Crime Myths vs Crime Facts Essay Example

The crime myth that I wish to dispel in this essay is associated with violence of women in the street. The media tend to go overboard with woman’s safety in the street and this can lead to women being afraid or very paranoid of walking down the street. This is due to the media or the government using sensationalism to prey on women and sell more units or to bring a crime to the attention of the wider public through newspapers or an advertising spot on television. This is not the case when dealing with violence against women because women are more than likely to be assaulted sexually or physically by someone they know rather than by a stranger.

Crime myth refers to the reporting of an event and is transformed into a more of an interesting story. Crime myths that are portrayed into the public tend to give a view of the criminal, crime fighters, victims and the responses by society to a crime. Crime myths are guided usually by two organizations, the media and the government (Blumberg, Kappler and Potter 1993).

Development of crime myths are best exampled through the media who would rather distort the truth rather than showing the story in a truthful manner. This is known as “yellow journalism” and is used to increase profits by attracting a wider audience. This is done through television and newspapers (Blumberg, Kappler and Potter 1993). Most do not recognize that the media are commercial enterprises and are prone to sensationalism (Tulloch 1998). The Government can also induce crime myths with politicians using terms such as “the war on crime” or “we are in the midst of a crime wave”. This will frighten the public and sure up support at the same time (Lawrence 2005). The development of the crime myth can go further if there are successive incidents in a two week framework e.g. rape of women in the street by a stranger, can evoke such headlines as “streets are no longer safe for women”. This can keep the myth rolling on (Blumberg, Kappler and Potter 1993).