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Realtionship Between the Media, Public Perceptions of Crime and Police

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Realtionship Between the Media, Public Perceptions of Crime and Police
Does the media and the amount of exposure to specific news media affect fear of crime? This question is examined in a survey with data collected from three universities in the United States and one in Canada; The Impact of Media on Fear of Crime among University Students: A Cross-National Comparison, goes over the results. It’s believed that fear in itself can be debilitating leading to harmful social outcomes. Vincent Sacco believes there are three dimensions to fear of crime: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. Cognitive looks at a how a person assesses their likelihood of being victimized. Emotional is how someone feels about crime, and behavioral is a person’s response to fear of their perceived likelihood of being victimized. However, in 2011, it was argued "that fear of crime ought to be conceptualized by distinguishing between generalized anxieties and more concrete episodes of fear, as well as by differentiating effects of everyday worries and anxieties" (Kohm, Waid-Lindberg, Weinrath & Shelley, 2012). This theory "is thought allow for better understanding of how people are motivated to protect themselves" (Kohm, Waid-Lindberg, Weinrath & Shelley, 2012).
Despite a decrease in crime rates, citizens of both the United States and Canada still have a high fear of being victimized. One theory suggests that increased fear is a direct result of an individual’s perception of the risk to being a victim. This can occur because of one’s past victimizations or through media exposure of crime also known as indirect victimization. Individuals learn of local crime, national crime and even world-wide crime events through media sources: TV, newspapers, and internet.
In 2007, the United Nations Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) showed that the United States reported the second lowest level (16%) of fear of being victims of a burglary compared to Canada who reported higher levels (25%) of fear, even though crimes rates had declined since 1989. Secondhand information (news


References: Hunter, R. D., & Barker, T. (2011). Police-community relations and the administration of justice. (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Kohm, S. A., Waid-Lindberg, C. A., Weinrath, M., & Shelley, T. (2012). The impact of media on fear of crime among university students: A cross-national comparison. Canadian Journal Of Criminology & Criminal Justice, 54(1), 67-100, Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.colostate-pueblo.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=89e5044c-ce57-41d1-8e07-45bde1427236@sessionmgr112&vid=4&hid=123
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