1. Is the nature of crime in our society accurately presented in the media?
Crime is one of the most heavily reported subject areas in media news due to its accessibility, benefit to the community, and it’s entertainment value (Maguire et al., 1999). To many Australians, crime news from television, radio, newspapers and other forms of media, is their only source of crime information in their community. Unfortunately the media often exaggerates or understates different facets of the true nature of crime. Media headlines and reports would have you believe that Crime rates in Australia are on the rise. However, official crime trend statistics and empirical studies suggest that reports of property and violent crime have fallen or maintained since …show more content…
In Australia, crimes such as Murder, Grievous bodily harm, and rape are considered among the most heinous of actions while theft may be considered in line with social deviance. However, across different jurisdictions and cultures around the world, these crimes may be commonplace and regarded with a different level of outrage or force, and fall into different categories compared to Australia. Furthermore, society’s values and laws to mirror them change over time, so something considered criminal in the 1800’s, may now be an accepted behaviour. Violent Crime is defined as those offenses that involve force or a threat of force, and include the offence categories of Assault, Sexual Assault, Homicide and Robbery (Bricknell, 2008). Property crime involves the taking or destruction of someone else’s property without the use of violence. This includes damage or destruction of homes and businesses, vehicle theft and household burglary. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)(2014) the most common type of crime in Australia is property …show more content…
The data showed that of 970 383 crime reports, approximately 80% related to property offences (as cited in Hayes & Prenzler, 2015). Since the turn of the century, reports of all types of crimes have either seen downward trends or stability, with the reported property crimes of vehicle theft and break-and-enter more then halving between 2001 and 2014 (Goh & Ramsey 2015). However, property theft is still the prevalent crime in Australia. The 2011 Australian Crime: Facts and Figures report showed declines in four out of violent crime categories between 2009 and 2010 with 204285 reports in the latter year. In contrast, property crime also saw a decline in the same year over all categories, with a total of 732 791 reports in 2010 (AIC, 2011). Therefore this data shows that you are almost four times more likely to be affected by property crime then violent crime.
Although police report statistics give a reasonably accurate representation of crime trends, it is not exact due to what is called ‘The dark figure of crime’. Hayes & Prenzler define the dark figure of crime as, “…crime that is undetected, not reported and not recorded” (2015, p. 40). The 2003 victimisation survey conducted by the ABS, found that as much as two- thirds of violent crime is not reported (Bricknell, 2008). The dark figure of crime also affects property crime, in that often people won’t report minor instances of theft, only
Crime is one of the most heavily reported subject areas in media news due to its accessibility, benefit to the community, and it’s entertainment value (Maguire et al., 1999). To many Australians, crime news from television, radio, newspapers and other forms of media, is their only source of crime information in their community. Unfortunately the media often exaggerates or understates different facets of the true nature of crime. Media headlines and reports would have you believe that Crime rates in Australia are on the rise. However, official crime trend statistics and empirical studies suggest that reports of property and violent crime have fallen or maintained since …show more content…
In Australia, crimes such as Murder, Grievous bodily harm, and rape are considered among the most heinous of actions while theft may be considered in line with social deviance. However, across different jurisdictions and cultures around the world, these crimes may be commonplace and regarded with a different level of outrage or force, and fall into different categories compared to Australia. Furthermore, society’s values and laws to mirror them change over time, so something considered criminal in the 1800’s, may now be an accepted behaviour. Violent Crime is defined as those offenses that involve force or a threat of force, and include the offence categories of Assault, Sexual Assault, Homicide and Robbery (Bricknell, 2008). Property crime involves the taking or destruction of someone else’s property without the use of violence. This includes damage or destruction of homes and businesses, vehicle theft and household burglary. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)(2014) the most common type of crime in Australia is property …show more content…
The data showed that of 970 383 crime reports, approximately 80% related to property offences (as cited in Hayes & Prenzler, 2015). Since the turn of the century, reports of all types of crimes have either seen downward trends or stability, with the reported property crimes of vehicle theft and break-and-enter more then halving between 2001 and 2014 (Goh & Ramsey 2015). However, property theft is still the prevalent crime in Australia. The 2011 Australian Crime: Facts and Figures report showed declines in four out of violent crime categories between 2009 and 2010 with 204285 reports in the latter year. In contrast, property crime also saw a decline in the same year over all categories, with a total of 732 791 reports in 2010 (AIC, 2011). Therefore this data shows that you are almost four times more likely to be affected by property crime then violent crime.
Although police report statistics give a reasonably accurate representation of crime trends, it is not exact due to what is called ‘The dark figure of crime’. Hayes & Prenzler define the dark figure of crime as, “…crime that is undetected, not reported and not recorded” (2015, p. 40). The 2003 victimisation survey conducted by the ABS, found that as much as two- thirds of violent crime is not reported (Bricknell, 2008). The dark figure of crime also affects property crime, in that often people won’t report minor instances of theft, only