Criminology and Criminal Justice: Analyzing Crime-Related News in Contemporary Society

This article analyzes several crime-related news of the contemporary society and how media shapes our perception of crime. It also discusses the news values and the role of journalists in presenting stories based on their news values.

Running Head: CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminology and criminal justice
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Table documenting media usage:................................................................................................2
Part 1............................................................................................................................................3
Part 2............................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

2CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Introduction
Criminology is a genre, which deals with scientific analysis of the reasons, consequences
and deterrence of criminal activities, on an individual and social level (Weisburd 2015).
Moreover, media executes a vital role in representing a contemporary crime scenario. However,
it is not possible for the mass media to provide a detailed report of every criminal activity; they
provide us with selective events (Jewkes 2015). Consequently, we are only able to form opinions
about events in a manner in which any news presents itself. Therefore, it might be stated that
various kinds of media, such as newspapers, television news, online news and social media,
shape our perception of crime (Greer and Reiner 2015). The following piece aims at analyzing
several crime related news of the contemporary society.
Discussion
Table documenting media usage:
Title of news Media Date of publishing
“Organised crime gang jailed for
87 years”
BBC official Website (BBC
News 2018)
22/01/2018
“Nine charts on the rise of
knife crime in England and
Wales”
BBC official Website (BBC
News 2018)
22/01/2018
“KSP Investigating Officer
Involved Shooting In Hardin
Co.”
Twitter (Twitter.com 2018) 10/01/2018
“Crime statistics: Violent crime
and sex offences rising, police
figures suggest”
BBC News Channel (BBC News
2018)
25/01/2018

3CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Part 1
1. I, personally go through newspapers, digital newspapers, news circulated on social
media, news broadcasted on television and websites. The published news, satiates several
requirements of my life, such as personal enrichment, civic accountability and social
awareness (Jones 2016). I strongly believe that keeping myself informed is one of my
prior civic obligation, it keeps me aware of my surroundings and further prepares me, to a
great extent, to avoid unfavourable circumstances.
2. In recent times, I prefer going through news published on official websites of news
channels, such as BBC. This form of mass media usage is very convenient and has gained
popularity in the present era, especially amidst the youths. The tendency of going through
e-newspaper is emerging as a ‘normal practice’ these days.
3. This process of reading news is more convenient and less time consuming I believe; this
form of news can be approached at any hour and at any place and is further cost effective
(Tarus 2017). Moreover, the news is published very fast after the occurrence of the
incident [as compared to traditional newspaper]. The online news publishing websites do
not offer fusty news to their subscribers or readers, as opposed to hard copy newspapers
(Nielsen 2014). I have noticed that the e-newspapers are updated frequently, whenever
there is any significant incident, taking place. News published on official websites of
renowned news channels are more authentic than the news that appear on social media
sites; the liability factor is high. The news published on authentic websites, hardly create
any environmental hazard, as opposed to hard copy of newspapers (Jeswani and
Azapagic 2015).

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Part 2
I have selected the story “Organised crime gang jailed for 87 years” from my usage.
1. The news media are a characterizing highlight of the wrongdoing and equity scenario.
Particularly today in a globalized setting of extreme mediatisation and high
wrongdoing awareness, news media portrayals are key pointers of the nature and
degree of wrongdoing, the suitability and viability of criminal equity, and the more
extensive condition of the country (Tarus 2017). The media, at that point, do not just
'make' the news; nor do they essentially transmit the philosophy of the more powerful
class in a conspiratorial mold (Weisburd 2015). Surely, theory of criminology have
recommended that, in a basic sense, the media is not the 'essential definer' of news
occasions by any means; yet their organized relationship to control, has the impact of
making them execute an urgent yet auxiliary part in recreating the meanings of the
individuals who have special access, starting at ideal, to the media as certifiable
sources (Jeswani and Azapagic 2015). At the time of news generation, the media
remain in a place of organized subordination to the essential definers.
2. I have studied that the news section of BBC’s official website mostly portrayed news
based on crimes over the past three days (BBC News 2018). News values are a result
of two major influential factors, which determine the selection and manner of
presentation of any news. One of these vital factors is politics, which determines the
framework and, even to some extent, the content of a particular news. The news of
same importance produced by BBC is of varying lengths owing to this political
factor; this particular factor even leads to withdrawal or alteration of contents of
several news. Political sources make use of their strong economic conditions and

5CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
other strengths in order to manipulate the publishing of various news; this trend could
be witnessed in the news pattern of BBC’s official website, despite their proclamation
of remaining attached to neutrality.
3. The term ‘news value’ refers to an assessment of a particular incident, carried out by
the journalists or editors keeping in mind the factor of public appeal of that particular
incident; the assessment also considers the fact that whether that incident possesses
capacity to evoke public interest (Jewkes 2015). The story from my usage -“Organised
crime gang jailed for 87 years” has provided several news values, for instance, the
incident was unexpected, quite dramatic and was negative in essence (BBC News
2018). The above-mentioned facets of the incident rendered it relevant for reporting
based on crime (Jewkes 2015).
4. The story from my usage- “Organised crime gang jailed for 87 years” have been
given considerable amount of priority, as a result of the newsworthiness of the
incident and particular news values it could accommodate (BBC News 2018). The
news has been reported over a length of approximately fourteen hundred words;
moreover handful of pictorial evidences have also been provided (BBC News 2018).
Lot of efforts have been vested into the making of this particular report; evidences for
the report have been collected from Scotland police, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency
[DEA] and Organized Crime and Counter Terrorism Unit [OCCTU] (BBC News
2018).

6CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Conclusion
Therefore, I may conclude from the above-mentioned discourses that particular genre of
criminology, further advocates the stretch, control and nature of crime related inclinations. The
journalists decide to present stories based on their ‘news values’, they tend to take up incidents
which contains more dramatic aspects. Incidents become newsworthy when they are delivered in
an unpredictable and serious manner and further gain the capability of evoking panic. Moreover,
the representations from mass media influence our belief regarding the criminal incidents,
regardless of the truth of the representations. There can be no second thought regarding the fact
that we must keep ourselves informed about the news headlines; nevertheless the extent of true
reflection of the incidents, still remains questionable.

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References
BBC News., 2018. 'Merciless' organised crime gang jailed. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42774095 [Accessed 7 Feb. 2018].
Greer, C. and Reiner, R., 2015. Mediated Mayhem: Media, crime and criminal justice.
Jeswani, H.K. and Azapagic, A., 2015. Is e-reading environmentally more sustainable than
conventional reading?. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 17(3), pp.803-809.
Jewkes, Y., 2015. Media and crime. Sage.
Jones, A., 2016. Powers of the press: newspapers, power and the public in nineteenth-century
England. Routledge.
Twitter.com. (2018). KY State Police (@kystatepolice) | Twitter. [online] Available at:
https://twitter.com/kystatepolice [Accessed 10 Feb. 2018].
Nielsen, C.E., 2014. Coproduction or cohabitation: Are anonymous online comments on
newspaper websites shaping news content?. New Media & Society, 16(3), pp.470-487.
Tarus, S.C., 2017. Adoption Patterns of E-Newspapers by the Faculty of Institutions of Higher
Learning in Kenya: A Case of United States University-Africa, Main Campus, Nairobi(Doctoral
dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
Weisburd, D., 2015. The law of crime concentration and the criminology of
place. Criminology, 53(2), pp.133-157.