Images of Crime and its
control
“public opinion in this
country is everything” –
Abraham Lincoln (18091865)
In the eye of the beholder...
Consider...
Oklahoma city bombing… domestic
terrorism or political leverage
Lady Di’s death? Media scapegoats
&/or cover-up
Louise Real - bad guy ‘turned’ hero
Wacco - the silent conspiracy
Saddam the ‘evil’ tyrant or cultural
zealous
Oka incident in Quebec…
The Role of the Media
Types of behaviour focus on?
Types of offenders focus on?
What makes crime news?
Reality of police and law shows?
Public Perception of Crime
1982 Gallup National Survey:
75% believed that 30+% of all crimes
were violent (reality…
5.7%)
murder on the increase (reality…
stable 2.2/100,000)
those released most likely to re-offend
(40%) - (reality…
13%)
Public perception “hidden element”
of the CJS
1987 survey - purpose is to prevent
crime
Reality… the CJS is reactive
criminals a product of their
environment - poverty, child rearing,
association (Ch.s 5-8)
naïve… ? Policy vs. public pressure
Limits of General Knowledge
 Rationalism vs. empiricism
Crime involves a complex interplay of
information
E.g., fear vs. reality of victimization
… booming industry… protection devices
Speculation, authority, consensus,
observation, & past experience vs.
Scientific method (Wheel of research)
“Give us the tools and we’ll finish
the job” – Sir Winston Churchill
(1874-1965)
Security tops…’96
Survey new homeowners:
93% safe community
77% close to parks and open space
76% low taxes
Source of Knowledge
Personal experience (victim or
perpetrators)
media… “collective ignorance” (Box
‘83)
moral panics (S. Cohen ‘80) - undue
attention (e.g., ecstasy vs. viagra)
“copycat” crime -Taxi driver;
Warlock; Ninja turtles)
Frame of Reference...
TV Violence Seductive ‘98
Youth most impressionable: 500 high-risk
scenes per year
violence not all bad BUT when it goes
unpunished
40% violence instigated by GOOD
characters (credible)
33% by bad characters BUT unpunished
71% scenes showed no remorse
The media and ‘Catch 22’:
provides info not otherwise
offers different types of knowledge
facilitate exchange of info
(North/South - Herald)
media is central to policy
debates/issues (YOA)
Juristat ‘95
Stats not tell whole story
media slanted coverage
fear vs. actual crimes rates distorted
perception distorted (J. Roberts)
police practices:
reporting practices & patterns
officially rates declining among
adults
Public...
Murder up… 0.1 in 30 yrs.
B&E up… 7% down ‘88-’95
impaired driving… steady decline
‘90s
system too lenient (60%) - among
the highest conviction rate
parole too easy - only 13%
Consider...
‘98 murder down 4th year in row
Bernardo, Simpson, youth violence…
representative?
83% of murders involve acquaintance
media coverage:
CBC 54% unknown - 18% known
CTV 66%
“”
11% “”
Official Sources
“experts”
crime statistics - news releases
Internet
state sanctioned definitions of
topics, issues, and concerns
methodological issues (Stats CDN)
post-hoc analysis (reactive)
Disciplinary Bias
Sociology dominated
self-reports vs. victimization
discipline biases interpretation
“methodological parochialness”
(Sugarman & Hotaling, ‘89).
Summary
Where we get our knowledge
we are social creatures:
personal knowledge, media, official data
banks/actors; theoretical research - ALL
strengths & weaknesses
one superior?
Scientific approach (objective) interdisciplinary and integrated
See you next class?