NCJ Number
100224
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1985) Pages: 491-503
Date Published
1985
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examines whether the presence or absence of victim references in Israeli press reports relates to the offender's sex and analyzes the factors that affect victim portrayals in such press reports.
Abstract
Data were obtained from a systematic survey of all crime reports in Israel's two leading cosmopolitan daily newspapers during 1981 and 1982. A total of 362 crimes committed by females were reported. A randomly selected sample of 362 reported crimes committed by males was used for comparison. Of the 724 reports, 211 referred to the victim. Within these 211 reports, 294 statements mentioned the victim. The reports were cross-classified according to crime type, offender sex, the presence of any victim references, and the favorability of such references. Analysis suggested that the presence of victim references depended more on crime type than offender's sex; however, a significant relationship was found between the offender's sex and the favorability of victim portrayals. There was an overall tendency to describe males' victims in favorable terms. Regarding crime types, when the crime was consistent with sex stereotypes (e.g., when females committed fraud), the offender was presented negatively, but when the offense violated these stereotypes (e.g., a female committed a violent crime), the offender was portrayed sympathetically and the victim negatively. Tabular data and 43 references.