Globalisation

• Held suggested that there has been a globalisation of crime. There has been an increasing amount of interconnectedness of crime across national borders. This has led to the spread of transnational organised crime, there are new means of committing crime.
• Castells argues that there is now a global criminal economy with:

  • Trafficking of women
  • Drugs
  • Cyber crime
  • Green crime
  • Smuggling
• Crimes on the rise due to globalisation:

  • Money lawndering = the ability to 'clean' money gained through illegal profits
  • Intellectual property rights = theft of trade secrets and patient infringements (many include illegal manufacture of goods)
  • Piracy = the unauthorized reproduction of another companies work
• Crimes on the rise due to globalisation:

  • Financial fraud = someone poses as another person so gains access to government funds
  • Bribery and corruption = contracts like for buildings
  • Environmental crimes = dumping hazardous waste, illegal extraction of natural resources
  • Cyper-crime = crime using computers or the internet such as the spread of child pornography
  • Terrorism
• Beck talked about how globalisation has impacted crime. He thought that globalisation creates new insecurities. It produces 'risk consciousness' meaning that risk is now seen as a global issue rather than local. For instance, increased amounts of immigrants has led to a rise in anxieties, much of this is fueled by the media because stories are exaggerated.
• Taylor talked about how globalisation has impacted crime. He argued that globalisation has led to greater inequalities and rising crime at both ends of the social hierarchy. Companies now run in low-wage countries which further widens inequalities. The ruling class are now more likely to commit crimes on grand scales.
• The strengths of sociologists looking at how globalisation has impacted crime:

  • It is valuable as it focuses on the newest forms of crime
  • Up to date with society
• Media is linked to crime because it shows a keen interest in crime, crime is heavily influenced by the media representations.
• Pluralist sociologists that looked at how crime is linked to the media: Galtung and Ruge, Cohen and McRobbie
• Cohen studied 'mods and rockers' and how the media built the two groups up into moral panics.

  • The public was then more likely to view these groups as troublemakers.
  • They were demonized and made into folk devils.
  • This led to young people putting themselves into either of the groups and led to increased amounts of violence.
  • These moral panics can die down quickly but they can also be linked to deep-seated fears in society.
• Mcrobbie argued that moral panics are outdated and that due to new media they don't exist. There is no single view due to there being so many different opinions on the internet so moral panics aren't as common. There is not a single idea of what is 'bad.'
• Left realists say that people's fear of crime is shaped by the media, the image of crime presented by the media is distorted. They argue that the media is distorted, it exaggerates police success, overrepresents violent crimes, overplay murders and over represents certain groups as criminals
• Lea and Young (left realists) argued that crimes like underage drinking is too focused on but other crimes like sexual harassment are ignored
• Distortions:

  • Homicide - over reported on and whether they are reported is shaped by the specifics of it such as the motives or the victim
  • Elder abuse - largely ignored
  • Missing people - 'missing white woman syndrome' when women go missing it is exaggerated and over focused on. The media favours the middle class
  • Sex crimes - Soothill and Walby argued that sex crimes are more reported now. Rapists are shown as psychopaths.
• Distortions:

  • Black community - the media plays up the image and threat of black offenders but ignores the fact that these groups are more likely to be victims than white people
• Galtung and Ruge's news values:

  • Dramatization - is it interesting
  • Personalization - can people relate it to themselves
  • Elite
  • Simplification - clear
  • shocking/unexpectedness
  • Violence
  • risk
  • Immediacy - is it happening now
• The media can cause crime through:

  • Imitation - the media provides 'role models' for criminals and people copy what they see
  • Glamourizing
  • Criminal techniques being transmitted to people
  • Desires for expensive goods - through ads
  • Desensitization
• Lea and Young argued that the media increases the sense of deprivation among poor and marginalized groups. TV presents images of materialistic 'good lives' as something that people need to conform to.
• The strengths of the view that media is a cause of crime:

  • Draws attention to how audiences views of crime are influences by portrayals in the media
  • Looks at how news values influences how crime is reported
  • Shows that media coverage can cause crime
• The weaknesses of the view that the media is a cause of crime:

  • Lack of evidence to support the hypodermic syringe model
  • People can choose what media to consume (pluralists)
  • There are positive effects of crime, it may make people report crime