Question

Answer two questions from the three below (750 words each question). Questions are:

- In what ways does the media misrepresent the nature of crime?

- Violent crime can be a source of concern, but is it the most frequently occurring type of crime in society?

- Is the risk of being a victim of violent crime evenly distributed throughout society?

Exam responses will be in essay format and approximately 750 words each.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) (1) The way we view things depends mostly on the way we are told about it. In this case, it depends on the way it is reported to us. News reports are usually the latest happenings in the world or our specific location. Because of the need for the report to be fresh, reporters are usually on their feet and on the lookout for news regularly.

When there is an incident like a street robbery, it is a crime of a direct cause and effect. This makes it easier for a reporter to spot and analyse. The reporter will not have to dig too deep to cover the story well. On the other hand, a white-collar crime is usually of an indirect nature. If one were to study the recent stock market crash, it can be seen that there were many big companies and banks involved. It had a chain of greedy stockbrokers and a myriad of victims. In order to even get a whiff of a situation like that, it would take a reporter who is good at economics and business operations. Once such a reporter could even sense an issue like that, it would take months of “digging” and research to fully get to the bottom of the situation. Once a report like that is ready to be broadcast, it could already be out in the open and be too late to report.

When an audience absorbs information like that form the media it affects their perceptions of the crime. On one side, is a simple robbery where the victim was probably robbed of $1000 and on the other hand is an economic quagmire that has not only dented the US but, also the entire world for trillions of dollars.

It is not just an unfair bias that is at play, but also the fact that it becomes easy to absorb the details of a simpler crime than a white-collar one. Therefore street-crime is viewed differently from white-collar crime because they are reported at a different rate and understood differently.

If one might objectively analyse this, it might not always be a matter of bias. In most cases, media reports are a matter of what will keep the viewer watching for longer. A report about the goings on at a stock market is not as interesting to watch as a report about a local violent crime. More often than not, it is singular violent crimes that get the attention of the people on social media. Rarely have there been protests about banks and insurance companies selling fraudulent ‘triple-A’ bonds.

Therefore, the media’s representation and the peoples’ attention towards crimes are generally evoked by an emotional investment in the situation itself. It might not always be a matter of misrepresentation of the crimes itself.

(2) If one takes the example of a robbery, for instance, there is a thief, whose name the reporter has probably disclosed. There is a reason for the crime, perhaps poverty. There is a victim who probably talks to the reporter. Even if the crime was not reported and it was a friend in this situation, it is easier to evoke emotions due to the personalised nature of the situation. Whereas a white-collar crime would be about how a company that reported false numbers to its shareholders to increase the stock price. The damage incurred by the victim of the robbery would probably be nothing much compared to the shareholders. If the victims are real people, the crime becomes more relatable. This makes us as “absorbers of information” evoke more emotion. We feel pity for the victim and we are sad for the dilemma the hungry robber is facing. This is one of the reasons why street-crime if reported in a fair and unbiased manner, is viewed differently than a corporate crime.

Violent crimes are surely a cause for concern as they take away an individual’s right to live in a safe environment. Furthermore, damage to an individual and their property are serious crimes. However, the ratios of violent crimes to macro crimes that affect the society as a whole are entirely unbalanced. In the United States itself, according to the FBI, the loss incurred from street crimes is $15 billion, while white-collar crimes are $1 trillion.

Crimes of a violent nature are rightly despised and protested against. For as long as such crimes exist, the opposition should continue. However, of indirect aggression, that occurs at the highest levels of society. Such crimes have a deeper and lasting effect as compared to the violent crimes. Such crimes might entail something like; making a new government policy that might please only a small group of people. The policymakers may have profited from this new rule and might be an allegory for criminals. The victim, on the other hand, is the public who would have to bear the brunt of the selfishness of a single individual or committee. This is when a white-collar crime should perhaps be viewed with the same amount of seriousness that a violent crime might be viewed with.

The difficulty with violent and person crimes is that the motive is always unique to each case. Although issues like vengeance, mental disorders or others might be common, unlike property crimes, one can’t simply assume that “greed” is almost always the reason. It is generally tougher for a cop to find a motive and then establish a pattern.

Elements like, communication, personal relationships and even proximity to the perpetrator are key features in establishing patterns. Paper trails might be almost non-existent at times and the psychology might be complex. Such crimes might be difficult to protest on a public stage. However, when such crimes persistently take place, like the shooting incidents or the incidents of sexual abuse, it becomes a matter of public concern. Such criminal patterns in society need to be broken down immediately. Similarly, the white-collar crimes also establish certain patterns in the society that are capable of bringing chaos to the social order. These crimes also deserve the same amount of attention before the apotheosis of its framework.