Crimonology

-Americans are exposed to a lot of mass media, which influences the way we think about crime.

-There is a misconception about the depiction of violence in the Media compared to actual incidents of violence.

-Newspaper was the first mass medium to go to for crime news. “penny press”

-The newspapers relied on police reports for story. This was the forerunner of “yellow journalism”.

-Even today 4 of 10 people read newspapers (down from 7) and select the police reports as the most news worthy material.

-There are more dramatic depictions of violent crimes in movies, literature, and television.

-Movies use violence to fill a human need and they try to emphasis this feature more than their tv consumers.

-TV Is now the dominant medium of our age. Dramas, talk shows, and comedies established niches of crime for the viewers.

-Crime was the largest single subject matter on television. 4 out of the top 5 tv shows were focused on crime and criminal justice.

-People are obssessed with violence because it speaks to a persons personal safety and social psychological research suggests that “fear appeal increases attention” Fear messages are used in even informericals. People will always pay attention to anything that alerts them to risks. Crime is entertaining.

-More than ¾ of citizens read, head, or watched something about crime on the news. Most citizens get there crime news from Mass Media. We are more likely to hear, watch, or read about a violent event than actually experience it ourselves.

-We need to see the people who suffer from indirect victimization, the most pervasive of which is fear of crime. Most americans form their belief on violence through media potrayals of violence.

-The most widely studied social consequence of crime is fear. Criminologists are focusing more on indirect victims. The “most damaging affect on crime can be fear”

-As sentient and symbolic beings, however, humans have the ability to anticipate or contemplate events that lie...