No abstract

Charges that the mass media create unwarranted levels of fear of crime are almost as old as the media themselves. Researchers entered the fray in large numbers in the 1960s, documenting the effects of television, newspapers, and movies on perceptions of crime and fear of criminal victimization. Recent developments in mass media, such as the rise in popularity of crime reenactment television programs, the access to more violence via cable, VCR, and satellite dish, and the interactive nature of electronic games, raise even greater concern about the fear-generating potential of these media. In addition, the real-world increase in the occurrence of stranger crimes and mass attacks could make the media image even more potent, because of the prevalence of random or random-appearing crimes reported by the media. This article provides an overview of the research on the mass media and its effects on perceptions of crime danger, personal fear of crime, and reactions to crime risk. In addition, we examine the modifiers of the relationships between media and fear.

No abstract

This study examined the causal impact on the introduction of television of FBI indicators of violent crime, burglary, auto theft, and larceny. An interrupted time-series design was used with switching replications. No consistent effect of television's introduction was observed for violent crimes, burglary, or auto theft. However, the introduction of television was consistently associated with increases in larceny, irrespective of whether television was introduced in 1951 or 1955 and irrespective of whether state-or city-level data were examined. Analyses of the early content of television indicate that the advertising of consumption goods was high, that upper-class and middle-class life-styles were overwhelmingly portrayed, and that larceny was portrayed much less often than crimes of violence in crime shows. The effect of television on larceny was tentatively attributed, therefore, to factors associated with viewing high levels of consumption-perhaps relative deprivation and frustration-rather than to factors associated with the social learning of larceny through viewing it on television.