Citation

Humphries D. Crime Delinq. 1981; 27(2): 191-205.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/001112878102700202

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This exploratory study of the coverage of serious crime by the New York Post is based on routine crime stories (n = 126) taken from newspapers published in 1951 and 1968. There was an increase in stories about lethal violence. In both years reporters frequently described offenders in terms of age, gender, racial membership, and employment status, and used these descriptions to situate individuals within the social world. Often, the mode of explanation used implied that male youths, nonwhites, and under- or unemployed persons were members of illegitimate social categories. These descriptions, however, included no information that would place violence and serious offenders in the structural or historical context of the postwar period. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for an understanding of the ideological con tent of crime news.