comparing the two elements, it is evident that Bonnie and Clyde draw much from Gun Crazy in many aspects. There is mass shooting in both the movies, which is an indication of violence that exists in their respective societies. The characters become entangled in criminal activities with different motivations. There are various factors which trigger the pairs in both the movies to carry out crime in the society. This study seeks to prove that classical narratives and Hollywood genres are structured along the lines of conflict between order and chaos through their inherent themes within their social and ideological contexts.
The world was made with humans, humans as created by God are flawed and make decisions that may not be the best for that and/or another individual(s). One of the mistakes that humans make is crime on others. Some crime is more dangerous than others. Many authors have a theme of some type of crime because of how heavily it is impacting our society and people living in it. F. Scott Fitzgerald beautifully illustrates organized crime during the 1920s, in his novel The Great Gatsby and how it was a key influential factor during the Jazz Age.
In the criminal justice field, many studies are focused on the effects of media’s portrayal of crime. The definition of media has included TV news, TV dramas (Law and Order,NCIS, etc), and newspapers. Chiricos. Padgett, and Gertz (2011) and Romer, Hall Jamieson, and Aday (2003) included local versus national TV news watching in their study. Both studies found that increase in viewership of news media increased fear of crime. One found that local news had more of an influence on fear of crime than national news (Chiricos, Padgett, & Gertz, 2000).
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
Rabison, Rebecca. “Representations of Crime in Disney Films: A Qualitative Analysis.” Wesleyan University Honors College. April 2008. Retrieved 18 Dec 2013 from .
Throughout society there are both individuals and groups of people with a wide range of perceptions about crime and justice. These perceptions are influenced by the media and what the media presents. Media presents crime stories in ways that selectively distort and manipulate public perception, thus creating a false picture of crime. Therefore the media provides us with perceptions and social constructions about our world. Firstly I will be discussing the role of the media in constructing knowledge about crime. I will begin by explaining why the media is important, and go further to explain that media representations construct knowledge of crime and since knowledge about crime is constructed it does not necessarily capture reality in fact crime stories are often sensationalised. I will then link this to my central argument that the media shapes people’s perceptions of crime and how this is important as it can lead to changes in the law. I will then explain what it is that the public or society needs to be aware of when reading and watching media reports about crime. We need to be aware of bias and moral panics that are created by the media and how the media shapes or influence’s public perception through this, it is important for us to be aware of misleading or false crime stories so that we are not swayed by the media in believing what they want us to believe.
...it is the advent of television media that have sparked debate over the integrity of reliable news making. Print media was factual, although sometimes sensational, while electronic media made use of the technologies, such as videotapes and live footage to enhance and exaggerate the drama of the event even further. Many research studies have been conducted to show the effects of the media coverage on crime and how it influences the publics of fear of crime. Mass media has perpetuated a notion that crime is on the increase by portraying events and tragedies in the headlines that are sensational. The public buys into that idea, despite statistical accounts that reflect stable or low crime rates. The more stories people read and watch about crime, the more likely they are to think that crime is out of control. Politicians may then enact legal reforms to sooth the public’s outcry for crime control and prevention. As easy as it may be to hold the media accountable for barraging us with images and ideas that affect our views and beliefs, it important that the public take responsibility for the information that we consume. After all, there is always the “off” button on the remote control.
Answer: crime is an illegal act that is defined by law against the society or any individual and has legal statues of punishments that usually leads to jail or even execution.
My second assumption is that the crime rate is affected by portrayals of other moral issues than violence on television. In the article Sir Edward Crew, the head of West Midlands police said of increases in violent crime, ` These increases are hardly surprising given the constant diet of aggression, undress, innuendo and dishonesty.'