Depicting offenders seminar by

nfitchett3 — 2024-10-24 00:05:00 UTC

Explore how media portrayal of minority offenders influences public perception of criminality

nfitchett3 — 2024-10-24 00:11:18 UTC

•What assumptions underlie our ideas of who offenders are?

•Where do these ideas come from?

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•How can sociological theories help to understand minority offending?

2024-10-24 09:24:01 UTC

our ideas of who offenders are comes from things that are exposed to us from the media as well as stereotypes that have passed down to us about certain people. for example most would share the idea that a group of teenagers (mostly boys) cause trouble, leading to actions such as shopkeepers to not let a big group of secondary school students to go inside the shop at once.

2024-10-24 09:29:10 UTC

The media pushed negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities for example that young black and Latina men are involved in gangs. This results in people fearing minorities believing they are trouble makers and grouping every young black or Latina man as a gang member that means to do them harm, which is made worse by the media’s over reports on knife crime which they blame male teens.

2024-10-24 09:35:50 UTC

2) According to the article, how are certain crimes - or offenders - coded? Give examples

Crimes and their perpetrators are perceived to be racially coded as Gilliam et al 2002 outlined. This manner of coding is provocative for example, Pager (2007) conducted an employment study finding that despite criminal record race also played an independent element in the hiring likeliness. This explanation is also applied to meta narrative geographical generalisations. For example, Girling et al’s (2000) argument concurs concurrently with my own that blame is placed on outsiders who move in. They noted that a neighbourhood declines in Chicago saw residents blaming the newly adjusted residents who were of black or Hispanic origin. The danger of portraying a racial juxtaposition within communities is that a rise in violence may occur coupled with hatred and discrimination as Suttles 1972 argued deemed as ‘defence’.

2024-10-24 09:40:31 UTC

Question 1

It highlights the importance of crime as being a social construction that will vary across places, and can even explain life in particular neighbourhoods. There may be a certain sense of danger or fear based on areas that have been culturally constructed in a certain way - for example, narratives spun about post-Katrina New Orleans running rampant with looters and thieves has led to a well-known fear of being mugged in that specific city.

2024-10-24 09:42:23 UTC

4) A common theme in urban hub is how the community is portrayed by the media and, by extension, seen by outsiders. The participants observed and meetings are made very aware of the perception of their community as neglected, poor and violent community of colour. Therefore, the media is not showing some of the real reasons why crime may have occurred. The media influence their perceptions by picking on the ethnic backgrounds so people mainly see that and it gets perceived by community and public that it is. More predominantly in those ethnic groups.

2024-10-24 09:47:18 UTC

The media would depict a 'typical'offender by highlighting incidents of crime in urban areas. According to Chiricos et al., 1997; Gilliam and Iyengar, 2000; this links to poor neighbourhoods often black and latino/ male offenders.

This media coverage shapes commonly understood narratives about crime, building the idea of a 'typical' offender.