Americans Case

-Americans are exposed to a lot of mass media, which influences the way we think about crime.

-There is a misconception about the depiction of violence in the Media compared to actual incidents of violence.

-Newspaper was the first mass medium to go to for crime news. "penny press"

-The newspapers relied on police reports for story. This was the forerunner of "yellow journalism".

-Even today 4 of 10 people read newspapers (down from 7) and select the police reports as the most news worthy material.

-There are more dramatic depictions of violent crimes in movies, literature, and television.

-Movies use violence to fill a human need and they try to emphasis this feature more than their tv consumers.

-TV Is now the dominant medium of our age. Dramas, talk shows, and comedies established niches of crime for the viewers.

-Crime was the largest single subject matter on television. 4 out of the top 5 tv shows were focused on crime and criminal justice.

-People are obssessed with violence because it speaks to a persons personal safety and social psychological research suggests that "fear appeal increases attention" Fear messages are used in even informericals. People will always pay attention to anything that alerts them to risks. Crime is entertaining.

-More than ¾ of citizens read, head, or watched something about crime on the news. Most citizens get there crime news from Mass Media. We are more likely to hear, watch, or read about a violent event than actually experience it ourselves.

-We need to see the people who suffer from indirect victimization, the most pervasive of which is fear of crime. Most americans form their belief on violence through media potrayals of violence.

-The most widely studied social consequence of crime is fear. Criminologists are focusing more on indirect victims. The "most damaging affect on crime can be fear"

-As sentient and symbolic beings, however, humans have the ability to anticipate or contemplate events that lie in the future or are not immediately apparent.

-Hence, people may experience fear merely in anticipation of possible threats or in reaction to environmental cues (e.g., darkness, litter, graffiti, loud voices) that seem to imply danger.

-Fear is a more immediate threat while Anxiety is something in the future or past.

-Appear most research has been done to capture anxiety and not so much fear.

-Fear is a state that most people try to not pursue much different from pleasure and happiness.

-Yet, fear is an essential survival mechanism. Organisms that lack fear aren't likely to live as long.

-The de facto standard for measuring fear of crime: "Is there anywhere near where you live - that is, within a mile -where you would be afraid to walk alone at night?" This question has been asked by Gallup organization and the NORC to measure fear since the 1960s. During the past 3 decades about 40-50% of people responded back to this question.

-However this form of questioning has been criticized because its limited to nighttime, does not mention crime, and only crudely measures intensity.

-More than 20 years ago, Warr and Stafford decided to ask people about fear about all things not only homicide etc. Surprisingly murder was low on the list yet residential burgularly was quite high.

-Fear is not only associated with the seriousness of the offense. To generate strong fear, an offense must be perceived to be both serious and likely to occur. That is why residential burgularly is the most feared crime instead of homicide which is more serious yet unlikely to occur.

-Darkness is a common cue to danger. Novelty (unfamiliar environment/places) is another cue to danger. Presence of a bystander and companions might alleviate some cues unless these people are known to be "dangerous".

-Warr has found out that young males scare a lot of people and especially a group of young people.

-Signs of incivility These include