-How would we go about changing our perception of crime? Would we be able to at all?
-Could a shift in media coverage increase our awareness of what is reality rather than what we fear?
-How do television shows play into our perception of crime?
-So if prison doesn't work, what could we do that would?
-Over 80% of the people in prison are there for drugs, what would happen if we released them? Would the people of the American be supportive if they knew the benefits?
-Going back to the basics, why do we focus on lower class crimes? Is it because they are more appealing to watch? Maybe the 4 conglomerates that own most of the news stations have something to do with it. Would they screen what we view to keep their reputation?
-Why is it that we enjoy watching the news, even with the tragedies and disasters? Do you agree with Dirkheim's 'moral workout?'
-Does pushing others out make us feel connected? Do we create others to help us feel normal?
-I think that changing our perception of crime would be extremely difficult. It has been viewed as what is wrong with our society for so long that trying to get people to change their minds about crime and how crime should be handle would be hard, if at all possible.
ReplyDelete-Media coverage constantly displays the violence and crime that is going on in our society and I think that if the media were to somehow shift their coverage to cover less of the violent/criminal behaviors that are going on and focus on other things as well, we would all feel that society isn't just violence and crime. If they also made a point to include stats or some kind of reinforcement to the public that these behaviors aren't common, everyday occurrences, this may help what we fear vs reality.
-Television shows play into our perception of crime in every way. TV shows such as CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Law and Order, etc. are constantly about criminals and some of the worst offenses that a criminal could commit (i.e. murder, rape). If this is so common on television and we are viewing these TV shows than we are going to get a distorted view of our own reality. We may become more cautious of people that are like the people depicted on the shows or avoid situations like the ones covered.
-Prison is not working and I feel that with our resources we could do something better to help financially, help the government and help the criminals become a productive member of society again. I think the idea of having a place where criminals can be sent where they have idependence (within this area), jobs, counselling, rehab and where they can start to contribute to society again may help them WANT to change their ways. Something like what they did overseas with the island (in our reading) would be a great idea.
-I do not think that American people would be supportive of us releasing the people in prison for drugs. Even if they knew the benefits, most people would assume that drugs rates would sky-rocket, that there children will be at a higher risk in their society, that drug-related violence would sky-rocket, etc. and they would not listen to the facts.
-I think that it is easier to target the lower-class crimes. They can't defend themselves and crimes in the lower classes are way more "common". I absolutely think that the 4 conglomerates that own most news stations screen what kind of news that we see. Despite the fact that a major criminal act may be going down in the upper class, if it will change the public's outlook on them, they will not let it be seen. Money matters.
-Durkheim feels that crime is normal and necessary for our society and that everyone in the public needs a moral workout from the news. I do agree that people watch the news to be informed of the rights and wrongs occurring in our society. The bad news brings our community together and allows us to feel better about ourselves.
-Pushing others out can make us feel connected as a society. By excluding the "criminal" and agreeing that what he/she did was wrong, the society can come together as a whole and create community togetherness. A great example of this is that a sexual predator was living in my neighborhood and the community found out. They made him feel like an outsider and pushed him away. By excluding him the whole society came together and felt connected on this issue. Also, I do think that we create others to make ourselves feel better because crimes are socially constructed. We write down what is right and wrong and we make those people feel like outsiders, which in turn makes us feel better about ourselves.
-I think it is nearly impossible to change our perception of crime. A change would require complete reconstruction of our society. Laws would have to change so that crimes would change. For example, if pollution would be seen as a crime, then people would have to be punished for littering or not recycling. Also, all crimes, regardless of who committed them, would be punished. White collar crimes would be on the same level as robbery committed by a minority. The media would have a huge effect on changing our perception of crime. TV shows would show less violence and less crime. If crime were to be on TV, it would have to show something that really occurred, not an example of something that was based on an urban legend or something that was extremely unlikely. Crime would have to take on an image of fairness and the law would have to represent justice.
ReplyDelete-Definitely. Media in general should focus on the real dangers. For example, the news should focus on the dangers of driving a car, not the chance of finding poisoned Halloween Candy or a murderer in the back of your car. I know that I see TV shows and even horror movies that make me fear things that are highly unlikely. I think that if media took the challenge to show what dangers are really out there, people would become less paranoid and less fearful of the things that are currently shown as “dangerous.”
-TV is the basis for our perception of crime. Especially for people who live in low crime areas, like me for example, crime is based on what you see on TV and not what is happening outside. My town doesn’t really have history of significant crimes. The crime I have seen include smoking marijuana, underage drinking, stealing from mini-marts, and the occasional break-ins. After watching Law&Order, Cops, and Dog the Bounty Hunter, I started to formulate an idea of what crime really is. However, my perception doesn’t mimic reality. People like me have the same naivety. They believe that what they see on TV is what happens in the real world. Sometimes that may be true, but usually it’s not.
-I think that rehabilitation programs and/or therapy should be mandatory for all criminals. If they are recovering drug addicts or alcoholics, or even murderers, they should be actively trying to solve their problems. Locking people away only gives society a break from these potentially dangerous people. If our government spent the money to help these criminals rather than harm them more by keeping them locked up in a cell, maybe there would be less crime. Reoccurring crime may also decrease.
-I really like this question because recently, Massachusetts passed a law that decriminalizes a small about of marijuana. I voted in favor of this because I feel like by punishing people for smoking pot only makes the problem worse. If people are able to smoke and it not be illegal, maybe they will get over it. The human race loves to rebel. So maybe if the laws change, people will no longer want to rebel. I think most Americans would be angry if people were released from jail. I think that people think these people are dangerous and all hell will break loose if they are released. However, I highly doubt that will happen. I think that the drug users will either move past drugs or eventually become such bad abusers that they will die earlier. However, it’s not like releasing all the mass murderers from jail. These people are drug users and aren’t seen as extremely dangerous in my eyes.
-I definitely think lower class crimes are more appealing to watch. People like to watch people who are unlike them get in trouble. It makes for good TV. Most people could careless about Paris Hilton’s crime. I know I would much rather watch a good episode of Law&Order instead of watching the news that focuses on Paris’s issues. The 4 conglomerates would become extremely unpopular if they focused on white collar crimes or crimes that “insiders” commit. I also think that people like to watch gory stories abut rape and murder, not fraud.
-I think changing our perception of crime would be a long and slow process, but a possible one. Over time we would have to start using the media to display facts instead of interests. This means all media, not just TV, the newspapers, magazines, etc. Also we would have to change some of the laws to fit the actual severity of the crimes instead of their perceived dangerousness. The law enforcement agencies need to stop reacting to what is portrayed as an increase in crime prevalence and what is actually happening. We need to look into more effective ways of preventing and deterring crime besides prisons because the truth is they do not work as good as we think. Sending people to prison seems like an easy fix but one that doesn't actually help.
ReplyDelete-I do believe that if the media shifted from portraying stories on the interesting and rare crimes to the ones that we are in most danger of experiencing this would increase public awareness as to what is really going on. The media could be used as a database that people could rely on to bring them the reality instead of just a instigator for panic and worry over phenomenons that rarely occur.
-TV shows play into our perception of crime because they make what the media portrays as an increase in minority crime rate, for example,seem real and possible by playing out those roles. TV shows enhance what the news is portraying by having Black men act as killers, Hispanics as gang leaders, and Italians as mobsters; all of which are uncommon in reality. The TV shows play off of the media an increase the worry and panic about crimes that are rare and disregard the crimes that happen everyday that people should watch out for.
-Prison clearly doesn't work. I think instead we need to teach the felons and criminals how to live and survive a life without crime. They should be sentenced to a prison of some sort but one that gives them an education and job training, a way to get by in life without having to resort to illegitimate means. Then when they were released they would have no reason to not be able to survive and they would have no reason to return to a life of crime. Now when a prisoner is released it is near impossible to rent an apartment alone or get a job to rent an apartment period, making returning to a life of crime their only means of survival. Whatever we do to change that process will help.
-I do not think that the American people would be supportive. We could tell them all the facts but they would be flooded with media images and stories about rare cases that kids are at higher risks of drug abuse. These scary ideas would take precedence over the facts that science is saying that this isn't going to happen. It feels safer to believe that you are protecting yourself even if you don't have to rather than you are not protecting yourself when maybe you should.
-I believe that we focus on lower class crimes for a number of reasons. One, probably the biggest, would be that the people who own the news and TV stations are of the higher class and in correspondence with the owners and CEO's of a number of the bigger business that may commit blue collar crimes. Another reason may be because they are rare and usually violent. This makes them scary and dangerous so people feel they need to know about them to protect themselves. Also the media makes a lot of money off of the interesting stories about lower class, gruesome and violent crimes based on families that turn on each other.
-I agree with Durkheim's moral workout. I do believe that people need to view the rights and wrongs of society. It not only brings communities, states, or nations together in times of need but it also informs us of what we need to work on. It allows us a chance to not allow history to repeat itself and learn from past mistakes. Also it gives people something to compare themselves against, kind of a baseline of society.
-I believe that pushing out others does make some feel more connected. It is because of this active push out of those deviants that there is a group to begin with. If we never pushed out those others there would never be an in-group. People need to feel part of a group as part of surviving so without that in-group there would be chaos in an every man for himself kind of world. Having pushed out the others, the deviants, we create a group that can work together to protect each other but still remain unique enough.