Moral Panic

Moral panic within our criminal justice system is at it's highest, public perception is that crime is increasing and in particular that it is crimes that are violent in nature who are accountable and most prevalent.

For the purposes of this paper, Violent crime is defined by ,‘with the intention of causing (or threatening) physical harm or death to the victim' (Bricknell, 2008), which includes the offences of homicide, assault, sexual assault and robbery (both armed/unarmed) (REFERENCE).

Research indicates that the media has a direct influence on how consumers perceive crime rates and methods of crime control. Sustained media attention combined with high-profile incidents – such as the shootings at Port Arthur (Tasmania), and Monash University and Flinders Lane in Melbourne; gang rapes in Sydneyl and organized crime-related murders – have promped a view among the Australian Public that violent crime is increasing in Australia. The Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (2003) reported that over two-thirds of Australians (70%) believed crime has increased since 2001; 39 percent of respondents thought it has ‘increased a lot' (Indermaur & Roberts 2005). exhibit

However, commentators on violent crime are more cautious in their interpretations of the trends. Trends in violent crime reported to police since the early 1990's reveal a mixed story.

Homicide has decreased by nine percent since 1990 and armed robbery by one-third since 2001, but recorded assaults and sexual assaults have both increased steadily in the past 10 years by over 40 percent and 20 percent respectively. The rate of aggravated assault appears to have contributed to the marked rise in recorded assault, and for both assault and sexual assault the rate of increase was greater for children aged under 15 years, with increases almost double that of the older age group. Neither population changes among young adult males