´Don’t believe everything you hear/read´

I think it is worth asking the question weather or not the concept of trying to identify and reduce risk before it becomes a problem is a good way to prevent crime. I mean, how do you predict future criminal behaviour? Again, I think that using young people as an example will successfully illustrate that there are serious concerns about early intervention policies and predicting ´risky behaviour´. Also, I want to reflect over my own media consumption in relation to my views on crime and criminal behaviour. It is interesting to see what a few years studying criminology have done to the way I use media today.

Firstly, I think we can all agree that even though the media has always had an interest in crime and criminal behaviour, there is increasing media reportage around crime and offenders – both in the ´news´ and in terms of TV and reality shows. There also seems to be a particular interest around young people and youth crime.

Research focusing on young people and crime suggests that there is a link between the media reportage and policy responses in relation to youth offenders, and states that notions of risk have been one of the main justifications for various interventions and policy responses in terms of how we respond to young people and criminal behaviour (Cunneen and White, 2006). This so called risk management approach has been dominating responses to youth crime since the 1990´s and has meant that welfare policies have emphasised neo-liberal principles of individualisation, self-realisation and individual responsibility. In turn, this has aimed at making young people responsible for their own future. Yet, and here lies the main contradiction, children and young people in particular are the most governed and regulated group of our society (Ellis & France, 2010). This contradiction further highlights the vital role media plays in constructing the general publics’ views around crime and public policy, as ´tough on crime´ policies are dominating the risk approach to combat crime and criminal behaviour amongst young people. What is particularly striking is the list of supposed ´risk factors´ contributing to criminal behaviour. This list includes well known characteristics such as poor family conditions, low self-control, and low socio-economic circumstances and so forth. These factors have all been linked to ´risky´ behaviour and lay the ground for what has been referred to as the ´preventive state´; where social prevention is based on penal policies (Kemshall et al, 2006).

In short, the main concern with predicting potential, or future, criminal behaviour is that behaviour that is in fact not criminal becomes the focus for intervention and regulation of young people due to the ´threat´ and ´risk´ they pose (McAlister, 2008). Suggestively, here it is also possible to make a linkage to theories such as the labelling theory, when looking at the negative outcomes of a risk management approach in relation to young people and crime and when analysing how these issues are portrayed in the media. It is obvious that the media influence public policy.

Moreover, when reflecting over my own media consumption in relation to my views around crime and criminal behaviour, I have to say, that after studying criminology it has changed quite a lot. Existing research states that 76% of the public form their opinion about crime based on what they read in newspapers and from what they see on television (Marsh & Melville, 2009), and I don’t think I was an exception before coming to university (not saying that me nor anyone else would ever be completely free from being influenced by the media, but at least less influenced when gaining different perspectives). I think most people would agree that it is extremely difficult not to be influenced by the media as it is the leading source of ´information´, and considering the amount of media that surrounds us on a daily basis. Yet, there are different forms of media and I think it is fair to say that one have the option to be selective.

Although, before studying criminology – and before I became familiar with the concept of ´critically analyse´, crime in the media was probably what grabbed my attention the most. Thinking about my prior interest in the media, crime ´news´ always seemed to fascinate me in a way that other news did not do. I assume my views around crime and criminal behaviour was much more stereotyped as well; not knowing any of the underlying factors that contributes to crime, and never would I have thought that crime, and the responses to crime, could be socially constructed.

In conclusion then, I am now much more selective in the forms of media that I actually consume, knowing how media has a tendency to depict crime in a stereotypical and exaggerated manner. Thus, I hope that with a background in criminology I can make a much more informed decision about what I read in the newspaper and see on television – and I know that increased regulation and tougher policies to combat crime is not necessarily the way to go about it. Finally, I guess the expression ´don’t believe everything you hear/read´ does apply to crime and the media!

References:

Cunneen, C & White, R 2007, Juvenile Justice: “Youth and Crime in Australa”, 3^rd edn,            Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Ellis, K & France, A 2010, ´Being judged, being assessed: young people’s perspective of           assessment in youth justice and education´, Children and Society, pp. 1-12

Kemshall, H et al 2006, ´Young people, pathways and crime: beyond risk factors´, The              Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 354-370

Marsh, I & Melville, G 2009, Crime, Justice and The Media, Routledge, London and New        York