Media and Crime in Australia | Essay

Running Head : Media and crime in Australia
MEDIA AND CRIME IN AUSTRALIA
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Media and crime in Australia
The public concern regarding the issue of victimization of crime is one of the factors that
the policymakers of the criminal justice system take into consideration at the time of establishing
new offenses. The margin of public concern regarding the growth of crime contributes to
determining the limit to which the individuals involved in daily actions but it sometimes controls
behavior unnecessarily. Nevertheless, there can be a disconnection between the way the
individuals identify the threat in crime victimization and the actual margin of crime victimization
happens in the community (Roberts 2018). For instance, recently, the concern regarding the type
of crime has enhanced despite having a decline in the rate of crime for the offense which is in
question. It is evident from the prior research which is conducted regarding the crime perceptions
that there is gross misperception regarding the criminal justice system among the public in both
the aspect of understanding of crime trends and the total figure of incidents. The information
taken from the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes in 2007 investigates the relationship
between education, gender, age and data sources on crime in the context of Australia (Cherney
and Murphy 2016). The criminal justice system and perceptions of the general public on crime
have significant control of decisions of policymakers which relates to operational activity both in
judicial sentencing and law enforcement. Nevertheless, there is a discrepancy between the
perception of the public regarding the probability of victimization in the criminal justice system
and the actual risk that exists in victimization. The inconsistency is apparent in the concern of the
general public relating to the perceived upsurge in criminal justice among the rate of crimes. The
data of the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2008 reveals that the rate of crime that is reported to
the police authority was declining in the year 2007 in comparison to 1998 both in the category of
the offense like unlawful entry with intention, robbery, theft, and homicide (MacDonald 2017).

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Media and crime in Australia
The percentage of crime like abduction or kidnapping which is reported to police enhanced
marginally between 2007 and 1998. Furthermore there is a substantial decline in the trend of
aggregate crime. Nevertheless, despite having declined in the rate of aggregate crime, it is
apparent that perceptions of the rate of crime in public and the trends of crime frequently not
able to match with the statistical data maintained by police of criminal records or surveys
regarding the rate of victimizations (Prichard et al. 2015). The research of the Canadian public
and the United States indicates that individuals' perceptions regarding the rate of crime
increasing though the rate of crime, in general, has diminished over the last years. The result is
shown in Canada and the United States is not separated from the proof of the same misperception
of crime that happens in Australia. It is also apparent from studies conducted in Australia that a
considerable percentage of the population believes that the rate of crime is growing but in actual
practice, it is declining or stabling. The two policies to describe the procedure through which the
public perception of sentencing and crime are instrumental theory and also an expressive theory
(Goc 2016). The theory of instrumental suggests that fear of crime and perceptions resulting in
criminal victimization and personal crime witnessing. The theory of expressive crime suggests
the broader aspect of social concern relating to the implication of crime in the cultural aspect,
relations, and social change and the condition that is contributing to the occurrence of crime and
is comparatively liberated of actual risk. The variables of expressive contribute more to crime
perceptions rather than the perceived probability of crime victimization or actual victimization.
The variable also involves feelings regarding the national economy of the state. , the trust level
among the members of the fellow community and anxiety relating to children.
The criminal justice system in Australia is the process of rulings and legislation that
protect the member of the community and also their property. The system made determination as

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Media and crime in Australia
to which incident cause offense or injury to members of the community are held to be criminal.
The offenders may be penalized through laws by community service or imprisonment, fines
(Salter 2016). The Commonwealth of Australia under the Australian constitution is entitled to
make legislation on certain issues that is laid in the constitution. The criminal cases develop in
three phases of the criminal justice system that is an investigative component, adjudicative
component, and correctional component (Brookman and Wiener 2017). The investigative
component comprises of the federal police, state police, and authority of national crime. The
adjudicating component involves court and correctional components involve prisons. The
principal duty cast upon the investigative department is the detection and prevention of crime
and legal enforcement for the maintenance of order and peace (Mahuteau and Zhu 2016). The
National Crime Activity was created to respond to several findings of the royal commission in
the criminal activity. The court system in Australia is a tiered structure with High Court having
ultimate jurisdiction in Australia. The high court is a final appellate court from all federal courts,
state courts and family courts and they also entertain federal offenses. The summary is triable by
the court of a magistrate while indictable offenses are tried by the higher court (Ellis and
McGovern 2016). There are three groups of correctional actions that are available to courts at the
time of convicted offenders. The first group involves the offender’s detention. The second group
involves community supervision which includes orders of community service or probations. The
third group involves the option of detention either in the institution or in prisons or at home.
The unequal treatment towards a minority is characteristic of every phase of the system of the
criminal process. The minorities are often victimized unfair and unequal treatment by police
authority and rest officials of law enforcement. By skewed on racial charging in addition to that
the prosecutor’s decision in plea bargaining by practicing discriminatory sentencing and other

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Media and crime in Australia
policymakers of criminal justice to restore the inequality among minorities that is becoming
manifest every day. The disparate treatment in the system of criminal justice is not balanced and
justifiable. It is also well settled that a substantial portion of crime are not committed by the class
of minorities and the majority of criminals are actually not offenders. The rate of convictions and
arrest among the minority is more which propagate the belief that more crimes are committed by
minorities resulting in the arrest of the majority of minorities and also leads profiling in racial
aspect. In the criminal justice system, the unequal treatment that is prevailing among the
minorities challenges the rule of legislation.
The aboriginal Justice agreement in Victoria refers to discrimination and racism as a
factor that contributes to the indigenous people’s over-representation in the system of criminal
justice in Australia. It is recognized by the agreement that indigenous people in Australia are
over-represented at ever margin of criminal justice at disproportionate and unacceptable rates.
The Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 laid down the prevention of racial
disparity and monitors Article 1 under the International Convention on Elimination of all Forms
of Racial Discrimination (Simons and Morgan 2018). For example, systematic racism is not
about whether people hold the views on racism nevertheless about the uneven consequence of
policies and legislations. In another manner, to some extent, systematic racism is assessed by
results and outcomes somewhat than intentions. The criminal policies might not be racially
prejudiced nonetheless might have a racist impact. The three strikes of burglary legislation in the
zone of Western Australia prescribe 12 months minimum imprisonment for the third strike of a
home burglary. The legislation, in theory, is applicable to all criminals but have a significant
outcome on juveniles. 80% of children who are indigenous who are charged are indigenous who
are aged under 14,000% are indigenous in addition to that inappropriate portion is from remote

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Media and crime in Australia
and regional zones. The Northern Territory made abolition of the regime of mandatory
sentencing in the year 2001 because of the fact that large part to the issues about its outcomes on
the imprisonment of indigenous people. The discretion in the judicial system, which removes the
sentencing practices, tends to discriminate against marginal, minority and indigenous
individuals. In the areas of Western Australia and New South Wales, the suspension of licensing
of driver generates issues as assets seizure. The enforcement legislation of fines in the zone of
Western Australia in the late 1990s leading to a drop in the sentencing of short prison, recently it
is visible that there is an upsurge of prisoning of aboriginal women for default in fine. It is
suggested by abundant evidence that the aboriginal prisoners are frequently underprivileged by
policies which are around funeral attendance.
The terror of crime literature reveals that individuals are more terrible of unknown
violence rather than being victimized by known factors. The media enthusiastically use the
principle of unknown danger in the criminal justice system to its benefit provides the narrative of
victim-blaming that prevails within policy frameworks and legislation, for instance, defensive
homicide. In the offense of homicides where the sufferer aware that the offender of the crime
may be regarded as less newsworthy, there is no sympathy by the society towards the sufferers
who are supposed to be blamed partially for own victimization. Thus it can be concluded that the
media in Australia made a misrepresentation of homicide accurately. This gets challenging as
media regulate both policy-making and fear of crime among the public.

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Media and crime in Australia
References
Roberts, J., 2018. Public opinion, crime, and criminal justice. Routledge.
Cherney, A. and Murphy, K., 2016. Being a ‘suspect community’ in a post 9/11 world–The
impact of the war on terror on Muslim communities in Australia. Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology, 49(4), pp.480-496.
MacDonald, F., 2017. Positioning young refugees in Australia: media discourse and social
exclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(11), pp.1182-1195.
Prichard, J., Watters, P., Krone, T., Spiranovic, C. and Cockburn, H., 2015. Social media
sentiment analysis: A new empirical tool for assessing public opinion on crime?. Current Issues
in Criminal Justice, 27(2), pp.217-236.
Goc, N., 2016. Women, infanticide and the press, 1822–1922: News narratives in England and
Australia. Routledge.
Salter, M., 2016. Crime, justice, and social media. Routledge.
Brookman, R.P. and Wiener, K.K., 2017. Predicting punitive attitudes to sentencing: Does the
public's perceptions of crime and Indigenous Australians matter?. Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology, 50(1), pp.56-77.
Mahuteau, S. and Zhu, R., 2016. Crime victimization and subjective well‐being: panel evidence
from Australia. Health economics, 25(11), pp.1448-1463.
Ellis, J. and McGovern, A., 2016. The end of symbiosis? Australia police–media relations in the
digital age. Policing and Society, 26(8), pp.944-962.

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Simons, M. and Morgan, J., 2018. Changing Media Coverage of Violence Against Women:
Changing Sourcing Practices?. Journalism Studies, 19(8), pp.1202-1217.