Criminology 2: Defining Crime and Media Distortion Analysis

This criminology essay delves into the multifaceted definition of crime, examining various perspectives from sociologists, criminologists, and critical criminologists. It explores the controversies surrounding the term and its social construction, highlighting how cultural and power dynamics influence its interpretation. The essay then analyzes the media's role in distorting the reality of crime, discussing how news outlets prioritize sensationalism and agenda-setting to shape public perception. It examines the impact of media on fear, panic, and policy changes, as well as the potential for the media to demonize groups and manipulate statistics for profit. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of critically evaluating media representations of crime to form an informed understanding of its complexities.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY 1
Criminology
Student’s (Name)
Institution

CRIMINOLOGY 2
TASK 1: CRIME
The definition of crime over the past years has had a lot of controversies due to the
different approaches that sociologists and criminologists hold on crime1. Sociologists are experts
of social science that examine the manner in which the society operates in an attempt of
determining how to deal with the issues that affect the society 2. On the other hand,
criminologists are experts who have the responsibility of studying crime, its causes, criminals,
justice systems and other aspects of crime in determining how to eradicate it.
While the definition of the word crime might sound easy since at its mention everybody
thinks that they know what crime is, it has been very difficult to come up with an overall
definition. There has been several definitions such as: “an act against the social norms” or “the
act of not being able to meet the expectations that the society has got on a person” or “the action
of disrespect or disobedience towards a third party which could be intentional or as a result of
ignorance3.”
Crime can be simply defined as an action which is carried out that leads to the violation
of law, or interference with another person’s right or privacy or a whole community4.
The only problem with these definitions is that, they apply in situations that all people
agree to be crimes. These may include crimes such as manslaughter, murder or tearing out one’s
body part for profit. But are all crimes illegal in every situation that it has been committed.
1 Schmalleger, F. (2017). Criminal justice. Pearson.
2 Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism. Prentice Hall
Press.
3 Michalowski, R. J. (2016). What is Crime?. Critical Criminology, 24(2), 181-199.
4 Christie, N. (2016). Crime control as industry: Towards gulags, western style. Routledge.

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According to the Oxford Dictionary crime is an act or an omission that is committed as
an offence as a result it is subject to punishment in consideration of the law5. However, the same
dictionary of Sociology gives the definition of crime in a very complicated manner. It is defined
as an offensive act that exceeds an individual to affect the public, breaking the established rules
and laws, which when broken result to punishments and sanctions requiring the participation of
the public.
This approach by the Oxford dictionary to crime simply means that the measure of
determining or defining crime is the law, therefore an action that is done within the law is not a
crime but an action that is done out of the law is a crime. While this is how most people would
view the definition of crime, sociologist move beyond this definition into looking at the interest
of the person that the law is to protect and the person that the law has condemned6.
As a criminologist therefore this would leave a person asking the question, what makes
an activity a crime?
Other scholars have looked at the definition of crime and they have concluded that, it is a
social construction. A social construction is a perspective towards crime that take the position
that crime does not have a single “objective reality” .This is due to the fact that it keeps on
changing over time and due to the fact that it is affected by issues such as culture, this was
indicated by Howard Becker during the 1960’s7.
Other scholars such as Hillyard and Tombs are of the opinion that the definition of crime
is dictated by the people that are in positions of power. For this reason, when defining crime
5 Lewis, D. A. (2017). Fear of crime: Incivility and the production of a social problem. Routledge.
6 Eck, J., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Crime places in crime theory.
7 Quinney, R., & Shelden, R. G. (2018). Critique of the legal order: Crime control in capitalist society.
Routledge.

CRIMINOLOGY 4
there are several issues that occur within the state , war and environment that are not included in
the definition, they therefore say that the focus that is in definition of crime should be turned into
the process in understanding of social harm8.
In summary the definition of crime can be done in consideration of these three
components in understanding of crime:
Common sense – This definition of crime does not engage in structural issues and
analysis, which other components consider in defining crime. Rather, crime is viewed as a
“universal truth” or actions that are known by “everyone “which they learn to avoid in the
process of growing up in their respective environments. In this component every member is
expected to acknowledge and understand crime as dictated by the environment, however, most of
the society members might also differ in their view of crime.
Criminologists – As mentioned earlier, experts that study crime, offender and justice
institutions are known as criminologists. When defining crime these experts investigate broad
issues such as economical activities, social factors such as discriminations, power and
inequalities. Criminologists define criminology in a broad perspective in considering of factors
that will result to crime and how to stop crime. The comprehensive definition of crime from the
criminologists is because they consult psychologists and sociologists among other social
sciences.
Critical criminologists – These are criminologists who define crime by adding to other
criminologists. They believe that most criminologists focus is on the interpersonal crimes yet
there are crimes that are committed by big companies and states. In defining crime, they tend to
8 Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (2016). Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach
(1979). In Classics in Environmental Criminology (pp. 203-232). CRC Press.

CRIMINOLOGY 5
include the relationship between the actions of crime and the patterns that are experienced in the
society. There focus is on providing a “comprehensive” definition to the term crime.
Even though all this groups have different definitions of crime, some of the things that
they share in common, which are key in defining crime are: occurrence of an action, whether
directly or indirectly, the action being against the expected ways or norms as per the environment
or the society in which the action has been committed and lastly is the fact that the action is
likely to have a consequence as the law makers or the members of the committee agree. What
has created a controversy in the definition of crime is just the qualifications that make an act to
be referred to as a crime.
TASK 2: DOES THE MEDIA DISTORT THE REALITY OF CRIME
While most people continue to talk and comment of criminal activities, it is quite evident
that a lot of people have not been victims to criminals. Therefore, their perception and
understanding of crime: how crimes are committed, areas with most crimes, which people are at
the risk of experiencing crime and responses to criminals is due to secondary sources which in
most times includes the media9. The fact that most of the information that are known of crime
come from the media, they are therefore subject to scrutiny in understanding whether the media
distorts the reality of crime. The act of distortion is to misrepresent, mislead or manipulate
information to the purpose that one wants to achieve. This is basically leading people into
believing in a false impression.
Media distorts the reality of crime since before the news are aired out, one of the
considerations that is made is whether the news are “dramatic” enough so that they can be aired
out on the news10. The media wants to ensure that the news on crime aired out seems so random,
9 Marsh, I., & Melville, G. (2014). Crime, justice and the media. Routledge.
10 Jewkes, Y. (2015). Media and crime. Sage.

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scary and as unexpected as it can possibly get. This causes emotions of panic to the news viewers
who will not want to become victims of these incidents. This panic is set to be achieved at all
costs which lead to certain crimes ignored while others over emphasized on11.
The media distorts the reality of crime due to the fact that for the crime to be aired or
published, it is filtered by the journalists who will decide to air what he/she thinks is newsworthy
in that day12. This decision that is made by journalists and editors will lead them into looking at
an element that will make the news of reporting a crime worthy at the cost of the truth. This
automatically indicates how crime reality is distorted.
The media dictates what the “agenda of the day” is, a phenomenon is known as agenda
setting. Most of the things that people will say regarding a crime that they perceive to have
occurred in a particular area is set by the media which plays the role of informing them of the
crime. The media personnel are aware of this power that they have, therefore, they have to
choose the best story that will make the best headlines in the news and in the newspaper. While
most people think that they have a great knowledge on the happenings around them or within
their states, the reality is that all their perception and thought have been influenced by what the
media personalities want them to think. This hugely distorts the reality of crime due to false
sources and information.
In the occurrence of crimes that involve celebrities or politicians, the news will be filled
with information including pictures and videos of the crime13. This is aimed at indicating that the
crimes committed against this people are more newsworthy as compared to the other incidents,
11 Surette, R. (2014). Media, crime, and criminal justice. Nelson Education.
12 Steven P. Lab. (2014). Crime prevention: Approaches, practices, and evaluations. Anderson.
13 Taylor, R. W., Fritsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital crime and digital terrorism. Prentice Hall
Press.

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cases of sexual crimes are also given more consideration, this leads to the perception that the
crimes against this people may have increased yet in real sense maybe other forms of crime such
as assault are on the rise.
The media continues to exaggerate the degree of the occurrence of an incident despite
how small it may have been14. This is done in the attempt of ensuring that the news that is
produced is newsworthy to the viewers who see it. This exaggeration might include unnecessary
dramatizations and panels on very mundane issues and production of several reports and follow
up activities that are unnecessary. This exaggeration indicates how the media manipulate the
realities of the occurrence of crime.
One of the biggest effects that show of criminal activities have on the viewers is fear.
This is according to a study in USA that found that those who were close to the television had a
lot of fear for attacks15. This indicates how much fear the media instils into the normal viewer.
With the continuation of this news and fear there begins to be panic amongst this societies, this
happens to the extent some groups are perceived as a threat to the rest of the society.
In the case of occurrence of a panic, there is also the possibility of rebellion as a way of
reacting to the panic that people have experienced, the media will emphasize on an issue until the
parliament is forced to make an amendment when pressured by the people. These amendments
lead to illegalising issues that were once legal and good while the serious issues are not dealt
with as they should.
14 Greer, C., & Reiner, R. (2015). Mediated Mayhem: Media, crime and criminal justice.
15 Malleson, N., & Andresen, M. A. (2015). The impact of using social media data in crime rate
calculations: shifting hot spots and changing spatial patterns. Cartography and Geographic Information
Science, 42(2), 112-121.

CRIMINOLOGY 8
The media distorts the reality of crime by demonizing a particular group in the interest of
creating headlines, this has been seen in several countries where the media may target certain
individuals, making them to seem very bad while in real sense there are more pressing issues,
this gives the false impression on the state of crime in the area distorting the reality that is
occurring.
Most of the people who view news and other information in the news assume that they
are true without cross checking their statistics of crime against other bodies. According a study
carried in USA it was realised that some media houses use falsified statistics in the attempt to
prove that their points are correct, this leads to manipulation of information by the media that
ends up not being realised by the viewers.
The media has been found to distort crime for one of the huge reasons that make most
firms to clash which is the aim of making more profit and acquiring more money16. The fact that
media houses are competing for more and more subscribers will lead them into doing everything
that they can in order to remain as the best media house. This in the extreme cases could involve
victimizing the wrong people for crimes that they have not committed or manipulation of the
crime in the attempt of coming up with an interesting view unlike other media houses.
From the above explanations it is quite clear that the media has distorted the reality of
crimes which begins form how they select the news they present, the information they have to
support their claims, which news they consider newsworthy, exaggeration of crimes and creation
fear of victimization.
TASK 3: ARE WE IN MORE DANGER FROM THOSE WHO INHABIT
CORPORATE SUITES THAN THOSE WHO ROAM OUR STREETS
16 Trottier, D., & Fuchs, C. (Eds.). (2014). Social media, politics and the state: Protests, revolutions, riots,
crime and policing in the age of facebook, twitter and youtube (Vol. 16). Routledge.

CRIMINOLOGY 9
In the mention of criminals, it is easier to imagine of crimes that have been committed by
some deviant individuals on the streets, these individuals put on normal or cheaper clothes with
weird dressing and overall appearance. This scenario has been experienced in the media houses
where, every time news of criminal activities is aired out such as shootings, theft or hijacking has
occurred there is a street criminal involved. This has enabled a lot of individuals to be familiar
with street crimes and other crimes by criminal groups ignoring corporate criminals and crimes.
In the past years it can be noted that the reporting and punishment of corporate criminals has
been very minimal for this reason it has become more dangerous than that criminal activities that
occur in the streets17.
Corporate crimes are more dangerous than street crime because, according statistics
corporate crimes have reported more deaths as compared to all other cases of murder18. This
indicates just how dangerous they are to the extent of reporting more deaths compared to other
deaths, yet they are not reported by the media houses and if they are action that are taken against
them are very minimal.
Corporate criminals are dangerous due to the fact that they have most of the resources
that they require in carrying out their plans as compared to the street criminals, corporate
criminals in most cases have the finance and the tools to enable them to commit wherever they
want to undertake unlike the street criminals.
17 Cliff, G., & Desilets, C. (2014). White collar crime: what it is and where it's going. Notre Dame JL Ethics
& Pub. Pol'y, 28, 481.
18 Hirschi, T., & Gottfredson, M. R. (2018). The generality of deviance. In The generality of deviance (pp.
1-22). Routledge.

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One of the resources that corporate criminals have is intelligence19. Most crimes that are
committed with people who are intelligent are likely to be successful without them being caught,
in a study it was found that people with high intelligent quotient (IQ) can be very dangerous
criminals as compared to the rest of the people of lower intelligent quotient20.
Another issue that makes the corporate criminals more dangerous is the impact that they
cause due to their activities. Mostly the street criminals cause harm to relatively less people as
compared to corporate criminals, the theft of corporate criminals in other cases can be faced up
to an area as huge as a state or the whole country, the occurrence of a corporate crime has a very
huge impact in the region where it has been carried out.
Corporate crimes are more dangerous than the street crimes due to the fact that
sometimes they may go unnoticed by the public and the press. Therefore, these criminals
continue to steal the resources of the public, organization or the nation without it being realised
even for a little bit. This renders it dangerous because a lot of resources disappear while there are
no people to account for the lack of disappearance of the resources.
White collar criminals also referred to as corporate criminals are bad than the street
criminals due to the fact that in some cases they are the master mind behind the street criminals.
The police will end up jailing the street criminals while in real sense they do not solve crime by
apprehending the real brains behind these criminal operations.
There have been times when the wrong people have been jailed and sentenced for crimes
that they did not commit simply because the evidence of crime was found within or around their
premises and they lack the means to defend themselves they end up in jail. Some of the corporate
19 Delgado, R., Wing, A. K., & Stefancic, J. (2015). Rodrigo’s Eighth Chronicle: Black Crime, White Fears
—On the Social Construction of Threat. In Law Unbound! (pp. 129-148). Routledge.
20 Messerschmidt, J. W., & Tomsen, S. (2018). Masculinities and crime. In Routledge Handbook of Critical
Criminology (pp. 83-95). Routledge.

CRIMINOLOGY 11
criminals commit their evil activities and then they impose the crimes that they have committed
to the street criminals, since they are sure that the street criminals will be apprehended.
One of the reasons why corporate criminals are dangerous is their ability to get away with
the crimes that they have committed21. In the case that they are caught committing criminal
activities, they have the best lawyers and some of them hide behind charity activities so that in
the presence of court their verdicts are manipulated due to their “good works”, until they end up
free again.
The organization of the white-collar criminals and their ruthlessness is usually very scary.
This denies individuals who have claims against them to shy away from forwarding these issues
to court in the fear that they may end being killed by this organizations.
White collar criminals are better than street criminals because they are professional22.
Some of these corporate criminals have the education and the ability to manipulate policies and
other laws in the company in order to benefit their needs23. This enables them to hide behind the
organization laws unlike the street criminals who in some cases are of low education.
Corporate criminals erode the morals of a country or the organization that they work in as
they come into contact with other workers24. These criminals sometimes may need or are forced
to bribe judges within the court, this erode the morals of the country as the person continues to
influence more people to be as bad as they are.
21 Brickey, K. F., & Taub, J. (2017). Corporate and white collar crime: cases and materials. Wolters Kluwer
Law & Business.
22 Benson, M. L., & Simpson, S. S. (2014). Understanding white-collar crime: An opportunity perspective.
Routledge.
23 Engdahl, O. (2015). White-collar crime and first-time adult-onset offending: Explorations in the concept
of negative life events as turning points. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 43(1), 1-16.
24 Holtfreter, K. (2015). General theory, gender-specific theory, and white-collar crime. Journal of
Financial Crime, 22(4), 422-431.

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Lastly one of the reasons why corporate crime is worse than street crime is the fact that
corporate crimes are very difficult to locate when there is need for evidence provision, this is
because these crimes are carried out after thorough planning and considerations25 .
REFERENCE
Albanese, J. S. (2014). Organized crime in our times. Routledge.
Benson, M. L., & Simpson, S. S. (2014). Understanding white-collar crime: An opportunity
perspective. Routledge.
Brickey, K. F., & Taub, J. (2017). Corporate and white collar crime: cases and materials.
Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Christie, N. (2016). Crime control as industry: Towards gulags, western style. Routledge.
25 Albanese, J. S. (2014). Organized crime in our times. Routledge.