Citation

Marsh HL. J. Crim. Justice 1991; 19(1): 67-79.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(91)90083-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Analysis of the literature revealed that constitutional and legal differences between countries had no significant impact on conventional newspaper crime coverage. Research findings in the United States and other countries disclosed four areas in which newspaper crime coverage was essentially the same: there is an over-representation of violent crimes and an under-representation of property crimes; the percentages of violent crimes reported in newspapers do not match official crime statistics; crime coverage presents a false image of the effectiveness of police and courts in controlling crime and punishing criminals; and newspaper coverage fails to educate readers as to causes of crime or how to avoid personal victimization.