Fact/Fiction: crime is out of control – fiction. Crime, nonviolent and violent, are decreasing.

True/False: Changes in violent crimes mirror changes in crime rates generally - true.

True/False: People who engage in criminal violence also commit other types of crime - true

Fact/Fiction: Public is as skeptical of crime news as the criminological establishment – fiction but in our society, crime is entertainment, the news itself begins and ends with music which is the traditional sign that a program is entertainment rather than serious.

WHO: Unknown people: when protestors, strikers, rioters; when victims; when violate law with more outlandish crime

Fact/Fiction: White collar and government crime is more prevalent on national news than street crime – true but depends.

Finding that people in positions of trust have violated that trust makes their deeds newsworthy. Nat’l news – white collar crime, local news – street crime

Fact/Fiction: The public receives the majority of its information about crime from mass media – true

- Crime waves are frequently media construction.

- Crime wave can certainly increase citizens' fears, can also directly lead to increased efforts at law enforcement, the enactment of new laws and penalties, and impact the correctional system

- media do not want to simply report haphazard events, but try whenever possible to make events fit news themes, e.g. elderly victims are newsworthy in that they are easily depicted as innocent victims, just like small children killed accidentally at the scene of a drive-by shooting.

- By reporting on such crimes, the media can also claim that it fulfilling its public trust to warn the public of possible dangers, so that precautions can be taken.

- need to consider what crime info is supplied to media: often only certain types of crimes and not others

Fact/Fiction: ethnicity is very much linked to gangsterism – true

Q: what does DWB stand for: Driving while black

Western outlaw myth:

- Robin Hood-like stealing from the rich (banks) and giving to the poor.

- Robbers started their careers at a young age, often driven by personal events or circumstances.

- Outlaws are not caught by the efforts of effective law enforcement, but by treacherous acts of colleagues or a woman.

- Despite proof of their demise, the outlaw tale often included escapes and sightings of the criminals through old age

Prohibition as an effort by Anglo-Saxon Protestants opposed to alcohol to control the behavior of non-Protestant eastern and southern European immigrants who used it regularly

The 'honorable' crime "family," working outside the system due to exclusion by social prejudice, serves as a metaphor for the way business (the pursuit of the American dream) is conducted in capitalistic, profit-making corporations and governmental circles. It can be argued that the only difference between the mafia and legitimate business is that organized crime is marketing illegal goods and services (that the citizenry wants), while legitimate society (business, politics, the criminal justice system) may be just as corrupt

Reasons for crime – crime theories

Fact/Fiction: Free will is the main reason behind why people commit crimes, i.e. criminals have a choice in whether or not to commit crimes – fiction. In mass media predominant theme is free will – people make choices, or person suffers from antisocial personality disorder. In reality far more complex, e.g. environmental reasons, psychological. Few of the explanations developed within the field of criminology ever appear

- Biological: "born bad", sociobiology, eugenics, lycanthropes: biologically infected killers, e.g. werewolves, brain injury

- Psychological: abnormal psyche

- Rational Choice theories:

- Environmental: social environment factors. Hollywood writers and producers like this model because of its potential as a "salvation device." If human beings are not responsible for their actions, then they should not be looked down upon by society or punished for their behavior. Likewise, film audiences can better identify with characters who have been absolved of moral responsibility.

Fact/Fiction: There is no bigger problem in society than use of drugs – fiction except in mass media. Drug pushers perceived as such a menace to our society, even more destructive than property criminals such as car thieves and burglars, air and water polluters that might kill many, or savings and loan swindlers who stole billions. Drug taker such an easy target for media manipulation. Illegal substances have never been socially recognized as work or relaxation drugs, leaving the only purpose for their use a hedonistic one. The moral indignation over illegal drugs may result from the belief that such drug users are refusing to practice deferred gratification, one of the bedrock virtues of our economic system. At the same time, stories based on such individuals and their activities are titillating to the public. They fall Katz's paradigm as those who are testing the limits (of hedonism), and we can wishfully fantasize we too were so brazen. But, ultimately the story must turn and the drug taker's world collapses around him. Conventional morality is thus reaffirmed. Deferred gratification is the better way.

1970s: Prime time's fascination with greed as the motivation for middle-class white criminals is in fundamental agreement with the classical model. However, overwhelming majority of TV writers had rejected the classical free will explanation of crime, instead they believed:

- the poor lack the opportunity to fully participate in desirable lifestyles

- their frustration from not getting the good things of life leads some to seek their goals through crime

- the real cause of crime is the gap between the American dream and American reality; crime begins with unemployment (a man without a job is an angry man)

- the white power elite is not about to give up any of their wealth or power

Only a minority of TV writers blamed street criminals themselves for their criminality. Far more serious than street-level crime to TV writers were white-collar crime, organized crime, and political corruption. The suburbanite as street criminal is a metaphor; since he is ultimately to blame anyway for our society's crime problems, Hollywood places the gun directly in his hand. The poor, minority groups, and youths are thus relieved of any responsibility for their actions.

1980s:

1) reality-based crime dramas

2) TV crime documentaries (reality programs): news and public affairs programming, interview and talk shows, entertainment news-and-review programs, documentaries, and other programs presenting themselves as recreations of "real-world" events

Warning: the growing "population of teenagers with higher incidence of serious drug use, more access to powerful firearms, and fewer moral restraints than any such group in American history" would bring "tens of thousands of morally impoverished juvenile superpredators" to "murder, rape, rob, assault, burglarize, deal deadly drugs and get high." Rising hordes of "temporary sociopaths," foretold "a coming teenage crime storm."

Suburbs are unsafe, danger zones, middle class danger

Parents are useless at protecting their children

Fact/Fiction: Root of juvenile delinquency is in middle class neighbourhoods - false: Teen slasher films subvert one of the mainstays of criminological analysis, the root of juvenile delinquency in broken homes.

Serial killers: striking similarity between the mythic characterization of a vampire and the profiling of a serial killer: both kill out of an overpowering compulsion, and in similarly periodic and patterned ways, interesting convergence between criminological theory and popular culture representations, serial killer mythology is likewise a societal construction

Fact/Fiction: Profiling of serial killers, e.g. done by FBI, is successful for most part – fiction. The fact is that there is no literature proving profiling to be of any measurable benefit to the investigative process.

Fact/Fiction: Society in general and the criminal justice system believe in essence there are good and bad kids – fact. Division of potential delinquents into good and bad kids created by Hollywood screenwriters appears simplistic. However, we discover that in the real world the American juvenile court system made similar distinctions. Parents were at fault. Films supported the idea that experts (social workers, teachers, psychiatrists) must be entrusted with the welfare of children. Inadequate and underprepared mothers and fathers must be willing to hand their children over to state approved experts. The juvenile court system was based on the same premise.

Political climate

- Conservative periods usually produce more law and order films that typically give police greater leeway to fully enforce the law while less concern is shown about civil liberties. During more liberal eras, Hollywood has attacked law enforcement. Leftward-leaning films implicitly indict the police as being overly totalitarian in their tactics.

- Private investigators were pictured as bright, dogged pursuers of criminals. Detective movies involved wealthy murderers in opulent settings while the appeal of the gangster epic was to the masses who were living through the worst depression in American history.

- Right wing films emphasize catching criminals at all costs, display minimal concern with civil liberties, discuss how the police have been straight-jacketed by the Supreme Court, and are anti-psychological in orientation. Left wing films focus on innocent arrestees, police brutality, and police corruption, and may make criminals, outlaws, hippies, radicals, or punks into heroes who outwit the police. Thus, a rogue cop can appear in either a right wing or left wing film.

- Cop shows were popular during conservative periods in our society, while programs that feature lawyers (particularly defense lawyers) were in vogue during more liberal or anti-establishment periods. In 1960s in the larger society, while the student revolt, anti-Viet Nam War movement, and civil rights campaigns were still prominent, a law and order rhetoric became the new political line of conservative political candidates.

Rather than critically investigate whether the call for increased funds for police services is warranted, the media frequently 

reaffirms the police's requests. Stories on bureaucratic matters related to the police may not be very interesting for the majority of the viewing public and therefore tend to be few. They are also deemed too complex for the average reader or viewer.

Police officers, chiefs, and departmental media spokespersons have frequently been critical of news media coverage of their profession, but their criticism is that the media often takes situations involving the police and blows them out of proportion. In other words, the media scrutinizes the police too intensely.

Fact/Fiction: The relationship between media and police is antagonistic predominately. Despite the media's focus on police deviance, on many levels the relationship is symbiotic rather than antagonistic. Crime news is, in many circumstances, the joint product of police and journalistic collaborations. Relationship between the police and the media is a quite complex one. Often police now have PR depts. or similar.

Fact/Fiction: Police mainly solve crimes on their own – fiction. Police do not solve crimes on their own, but require an ever-ready citizenry to give assistance. This is contrary to the message of prime-time crime dramas, which often feature police or private detectives solving crimes on their own, by introspectively piecing together clues and evidence. Information from citizens about suspects is gotten by force, threat, or bribery, but rarely willingly. Lack of citizen cooperation with the police represents one of the major problems our law enforcement community faces in trying to bring criminals to justice.

RE: Crime RE-creation shows:

If police are free to tell their stories to the public at public expense, who else can claim that right? For example, should inmates be allowed to video tape jail or prison conditions and have it broadcast? The number of constituencies who might want their take on the criminal justice system broadcast could be many. Defense attorneys might want their own show, as may prosecutors, judges, corrections officers, victims, and convicts.

Fact/Fiction: Mass (fiction) media tends to depict policy in a non-positive light – true, however overall the attitude of the media towards the police is an ambivalent one. Police frequently criticize the media for focusing on the negative aspects of their work, while police critics claim the media overlooks many police foibles they should be exposing to the public.

Fact/Fiction: We learn a lot from the nature of day to day police work from media accounts – false. Police work is frequently glamorized by all forms of media, and made to appear much more exciting than it actually is. Depictions of police doing paperwork (handing out tickets, filling out reports, accident forms, insurance verification documents, etc.) are few and far between. Rarely shown are traffic duties, crowd control, and the social work functions largely performed by regular patrol officers (calming angry spouses, transporting drunks, allaying the fears of frightened citizens when things go bump in the night). Poor police tactics abound on prime time. For example, busts occur inside restaurants instead of outside, the result being the creation of possible hostage situations. Crime scenes are not maintained, invaded by citizen bystanders who destroy evidence, and abandoned by patrol officers before detectives have arrived.

In reality, shows from the past more accurately portrayed police tactics.

Fact/Fiction: In reality police end up shooting off their guns in the line of duty about once a year – fiction. TV cops still use their guns first, rather than think. In reality, the average cop in NYC would have to work 60 years just to shoot once while TV cops shoot several times per hour. TV shows also fail to demonstrate major changes that have occurred in policing. New tactics aimed at minimizing unnecessary shootings, avoiding potentially deadly "hot pursuits," or calming distraught people so that, minor incidents and domestic situations don't explode into violence are rarely dramatized.

Fact/Fiction: Major function of the police is fighting crime – fiction. In reality the majority of calls received by police have little to do with crime. Instead, most calls relate to medical emergencies, family quarrels, auto accidents, barking dogs, minor traffic violations.

Fact/Fiction: Civil liberties of arrestees and/or offenders are applied – fact. In Hollywood and prime time crime dramas and movies, the police often act as if Constitutional safeguards are mere hindrances to effectively stopping crime. In real life, civil rights are stronger adhered to. If real life police followed the practices of their media counterparts, the liability suits that would result would bankrupt the police departments of most of our major cities in short order. The issue of civil liability for illegal police actions rarely comes up in fiction media.

Fact/Fiction: Level of violence depicted in Hollywood police dramas has increased remarkably – true.

Fact/Fiction: Most crimes are ultimately solved and offenders brought to justice – fiction. Most crimes are never solved.

Fact/Fiction: Most criminals are caught – fiction. Rarely

Fact/Fiction: Most cases go to trial – fiction. Films and television dramas give the mistaken impression that most defendants have trials, and that they are either found guilty or exonerated only after a jury of their peers has heard all the evidence. In reality, following arrest a very high percentage of all criminal cases are dropped before they ever get to trial and, an overwhelming number of cases in which the defendant is found guilty are the result not of a jury trial, but of plea bargaining.

Fact/Fiction: (US) Reason most cases are dropped is legal technicalities – fiction. Criminal cases are not lost in any appreciable numbers as a result of use of Constitutional safeguards, less than 1% of all cases are dropped because of Constitutional problems. The only area in which these numbers are significant is in drug arrests, a myth that the Bill of Rights is to blame for freeing bad guys. Most cases dropped in the non-reel world because of lack of evidence and uncooperative witnesses. Myth persists because it deflects the public from the inevitable inadequacies of the criminal justice system., and it removes blame from law enforcement and its inability to stop crime; the system does not have the ability to convict all defendants.

SATANIC CRIMES

True/False: Satanic crimes are a crime hoax – true, satanic panic represents the greatest crime hoax of this century thanks to media especially TV talk shows e.g. Geraldo, which is info-tainment not presenting facts and validated info and further continuing tabloidization of US journalism, part of urban legend, a conspiracy theory developed

True/False: Almost all the alleged "missing" children can be accounted for as "kidnap" victims of one of the parents in a custody dispute - true

Why do people believe conspiracy theories? There are psychological gratifications that conspiracy theories offer, whether of the left-wing or right-wing variety. They allow individuals who believe in them to have one all-encompassing answer to a myriad of social problems. A conspiracy theory also allows those who believe it to "know" the future before it happens. Such knowledge allows them to feel secure while others struggle to understand what is going on around them.

HATE CRIMES

Concept appeared in mid 80s

Long history of racially-motivated assaults and murders

True/False: Statistics show that almost all crime is intraracial: both criminal and victim are members of the same racial group. In comparison, interracial crimes are rare occurrences. – true. Black on white crimes occur more frequently than white on black. In a 1996 report, the Council on Crime reported confirmed this

True/False: hate crimes which involve white perpetrators and black victims are more likely to receive significant media coverage than the latter – true