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4 NOVEMBER 2009
NO 1509
The media and youth crime
The role of the media in bringing news of social issues to the attention of the public is extremely influential within western European society. This has been recognised by authors such as Parton (1985) and Franklin (1991). They put forward the view that the media has a central role in:
...Mediating information and forming public opinion. The media tells people about what they do not directly experience and renders otherwise remote happenings observable and meaningful. (Parton 1985 p. 85)
Parton went on to comment:
However, because the media is presenting events which happen outside most people's experience, it not only defines what are significant events but, implicitly, how these may be interpreted. (Parton 1985 p. 88)
Links have been noted between the impact of the reporting of serious or persistent youth crime by the mass media in the U.K. and changes to Social Policy, legislation and the use of custody for young people (Home Office, 1997). One rare case, noted by the Home Office (1997), had a profound effect on the media's reporting of Youth Crime. In early 1993 James Bulger, a young child from Liverpool, was murdered by two 10-year-old children. The media reporting of the offence, in particular the tabloid press resulted in the demonisation of the two boys. This response also led to a series of national and local stories about spider boys and rat boys.
These stories gave the impression that there are large numbers of children and young people offending seriously, persistently and with impunity. When in fact the Government's own figures were showing a reduction in reported crime by young people. This over representation of a small number of cases as reflecting the general trends of youth crime since 1993 coincided with an increase in the use of custodial remands a custodial sentences by the Courts as a response to young people alleged or convicted of offending. The increase in sensationalist or unrepresentational reporting of youth crime and the use of custody for young people was followed by changes to policy and legislation in 1993 and 1994. The Criminal Justice Act (1991) was amended by the Criminal Justice Acts of 1993 and 1994 which gave Youth Courts the power to incarcerate children and young people aged 12 – 14.
KEITH MUNRO
Munro, K. (2000). Research for change: Young people,
youth crime and the use of custody in Teesside. Irish Journal of
Applied Social Studies, 2,3. pp. 122-123.
REFERENCES
Franklin, B. and Parton, N. (1991) Social Work, The Media & Public Relations. Routledge.
Home Office (1997) No More Excuses – A New Approach to Youth Crime in England and Wales. London: HMSO.
Parton N. (1985). The Politics of Child Abuse.
London: MacMillan.
