How do the media shape our picture of crime, and can they actually cause it?
The relationship between crime and the media, including media representations of crime, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime, moral panics, and cyber-crime.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on crime and the media, covering media representations and distortion, fear of crime, the media as a cause of crime, moral panics and folk devils, and cyber-crime.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to explain the relationship between crime and the media: how the media represent crime, their effect on the fear of crime, whether they cause crime, moral panics, and cyber-crime. The examiner expects you to keep the effects of the media "debated" rather than assuming a simple cause.
Media representations of crime
The media give a distorted picture of crime:
- They over-report violent and sexual crime and under-report property and corporate crime. Studies (Ditton and Duffy; Williams and Dickinson) found a large share of news space given to violent and sexual crime that makes up only a small fraction of recorded offences.
- They exaggerate the risk to certain groups (the old, the wealthy) and present a misleading age and class profile of offenders (over-representing higher-status, older offenders).
- This reflects news values (immediacy, dramatisation, personalisation, higher-status persons, violence, unexpectedness) and the commercial pressure to sell, rather than the real pattern of crime. The growth of "infotainment" and reality crime shows further blurs fact and fiction.
Fear of crime
Distorted coverage can heighten the fear of crime, sometimes among groups (such as older women) who are statistically least likely to be victims, while younger men who are more at risk worry less. Schlesinger and Tumber found a correlation between media consumption and fear of crime, though the effect is debated because audiences are active interpreters (the reception model), not passive sponges, and a correlation does not prove that the media cause the fear.
The media as a cause of crime
The media are argued to cause or encourage crime through:
- Imitation (copycat behaviour) and desensitisation to violence after repeated exposure.
- Providing know-how (techniques) and glamorising offending so it appears rewarding.
- Acting as a transmitter of a "deviant subculture", and portraying the police as effective (the "law of opposites" between media crime and real crime).
- Generating relative deprivation: advertising and media images of wealth fuel feelings of deprivation that, for left realists, can lead to crime.
The bulk of research (especially "media effects" studies) is inconclusive, so a strong answer treats causation as contested.
Moral panics, folk devils and amplification
Cohen's study of the mods and rockers (Clacton, 1964) shows the process: media exaggeration and distortion create folk devils, prediction of further trouble becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and symbolisation (clothing, scooters) lets the public identify the deviants. The public and authorities overreact, and this deviancy amplification spiral can produce more of the deviance it set out to control. Functionalists read moral panics as boundary-reaffirming; neo-Marxists (Hall et al. on "mugging") read them as ideological distraction from a crisis of capitalism.
Cyber-crime
Cyber-crime (Jewkes) covers a spread of offences. Wall classifies it as cyber-trespass (hacking, viruses), cyber-deception and theft (fraud, identity theft), cyber-pornography, and cyber-violence (harassment, stalking). It is hard to police because it is global and anonymous, crosses borders, is committed in huge volume by individuals, and outpaces law and policing, linking this topic directly to globalisation.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 201810 marksOutline and explain two ways in which the media may contribute to crime and deviance.Show worked answer →
Two developed paragraphs, no item, no conclusion.
Way one: moral panics and deviancy amplification. Media exaggeration creates folk devils and a moral panic (Cohen's mods and rockers); the resulting harsher reaction and increased policing can produce more of the deviance it set out to control (the amplification spiral).
Way two: the media as a more direct cause. Imitation and copycat behaviour, desensitisation, providing know-how, glamorising offending, and fuelling relative deprivation through advertising and images of wealth (left realism).
Markers reward two distinct, developed ways with named concepts.
AQA 202010 marksOutline and explain two reasons why the media give a distorted picture of crime.Show worked answer →
Two developed paragraphs.
Reason one: news values. Editors select stories using criteria such as immediacy, dramatisation, personalisation, violence and unexpectedness, so violent and sexual crime is over-reported while routine property and corporate crime is under-reported, distorting the picture.
Reason two: commercial and ideological pressures. The media are businesses competing for audiences, so crime is dramatised to sell; coverage may also reflect the interests of owners and reinforce stereotypes of typical offenders, misrepresenting the real age, class and ethnic profile of crime.
Markers reward two distinct, developed reasons.
Related dot points
- Labelling theory and the social construction of crime, including the social construction of crime statistics, the deviant career, master status, deviancy amplification and primary and secondary deviance.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on labelling theory, covering the social construction of crime and statistics, Becker's outsiders, Lemert's primary and secondary deviance, master status, the deviant career and deviancy amplification.
- Marxist, neo-Marxist and realist theories of crime, including traditional Marxism, critical criminology, left realism and right realism, and their explanations of crime and policy responses.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on Marxist and realist theories, covering traditional Marxism, neo-Marxist critical criminology, left realism and right realism, and their explanations of crime and policy.
- Globalisation and crime in contemporary society, the global criminal economy, green crime, human rights and state crimes, including genocide and crimes by states against their own citizens.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on globalisation and crime, covering the global criminal economy, glocal organisation, green crime (primary and secondary), and state crime including genocide and human rights.
- Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies, including situational and environmental prevention and theories of punishment.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on control and prevention, covering situational and environmental crime prevention, surveillance (Foucault, Feeley and Simon), theories of punishment, and victimology.
- Ethnic patterns in crime and victimisation, including the over-representation of some groups in statistics, explanations of offending, the role of the criminal justice system, and racism and discrimination.
A focused answer to the AQA A-Level Sociology Crime topic on ethnicity and crime, covering ethnic patterns in statistics, stop and search and the criminal justice system, neo-Marxist and left realist explanations, and patterns of victimisation.
Sources & how we know this
- AQA A-level Sociology (7192) specification — AQA (2015)