Media and juvenile delinquency: A study into the relationship between journalists, politics, and public

Abstract

Between 2007 and 2011, the number of registered juvenile suspects declined by 44 percent, but the Dutch public did not feel any safer. In this research, we study media coverage of youth crime and interview journalists and their sources in order to investigate the relationship between journalists, their sources, and the possible effects on the public with respect to fear of crime. We find an overrepresentation of youth crime in news coverage, especially in the popular press, and a stronger episodic focus over time. All media focus increasingly on powerful sources that focus on repressive framing, but this is especially found in the elite press. We conclude that news coverage in all media groups, although in different ways, does contribute to the fear of crime in society and the idea that repressive measures are needed. The fact that this fear of crime is also caused by news coverage is acknowledged, but neither journalists nor politicians are able or willing to change this.

Youths’ Facial Appearance Distinguishes Leaders From Followers in Group-Perpetrated Criminal Offenses and Is Associated With Sentencing Outcomes

“…With the exception of five cases that involved nonviolent index offenses (one theft, one series of vehicle burglaries, and three cases of intentional arson), all index offenses in each case involved serious violent crimes against victims, including aggravated robbery, assault, sexual assault, and murder. This is consistent with Ruigrok et al (2017), who noted that media coverage of youth crime tends to emphasize serious and violent incidents.…”

“…Facial stimuli were obtained through a systematic search of all adolescent and young adult group crime cases reported in U.S. daily newspapers in all 50 states. Newspaper coverage of youth crime often focuses on specific episodes of youth crime rather than systemic concerns about it (Ruigrok et al, 2017) and therefore typically emphasizes the severity of and presence of violence in youth crime (Faucher, 2009). Thus, daily newspapers were an ideal source for locating a representative sample of cases of serious youth crime and relevant information, such as group formation and relationships among group members.…”

International Comparison of Manifestations and Tendencies of Latent Juvenile Delinquency in Lithuania

“…Šis išskirtinai įtarus žvilgsnis nukreipiamas į visą šio amžiaus žmonių grupę ir neturi analogo kituose amžiaus tarpsniuose, nors visuotinai žinoma, kad nepilnamečių delinkvencija yra dažnas, visuotinai paplitęs, biologinės ir socialinės brandos procesų sukeliamas, tranzitinis ir sunkiai kontroliuojamas reiškinys (Dollinger ir Schmidt-Semisch, 2011;Reinecke et al, 2013;Dollinger ir Schadbach, 2013). Įdomu tai, kad viešas piktinimasis nepilnamečių delinkvencija, skatinamas ir išskirtinio medijų dėmesio (Ruigrok et al, 2017), taip pat yra universalus, būdingas visoms šalims, nors ir sukelia skirtingus padarinius -jie priklauso nuo įvairių politinių, kultūrinių ir teisinių aplinkybių (Sakalauskas, 2008;Reuband, 2011;Sakalauskas, 2018). Tokiame viešos reakcijos į nepilnamečių delinkvenciją kontekste dažnai formuojamas požiūris, kad mūsų šalies nepilnamečių delinkvencijos problemos neva yra išskirtinės -ar taip yra iš tiesų?…”

“…7 Tokias pačias tendencijas rodo ir ESPAD tyrimas (Rupšienė et al, 2020). 8 Iš HBSC tyrime 2018 m. dalyvavusių šalių šie rodikliai dar mažesni yra tik Azerbaidžane ir Kazachstane (Inchley et al, 2020).…”

Youth- and Crime-Related Political Claims in Comparative Perspective

“…The biased media reporting of youth crime and violence did not just lead to exaggerated fear for (youth) crime among adults, but it also resulted in moves toward more restrictive juvenile justice systems (Benekos & Merlo, 2008;Best, 1999), and has been disempowering young people. Interestingly, however, the majority of studies investigating the overreporting of youth crime in the newspapers also tend to neglect youth actors and only focus on media actors-journalists and editors (Altheide, 2009;Devlin, 2006;Gordon, 2018;Hawdon, Agnich, Wood, & Ryan, 2016;Lepianka, 2015;Ruigrok, van Atteveldt, Gagestein, & Jacobi, 2017). This is in contrast to Cohen's (1972Cohen's ( /2011 ground-breaking study "Folk Devils and Moral Panics," where he looked at the roles of the journalists, politicians, criminal justice officials, as well as youth organizations in fuelling moral panics over British youth subcultures in the media.…”