NCJ Number
70734
Date Published
1979
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Public attitudes toward crime and the role of the mass media are explored using published surveys.
Abstract
Data in most studies derive from interviews or questionnaires. Public attitudes toward crime may be classified as personal fear or political concern about rising crime rates. Fear is most pronounced among women and the aged. The majority of the Western European population, but especially women, the aged, and the undereducated, consider violence one of the worst problems of the present day. While the fear of sexual attack among young urban women may be founded, fear among middle-aged women and the elderly is out of proportion to the actual risk. Furthermore, personal experience with crime has little to do with attitudes: most individuals form their opinions on the basis of indirect information, usually from the daily press, when coverage of criminal cases is especially thorough. Newspapers cater to the interest in violent crime by selecting certain criminal cases and by presenting them sensationally without an appropriate context. Such reporting has a negative effect on readers: persons who do not read newspapers daily are far more optimistic than those who do. The great interest of women, the aged, and the poorly educated in violent crime is attributed to their limited facility for understanding more complex aspects of current events such as economics or finance. These groups tend to react by limiting their activities to avoid risks and by demanding repressive measures to punish offenders. It is recommended that the government supply the police with the most objective information possible on crime trends and social aspects of crime, on the results of victim surveys, and on social correlations between crime and juvenile delinquency. The government should also conduct public crime education campaigns to provide citizens with objective information on crime. Tables, figures, and notes are supplied. A 46-item bibliography is appended.--in French.