Perceptions of Violence (From Insights Into Violence in Contemporary Canadian Society, P 340-343, 1987, James M MacLatchie, ed. -- See NCJ-122437)

• NCJ Number: 122481
• Author(s): E Boyanowsky
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: John Howard Soc of Canada
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Distorted media portrayals of violent crime lead to public fears and pressures unrelated to the actual threat and causes of violent crime.

Abstract

Studies suggest that those who most fear crime are not necessarily those living in high-crime areas or those who have been personally victimized. Those who have had their experience and perceptions of crime mediated either through television or a personal acquaintance or relative experience the most fear of crime. Those who have been actually criminally victimized experience a reduction in fear of crime when watching crime programs on television, because actual victimization is so different from that portrayed. The problem in media portrayals of crime is not so much in the degree of reporting but in the type of coverage, whether it is conservative, factual, or sensational, and whether there is different coverage for certain types of violent crime. Portrayals suggest simplistic causes for the crime or stereotype offenders and thus may influence public pressure for simplistic policies of crime control.