Media and Crime

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The bestselling Media and Crime returns with a fully revised and updated new edition. Established in the field as the market leader, the book explores the complex interactions between media and crime from a critical and authoritative standpoint.

Retaining and updating coverage of the core issues in the subject: news reporting of crime; media constructions of children and women; moral panics; media and the police; ′reality′ crime shows; surveillance and social control, the book now also includes:

- additional chapters on cybercrime and crime film

- updated content on new media including mobile, Internet and digital technologies, and social networking sites

- discussions on how to research media and crime

- fully updated references and student-friendly features - including discussion questions, further reading and glossary.

Its lucid and engaging style, thought-provoking content and panoramic coverage of key debates and issues make this the text on media and crime. Essential reading for students in criminology, media studies, cultural studies and sociology, academics and researchers.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 Theorizing Media and Crime (p. 7)
• Media 'effects' (p. 10)
• Mass society theory (p. 11)
• Behaviourism and positivism (p. 12)
• The legacy of 'effects' research (p. 15)
• Strain theory and anomie (p. 17)
• Marxism, critical criminology and the 'dominant ideology' approach (p. 19)
• The legacy of Marxism: critical criminology and corporate crime (p. 23)
• Pluralism, competition and ideological struggle (p. 24)
• Realism and reception analysis (p. 27)
• Late-modernity and postmodernism (p. 29)
• Cultural criminology (p. 32)
• Summary (p. 35)
• Study questions (p. 37)
• Further reading (p. 37)
• 2 The Construction of Crime News (p. 39)
• News values for a new millennium (p. 45)
• Threshold (p. 45)
• Predictability (p. 46)
• Simplification (p. 47)
• Individualism (p. 49)
• Risk (p. 50)
• Sex (p. 51)
• Celebrity or high-status persons (p. 53)
• Proximity (p. 54)
• Violence or conflict (p. 58)
• Visual spectacle and graphic imagery (p. 59)
• Children (p. 60)
• Conservative ideology and political diversion (p. 62)
• The disappearance of Madeleine McCann: a newsworthy story par excellence (p. 64)
• News production and consumption in a digital global marketplace: the rise of the citizen journalist (p. 65)
• News values and crime news production: some concluding thoughts (p. 69)
• Summary (p. 70)
• Study questions (p. 71)
• Further reading (p. 71)
• 3 Media and Moral Panics (p. 73)
• The background to the moral panic model (p. 76)
• How the mass media turn the ordinary into the extraordinary (p. 77)
• The role of the authorities in the deviancy amplification process (p. 78)
• Defining moral boundaries and creating consensus (p. 80)
• Rapid social change - risk (p. 82)
• Youth (p. 84)
• Problems with the moral panic model (p. 85)
• A problem with 'deviance' (p. 86)
• A problem with 'morality' (p. 87)
• Problems with 'youth' and 'style' (p. 88)
• A problem with 'risk' (p. 90)
• A problem of 'source' (p. 91)
• A problem with 'audience' (p. 92)
• The longevity and legacy of the moral panic model: some concluding thoughts (p. 95)
• Summary (p. 97)
• Study questions (p. 98)
• Further reading (p. 99)
• 4 Media Constructions of Children: 'Evil Monsters' and 'Tragic Victims' (p. 101)
• 1993 - Children as 'evil monsters' (p. 103)
• 1996 - Children as 'tragic victims' (p. 108)
• Guilt, collusion and voyeurism (p. 112)
• Moral panics and the revival of 'community': some concluding thoughts (p. 115)
• Summary (p. 118)
• Study questions (p. 119)
• Further reading (p. 119)
• 5 Media Misogyny: Monstrous Women (p. 121)
• Psychoanalytic perspectives (p. 123)
• Feminist perspectives (p. 125)
• Sexuality and sexual deviance (p. 127)
• Physical attractiveness (p. 132)
• Bad wives (p. 133)
• Bad mothers (p. 135)
• Mythical monsters (p. 137)
• Mad cows (p. 140)
• Evil manipulators (p. 142)
• Non-agents (p. 144)
• Honourable fathers vs. monstrous mothers: some concluding thoughts (p. 146)
• Summary (p. 151)
• Study questions (p. 152)
• Further reading (p. 152)
• 6 Police, Offenders and Victims in the Media (p. 153)
• The mass media and fear of crime (p. 155)
• The role of the police (p. 160)
• Crimewatch UK (p. 167)
• Crimewatching victims (p. 171)
• Crimewatching offenders (p. 173)
• Crimewatching the police (p. 174)
• Crimewatching crime: some concluding thoughts (p. 176)
• Summary (p. 177)
• Study questions (p. 178)
• Further reading (p. 178)
• 7 Crime Films and Prison Films (p. 181)
• The appeal of crime films (p. 183)
• The crime film: masculinity, autonomy, the city (p. 185)
• The 'Prison Film' (p. 190)
• The prison film and the power to reform? (p. 191)
• The Documentary (p. 193)
• Documentary as Ethnography (p. 194)
• The remake (p. 198)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and The Taking of Pelham 123 (p. 199)
• Discussion (p. 203)
• Concluding Thoughts (p. 205)
• Summary (p. 206)
• Study questions (p. 207)
• Further reading (p. 207)
• 8 Crime and the Surveillance Culture (p. 209)
• Panopticism (p. 211)
• The surveillant assemblage (p. 212)
• Control of the body (p. 214)
• Governance and governmentality (p. 216)
• Security and cybersurveillance (p. 218)
• Profit (p. 222)
• Voyeurism and entertainment (p. 225)
• From the panopticon to surveillant assemblage and back again (p. 228)
• 'Big Brother' or 'Brave New World'?: some concluding thoughts (p. 229)
• Summary (p. 234)
• Study questions (p. 234)
• Further reading (p. 235)
• 9 The role of the Internet in crime and deviance (p. 237)
• Redefining deviance and democratization: developing nations and the case of China (p. 240)
• Cyber-warfare and cyber-terrorism (p. 243)
• 'Ordinary' cybercrimes (p. 245)
• Electronic theft and abuse of intellectual property rights (p. 245)
• Hate crime (p. 246)
• Invasion of privacy, defamation and identity theft (p. 248)
• eBay Fraud (p. 250)
• Hacking and loss of sensitive data (p. 251)
• Child pornography and online grooming (p. 253)
• Childhood, cyberspace and social retreat (p. 254)
• Concluding thoughts (p. 257)
• Summary (p. 258)
• Study questions (p. 259)
• Further reading (p. 259)
• 10 (Re)Conceptualizing the Relationship between Media and Crime (p. 261)
• Doing media-crime research (p. 262)
• Stigmatization, sentimentalization and sanctification: the 'othering' of victims and offenders (p. 266)
• Summary (p. 273)
• Study questions (p. 274)
• Further reading (p. 274)
• Glossary (p. 277)
• References (p. 291)
• Index (p. 306)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Though they are independent disciplines, criminology and media studies have significant overlap. Jewkes (criminology, Univ. of Leicester, UK) begins this ambitious examination by looking at efforts to understand and theorize the interaction of crime and media, including the often uncritically accepted suggestion that media consumption is inherently negative. The impacts of media range from the consumer's presumed susceptibility to external influences, to the power of media to inject values and beliefs contrary to those taught through work, family, and religion, to the media's power (and apparent desire) to define and reinforce an "us versus them" mentality. The binary thinking inherent in these perceptions is a major theme throughout, as Jewkes discusses the power of the media to construct crime (corporate and street), gender, children, police, prisons, and other social institutions. The term "media" is widely defined, and the book extends to an examination of the influence of technology and the Internet and of cybercrime, voyeurism, and the impact of increased surveillance. Encouraging a deeper examination of the issues, Jewkes concludes with a discussion of the challenges of doing media/crime research. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers. K. Mentor University of North Carolina Pembroke