VIOLENT AND NON-VIOLENT CRIME RATE AS REFLECTED BY SOCIAL MEDIA

VIOLENT AND NON-VIOLENT CRIME RATE AS REFLECTED BY SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

Do the local social media reflect the real annual crime rates (90% non-violent crimes and 10% violent crimes) in Canada will be scrutinized. Two local social Medias, CBC news and Globe and Mail, will be used in the study. Each social media will search the crime news and the recent twenty (N=20) crime news will be selected. After identifying which crime news belongs to violent crime or non-violent crimes (by applying Bussa Law definition), the individual proportion of violent crime rates and non-violent crime rates will be calculated. The research question about the coverage of crime news in local media whether reflect the real crime rates will be answered. The implication of this finding will be discussed.

1.0 Introduction

Throughout the case study of Jill Meagher, Sanja Milivojevic and Alyce McGovern reveal the importance of social media and suggest that criminologists should take full advantage of this kind of new information technology (Milivojevic & McGovern, 2014). The growing importance of social media on criminology aspect is recognized by more and more people, like Jeremy Prichard introduces the social media sentiment analysis (SMSA) might be used as a future empirical tool to measure the public opinions and attitudes to crimes (Milivojevic & McGovern, 2014), and Perin Michelle points out that social media is beneficial in reducing crime rates (Perin, 2017). The association between social media and crime becomes stronger with the development of social media technology. From the traditional social media (radio and newspaper) to the current social media (telephone and computer), the role of an audience’s engagement with crime has changed from a “passive audience” to a “proactive participant” (Prichard, Watters, Krone, Spiranovic & Cockburn, 2015). Although the social media is important in the contribution toward criminology studies, whether the social media reflects the real proportion of crime rates has to be considered. If the local social media reports the crime news based on their severity, then local social media will tend to report more violent crimes rather than non-violent crimes. The second hypothesis is that the local social media exactly reflect each crime events. The third hypothesis is that the local social media report crime news by its free will (Surette, 2015).

2.0 Literature review

In Canada, there are a total of 95 daily newspapers; and the Crime coverage in the media has been ranked fourth of all the stories covered in both newspapers and the televisions after the sports, business and general interest highlights, an over-representation of the authentic criminal activities occurring. From the statistics, over 50% of the total crime reported in a number of Canadian media deals with the offences which involve violence but the offences which involve violence are less than 6% of all the reported offences. And from such an analysis, the public is likely to belief that the crime rates are on rise (Garofalo, 2011). For instance, the homicide rates in Canada are relatively low but receive much media attention even under such rates. On the other hand, roughly 600 Canadians are killed every year but because murder cases have remained as relatively rare events in the society, they rarely attract the media attention. And so while homicide cases are less than 1% of all crimes that are committed in Canada, they have been receiving much of the media attention than any other.

Media has always maintained its focus on the highlights that are unique, extreme, and sensational and with the potential of impacting a great number of people. For the highlights related to criminal activities, the media focus has always been on the events which have occurred in a number of times, for example the assaults and break-ins in a certain area, or whose chances of taking place are very minimal (Garofalo, 2011). Like the homicides which are facilitated by young people have always been on the front pages and lure people to believe youth violence is increasing at high rates despite of being very rare, just because they are rare, shocking and unique. They end up dominating the headlines for days, weeks and even years, thereby presenting a distorted view to the general public on how common these crimes are.

While giving more attention to sensational and the violent crimes, the media tend to ignore the common crimes that affect common people significantly, such as the rare instances of auto thefts or break-ins. The media has also not been keen on covering sexual assaults and partner conflict cases, which are the common crimes that affect women and children and main focus of victim service provision agencies in Canada (Garofalo, 2011).

3.0 Research Methodology

3.1 Design

Two local social media, CBC news and Globe and Mail, will be used to select research samples based on its convenience. CBC news and Globe and Mail could easily be googled on any web browsers. To achieve that, in each of these media’s official website one supposed to search crimes. The top 20 recent crime news (N=20) would be selected as our sample. Then, we will group the crime news as either violent crimes or non-violent crimes by applying Bussa Law definition.

3.2 Material

The article of “the difference between violent and non-violent crimes” posted on Bussa Law will be used as the guidelines (Beckles, 2017). “The difference between the two is evident in definition, severity and sentences. Non-violent crimes are defined as a crime where no injury or force is used on another person. Non-violent crimes are often measured in terms of loss to the victim or economic damage. Non-violent crimes are most often some type of theft or larceny” (Beckles, 2017).

3.3 Calculation

After knowing the number of violent crimes and non-violent crimes, we will be able to calculate the violent and non-violent crime rates on each local social media. Letting X = the number of Violent Crimes, Y = the number of Non-violent Crimes. The violent crime rates will be X divided by (X + Y), the non-violent crime rate will be (1 – Violent Crime rates). Both social Medias reports on violent and non-violent crimes rates would be calculated by applying the above formulas.

4.0 Result

The results of calculation will fall into three categories. The first category is that both local social Medias reports higher violent crime rates and lower non-violent crime rates. For example, both social Medias show about 40 percent violent crime rather than 10 percent. The second category is that the result of each type crime rates on the local social Medias are similar to crime statistic reports. The third category includes all the results that not fall into the first and the second categories. For instance, CBC news might have the higher violent crime rate, but Globe and Mail might have the lower violent crime rate; Or in another situation that both social medias have a lower violent crime rate; Or CBC news that get the violent crime rates close to 10% but Globe and Mail might get a larger or smaller violent crime rates

5.0 Discussion

If the result is showed in the first category, then the first hypothesis would be proved; if the result falls into the second category, apparently, the social media exactly reflect the crime statistics; if the results fall into the third category, more attentions would be demanded to explain what data reflects. Because the sample size is small and only two social Medias are used in the study based on the convenience. The limitation of this study could be reduced by include more social medias and a larger sample size.

After summarizing the results, the implication of the result would be discussed. At the end, discussing what kind of further studies should be conducted in the future.

6.0 Reference

Beckles, H. M. (2017). King Cuffee’s Stool, General Bussa’s Horse and Barrow’s Plane: The       Struggle for a ‘Just Society’in Barbados. Caribbean Quarterly, 63(1), 7-28.

Garofalo, J. (2011). NCCD research review: Crime and the mass media: A selective review of      research. Journal of research in crime and delinquency, 18(2), 319-350.

Milivojevic, S., & McGovern, A. (2014). The Death of Jill Meagher: Crime and Punishment on     Social Media. International Journal For Crime, Justice & Social Democracy, 3(3), 22-39.             doi:10.5204/ijcjsd.v3i2.144

Perin, M. (2017). Engage in Social Media for Overall Crime Prevention: Social media helps           agencies connect with their communities and in some cases has aided in reducing       crime. Law Enforcement Technology, 44(11), 14-18.

Prichard, J., Watters, P., Krone, T., Spiranovic, C., & Cockburn, H. (2015). Social Media Sentiment Analysis: A New Empirical Tool for Assessing Public Opinion on           Crime?. Current Issues In Criminal Justice, 27(2), 217-236.

Surette, R. (2015). Performance Crime and Justice. Current Issues In Criminal Justice, 27(2),        195-216.