In What Ways Does the Media Misrepresent the Nature of Crime?

Question: 1. In what ways does the media misrepresent the nature of crime?

The media presents a misleading account of the nature of crime. This misrepresentation of crime is an important societal issue as it is clear that the public’s perceptions of crime do not match the statistics presented by law enforcement. This essay will examine the misrepresentation of the nature of crime in the media in relation to, the most frequent crimes occurring, crime rates and media for profit.

The media presents inaccurate information about the most frequent crimes occurring. This misrepresentation of the nature of crime is linked to the media’s definition of ‘newsworthy’ crime, as well as the fact that the media report crime selectively, therefore influencing the way people think about crime. These ‘newsworthy’ or selected stories consist of a number of specific ‘news values’. Examples include, the prominence, timeliness and impact of the story on the audience (Wood, 2015). An example of selective reporting is the over-representation of violent crime such as, homicide and assault. Violent crime is over-reported because it reflects what the audience consider important and overall is a more serious concern to the community (Wood, 2015). This statement is consolidated by a table created by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) on crimes reported to the police in Australia, 2012. This table shows that property crime made up a larger percentage of crime than violent crimes. However, violent crimes are still more prominent in the media. The statistics specified that property crimes made up about 80% of all reported crime, while violent crime only made up about 20% of reported crime. Therefore, it is clear that the rate of violent crime is declining, however it is significantly misrepresented by the media, and in the publics opinion, it is seen as one of the most prevalent crime types in society. This reinforces the fact that the media presents inaccurate information about the most frequent types of crimes occurring in society and thus, misrepresents the nature of crime.                 

Additionally, the media misleads society about the nature of crime in relation to crime rates. Studies conducted in the US and Canada, by Maguire and Patore (1999) indicated that the public perceived crime rates as increasing. However, over the last 10 years it has been shown that, overall, crime rates have been declining. The exception to this includes, most property crime offences. Moreover, data presented by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) shows that between the years 2014 and 2015 the number of recorded victims of crime decreased in the majority of, offence against the person categories, such as robbery. However, it increased for all property crime offences. An example of the decreased recorded number of offences against the person crimes includes, the statistics for the homicide and other related offences (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). These statistics formulated between 2014 and 2015 indicate that the number of homicide victims in Australia decreased by 2%. In addition, these results identify that this is the fourth consecutive year that the number of homicide victims in Australia has decreased (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Moreover, victims of other theft increased by 5% during 2015. This is the highest level of recorded victims since 2012. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). However, despite these statistics the media consistently misrepresents the nature of crime, in relation to the rate of crime. These misperceptions of the nature of crime as presented by the media leads the public to believe false perceptions of crime rates. This misperception of crime rates can lead to moral panics which are rapid build-ups of public concern (Wood, 2015). Furthermore, the media distorts and reports inaccurate information to the public, about crime. This distortion of evidence can have a significant impact on society and can lead to the creation of false perceptions regarding the nature of crime.