NCJ Number
179339
Journal
Crime Trend Series Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: February 1998 Pages: 1-11
Date Published
February 1998
Length
11 pages
Annotation
In order to assess the manner in which the media have covered juvenile crime in Hawaii, it was first necessary to establish the actual extent and nature of local juvenile crime.
Abstract
While national juvenile arrests rose by 35 percent between 1987 and 1996, Hawaii only recorded a 9- percent increase. Moreover, when a 91-percent increase in arrests for non-criminal status offenses such as running away and curfew violations was excluded, Hawaii actually experienced an 11-percent decrease in juvenile arrests during the period. Juvenile arrests for serious crimes of violence (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) increased by 60 percent between 1987 and 1996, but these arrests amounted to less than 3 percent of all juvenile arrests. Juvenile arrests for serious property offenses (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) decreased by 26 percent between 1987 and 1996 but increased by 8 percent nationally during the same period. Juvenile arrests for all serious (index) offenses decreased by 21 percent between 1987 and 1996 in Hawaii, compared to 14 percent nationally. To assess media coverage of juvenile crime, an on-line index of newspaper articles maintained by the Hawaii State Public Library System was searched and numerous query strings were run for subject words that appeared likely to yield relevant articles for the 10-year period between 1987 and 1996. Query results showed that the number of juvenile gang articles was about equal to the number of juvenile delinquency articles. Several gang-related stories were duplicated in the juvenile delinquency list, but the reverse condition was entirely absent. Large annual increases in the number of articles about juvenile gangs occurred primarily after 1993; for example, the average number of juvenile gang articles per year for the 1994-1996 period was 2.5 times that for all previous years, while the mean number of juvenile delinquency articles per year for the 1994-1996 period was about 7 times that for all previous years. Editorials, feature stories about agencies and programs, reports of legislative issues, follow-up stories about earlier crimes and incidents, and trial news accounted for a share of the articles. Specific juvenile crime incidents were reported in newspapers about once every 5 days in 1996, while more broad articles about juvenile crime appeared almost every other day. Explanations for the differences between media output and juvenile arrest data are offered, and the influence of the media on public perceptions of juvenile crime is discussed. 36 references, 6 tables, and 2 figures