NCJ Number
139228
Journal
Sociological Spectrum Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1992) Pages: 293-313
Date Published
1992
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Recent increases in the sales of crime-related commodities including burglar alarms, private security forces, and crime- related television news programs, are examined in relation to the moderate fluctuations in national crime rates.
Abstract
The author maintains that this capitalist society was able to covert Americans' fascination with crime, depictions of criminals, and target-hardening devices into commodities for buying and selling. Commodification of crime is a process in which profits are extracted from exploited workers who produce these goods, which are essentially useless during this period of stability in crime. Research has indicated that the mass media consistently feature particularly violent crimes without information regarding annual rates or other offense characteristics, groundlessly fueling public fear of crime and misconceptions about the frequency of violent crime. Individuals who watch television crime and news programs are most likely to distort the reality of violent crime. Studies have noted a relationship between viewing television crime and viewers' perceptions of criminals as being deviant and deserving of punishment including capital punishment. This author also contends that these viewers are more likely to invest in crime- prevention commodities than non-viewers. The commodification process, according to the analysis put forth here, is a result of the compulsory competition engendered by a capitalist system in which commodity production creates, rather than serves, consumer needs. In this system, even crime and its control can be coverted into a commodity. The author maintains that one particular commodity, television crime programs, produce profits while also exploiting the workers producing the programs and alienating the underclass, because most crimes portrayed on these programs are committed by poor, inner city, minority males. He concludes that recent increases in crime-related commodities are related not only to the logic of capital but also to dominant American cultural values including competition, personal success, intolerance of criminals and poor people, and beliefs about punishment for crime. 3 tables, 7 notes, and 78 references