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?
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