The media and crime | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: Aug 28
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 70 to 80 minutes
The media do more than report crime. They select which offences receive attention, construct representations of offenders and victims, and may even influence offending and criminal justice responses. This The media and crime A-Level Sociology revision page examines distorted representations of crime, moral panics, labelling, copycat behaviour, desensitisation, consumerism and new media. It builds on changing patterns of crime [Recent patterns and trends in crime] and shows how media representations can interact with social control [Social order and social control], policing and recorded crime. AQA specifically includes "the media and crime" within compulsory Crime and Deviance content.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain relationships between media representations and crime.
Describe ways in which media representations of crime may differ from other evidence about offending.
Explain how stereotyping, labelling and moral panics may affect crime and criminalisation.
Analyse ways in which media content may contribute to offending.
Explain how new media may create new opportunities and forms of crime.
Evaluate the sociological significance of media representations of crime.
Revision Notes 📚
The media and crime A-Level Sociology revision
AQA requires students to be familiar with sociological explanations of the media and crime as part of Crime and Deviance. The topic should also be linked to the course-wide themes of socialisation, culture and identity, and social differentiation, power and stratification.
The media-crime relationship can be divided into three main questions:
How does the media represent crime?
Can media representations influence crime and criminalisation?
What is the sociological significance of those representations?
These questions are connected, but they are not identical.
For example, showing that the media exaggerates violent crime is evidence about representation. Explaining that media stereotyping may increase police targeting is an argument about the effects of representation.
Keeping these distinctions clear is very useful in examinations.
Media representations are selective
The media cannot report every offence, offender or victim.
Media representations therefore involve selection. Some crimes, people and outcomes receive more attention than others.
AQA's specimen and 2020 mark schemes provide direct evidence that media representations may not reflect the broader pattern of crime shown in official statistics or victim surveys.This is sociologically important because people's understanding of crime may be influenced by what receives media attention rather than by direct knowledge of the full distribution of offending.
Representation does not mean a direct reflection of reality
A media representation is the way something is presented or portrayed through media content.
When sociologists say crime is represented by the media, they are not assuming that news and other media simply reproduce crime exactly as it occurs.
Instead, representations can involve:
selecting some offences for greater attention;
giving less attention to others;
presenting offenders in particular ways;
presenting victims in particular ways;
exaggerating or minimising aspects of crime.
AQA has assessed this distinction directly.
Over-representation of violent and sexual crime
AQA's specimen and 2020 mark schemes identify the over-representation of violent and sexual crime as one way media representations can provide a distorted picture.The argument is not that these crimes do not happen.
It is that they may receive greater media attention relative to their occurrence in other crime evidence.
This can affect perceptions of what a "typical" crime looks like.
If audiences repeatedly encounter dramatic offences, they may form a picture of crime that differs from the pattern found in broader statistical evidence.
This links directly to crime patterns and evidence [Recent patterns and trends in crime].
Under-representation of property crime
The 2020 AQA mark scheme contrasts this with the under-reporting of property crime within media representations, despite property offences forming a substantial part of crime reported to the police and found in victim-survey evidence.
The important comparison is:
some dramatic crimes receive disproportionately high media attention
while
some more common crimes may receive proportionately less attention
This means media content is not the same thing as a statistical sample of all crime.
Why this distinction matters
Imagine a student writes:
"The media show lots of violent crime."
That is descriptive.
A stronger sociological point is:
The media may over-represent violent and sexual crime compared with their occurrence in other evidence, creating a distorted picture of the distribution of crime.
The second answer makes the required comparison.
Romanticising offenders
The specimen mark scheme also recognises romanticising the criminal as a form of distortion. It gives the example of offenders being presented as daring or clever.
This is important because representation can affect not only how much crime people think occurs, but also how offenders themselves are understood.
Offenders might be represented as:
glamorous;
clever;
daring;
exciting.
Such representations are sociologically significant because AQA also recognises the possibility that audiences may imitate criminal role models.
Representation and media effects can therefore interact.
Exaggerating police success
AQA also accepts the argument that media representations may exaggerate police success.
The specimen mark scheme notes that police may provide information about crime to the media and therefore highlight successes, while the 2020 mark scheme similarly contrasts media portrayals with less successful outcomes for some offences.This matters because media representations do not only shape perceptions of offenders.
They may also shape perceptions of:
policing;
detection;
the effectiveness of formal social control.
This creates a useful link to the criminal justice system [The criminal justice system and other agencies].
Exaggerating the risk of victimisation
AQA's specimen and 2020 mark schemes both recognise that media representations can exaggerate people's perceived likelihood of becoming a victim of crime.This creates an important distinction between:
actual patterns of victimisation
and
perceived risk of victimisation.
Media attention may therefore affect fear or perceptions of risk even where the distribution of media coverage does not closely match wider crime evidence.
The social distribution of victimisation itself is covered in victims and victimisation [Victims of crime].
A summary of distorted representations
Media representation | How it may distort perceptions of crime |
Over-representation of violent and sexual crime | Makes dramatic offences appear more representative of crime than other evidence suggests |
Under-representation of property crime | Gives less attention to offences that may be more common in other crime evidence |
Romanticising offenders | May portray criminals as daring, clever or glamorous |
Exaggerating police success | May create an overly positive impression of crime detection or control |
Exaggerating victimisation risk | May make audiences believe their risk of becoming a victim is greater |
Stereotyping groups | May associate particular groups disproportionately with criminality |
The examination point is not simply that media representations are "wrong". The more precise argument is that selection and presentation can produce a picture of crime that differs from other sources of evidence.
Media stereotypes and crime
A stereotype is a simplified assumption about the characteristics or behaviour of a social group.
Media representations may associate particular groups with criminality.
This is significant because stereotypes can influence:
public perceptions;
labelling;
police attention;
criminalisation;
recorded crime.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly recognises the chain from media stereotypes and representations to greater police targeting, more arrests and higher levels of recorded crime.
The process can be shown as:
media stereotype → increased attention to a group or behaviour → greater police targeting → more arrests → higher recorded crime
This demonstrates that media representations can potentially affect the production of crime statistics, not just people's opinions.
Media representations and ethnicity
Media stereotyping can be particularly important when studying ethnicity and crime [Ethnicity and crime].
AQA mark schemes on ethnicity recognise:
the role of the media;
stereotyping;
labelling;
societal reaction;
criminalisation.
If media coverage repeatedly links particular groups to crime, sociologists can ask whether these representations contribute to:
assumptions about the "typical offender";
policing decisions;
differential surveillance;
the likelihood of criminalisation.
This does not prove that media coverage alone causes ethnic differences in recorded crime.
It demonstrates one possible process through which media, social control and crime statistics interact.
Media representations and gender
Media can also influence ideas about which gender is associated with criminality.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the argument that males may be represented as more criminal and that this may contribute to labelling and a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a label contributes to behaviour or reactions that make the original label appear to be true.
The potential process is:
media association with criminality → labelling → altered social reaction or identity → possible further offending
This provides a useful link with gender and crime [Gender and crime].
Moral panics
One of the most important sociological concepts in the study of media and crime is the moral panic.
AQA's specimen mark scheme recognises moral panics as a way in which the media may distort crime by presenting a group negatively and exaggerating its criminality.
A moral panic occurs when media and wider social reactions exaggerate a perceived social problem or threat.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme similarly describes moral panics as processes that exaggerate and may amplify a problem.
The key word is exaggeration.
A moral panic is not simply:
"People are worried about crime."
It involves the representation of an issue as a particularly serious social threat.
Cohen and moral panics
AQA identifies Cohen as a relevant sociological source for answers about media and crime.
The 2025 examiner report also notes that students successfully used discussion of the deviancy amplification spiral and Cohen's example of the mods and rockers when explaining media influences on crime.
For examination purposes, the key idea to understand is the process of amplification, rather than simply memorising an example.
Deviancy amplification
Deviancy amplification occurs where a reaction to deviance contributes to an increase in the visibility or amount of deviance.
Using mechanisms directly recognised by AQA, the process can be represented as:
Media representations exaggerate or stereotype a problem.
A group or form of behaviour attracts greater social or police attention.
Increased targeting produces more arrests or recorded incidents.
The apparent increase appears to confirm the original concern.
Further attention may follow.
This creates a deviancy amplification spiral.
The important point is that the response to deviance can become part of the process that increases its apparent or actual scale.
Recorded crime and amplification
AQA's 2025 mark scheme is especially useful here.
It states that media stereotypes, representations and moral panics can lead to increased police targeting, resulting in more arrests and higher recorded crime.
This means an increase in recorded crime may arise partly because:
more attention → more detection
rather than solely because an equivalent increase in underlying offending occurred.
This reinforces ideas from recent patterns and trends in crime [Recent patterns and trends in crime].
Moral panics and actual offending
Media reaction may potentially affect more than recorded crime.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the idea that media exaggeration can amplify the problem itself.
This is where labelling and social reaction become especially significant.
Greater attention can:
increase the visibility of a deviant identity;
intensify social reactions;
contribute to further deviance.
However, in an examination you need to explain the mechanism.
Simply writing:
"The media creates a moral panic."
is not enough if the question asks how the media might increase crime.
You must complete the explanation.
Media as an agent of socialisation
The media can also be analysed as an agent of socialisation.
The 2021 AQA mark scheme explicitly recognises the media as a secondary agent of socialisation through which individuals may imitate criminal role models.
This gives a very different mechanism from moral panic.
Moral panic focuses on social reaction and criminalisation.
Imitation focuses on audiences learning or copying behaviour.
These should not be treated as the same explanation.
Copycat crime
AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly recognises copycat crimes as one way the media may contribute to an increase in crime rates.
It explains that some people may imitate crimes, particularly where offending is glamourised.
The chain is:
media portrayal of offending → offender or lifestyle appears attractive → imitation → possible increase in offending
This develops the earlier point about romanticising criminals.
Media representation may therefore have sociological significance because the presentation of offenders can potentially affect audience behaviour.
Role models and glamorous lifestyles
The 2021 Paper 3 item specifically referred to media portrayals of role models with glamorous lifestyles.
The accompanying mark scheme accepted the idea that audiences may imitate criminal media role models.
The important mechanism is not simply:
"The media shows rich people."
Instead:
glamorous representation → desirable criminal role model or lifestyle → possible imitation or pressure to obtain similar rewards
This can connect imitation with consumerism and relative deprivation.
Desensitisation
AQA also recognises desensitisation as a possible media effect.
The 2021 mark scheme suggests that repeated portrayal of criminal or violent behaviour may lead some audiences to see it as normal.
The 2025 mark scheme similarly accepts that desensitised audiences may come to see criminal behaviour as an ordinary part of everyday life and may therefore be more likely to offend.
Desensitisation therefore refers to becoming less sensitive to behaviour through repeated exposure.
A simplified argument is:
repeated media exposure → crime appears more normal → reduced sensitivity to offending → possible increased likelihood of crime
This is a possible sociological explanation, not a claim that every viewer exposed to crime will offend.
Consumerism and relative deprivation
Media can also contribute to crime through its relationship with consumerism.
AQA's 2021 mark scheme accepts the argument that the media can encourage consumerism by showing desirable lifestyles, potentially creating relative deprivation.
The 2025 mark scheme similarly states that advertising may produce feelings of relative deprivation by encouraging a desire for material goods that some people cannot access legitimately. This may contribute to theft.
Relative deprivation is the feeling of being disadvantaged compared with others or compared with what a person believes they should have.
The process is:
media and advertising → desirable lifestyles and goods become visible → relative deprivation → possible pressure towards acquisitive crime
This links the media topic back to explanations studied in social class and crime [Social class and crime].
Media and social control
The media may also influence offending by shaping perceptions of the criminal justice system.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme recognises the argument that media portrayals of the criminal justice system as ineffective or corrupt may undermine social controls.
The proposed mechanism is:
criminal justice system portrayed as ineffective → social controls appear weaker → reduced constraint on behaviour → possible increase in offending
This gives another distinct explanation of the media-crime relationship.
It differs from:
imitation;
desensitisation;
relative deprivation;
moral panic.
Being able to separate these explanations is very useful for 6-mark questions requiring three different ways.
New media and new crime opportunities
Media do not simply represent existing crimes.
New media can also create new opportunities and types of crime.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme explicitly identifies technological development and the growth of offences such as cybercrime as a way the media may contribute to changing crime rates.
This creates an important distinction:
Traditional media-effect argument
Media content may influence people's attitudes or behaviour.
New-media opportunity argument
The technology itself can create an opportunity through which crime is committed.
This builds directly on globalisation and crime [Globalisation and crime], where new technologies were also identified as changing the organisation and opportunities for offending.
Cybercrime
Cybercrime refers to crime made possible or facilitated through digital technology.
For this lesson, its significance is that media and communication technologies may become part of the opportunity structure of crime.
The mechanism is:
technological development → new forms of interaction → new opportunities for crime
The 2025 examiner report notes that students successfully developed this idea using examples of new media and new forms of crime.
You do not need to turn an answer on media and crime into a general essay on globalisation. Keep the link to the media or technology explicit.
Six AQA-supported ways the media may contribute to crime
The 2025 mark scheme provides a particularly useful overview.
Media process | Possible effect on crime |
Copycat behaviour | Audiences may imitate glamourised offending |
New media opportunities | Technologies may create new types of crime such as cybercrime |
Desensitisation | Crime may come to appear normal |
Consumerism and relative deprivation | Desirable lifestyles may create pressure towards acquisitive offending |
Stereotypes and moral panics | Increased targeting may lead to more arrests and recorded crime |
Undermining social controls | Negative portrayals of the criminal justice system may reduce perceived constraints on offending |
AQA explicitly accepted all of these in the 2025 assessment.
This is a very useful revision framework.
Representation and causation must be distinguished
A major exam skill is distinguishing how the media portray crime from how the media might contribute to crime.
Consider these two questions:
"Outline two ways media representations of crime may not reflect reality."
Possible focus:
over-representing violent crime;
under-representing property crime;
exaggerating police success;
exaggerating victimisation risk.
"Outline three ways the media may contribute to an increase in crime rates."
Possible focus:
copycat crime;
desensitisation;
moral panic and amplification;
relative deprivation;
new media opportunities;
undermining social controls.
These questions overlap, but they do not demand the same answer.
The 2025 examiner report specifically notes that some students drifted into discussing the lack of representation of certain groups when the question asked how the media could increase crime.
Media, labelling and criminalisation
One of the strongest sociological arguments about media significance is that media can become part of the process of criminalisation.
Criminalisation is the process through which behaviour or groups come to be defined and treated as criminal.
The possible chain is:
media representation → stereotype → labelling → greater social-control attention → increased detection and recording
This is important because it challenges the idea that media simply report a crime pattern that already exists independently.
Media representations may become one factor contributing to the way the pattern is produced.
This is particularly relevant to questions about ethnicity, gender and social class.
Media and recorded crime
Remember that recorded crime is not the same as all actual offending.
If a media moral panic causes increased police targeting of a group:
the group receives greater surveillance;
more offences are detected;
more arrests occur;
recorded crime rises.
The rise in recorded crime may then make the original representation seem more accurate.
This illustrates why media and crime can be linked to the social construction of crime statistics.
The media can therefore potentially influence:
perceptions of crime;
social reactions;
formal social control;
recorded patterns.
Media and fear of crime
AQA's specimen and 2020 mark schemes recognise that media may exaggerate the likelihood of becoming a victim.This suggests that media representations may contribute to a difference between:
risk of victimisation
and
perceived risk of victimisation.
Sociologically, this matters because people's behaviour and attitudes can be shaped by their perception of danger, even where that perception does not exactly reflect patterns found in crime evidence.
Do not confuse this with an explanation of offending.
Fear of crime is a consequence of representation, while copycat crime or relative deprivation are explanations of how media might contribute to offending.
Media and the criminal justice system
The relationship between media and crime is also connected to agencies of formal control.
Media may:
exaggerate police success;
portray the criminal justice system as ineffective;
contribute to stereotypes that influence targeting;
help shape public perceptions of offenders and policing.
These relationships show why media analysis is relevant to crime control [Crime control] rather than simply the study of communication.
However, media representation is only one potential influence on criminal justice processes. A sociological answer should avoid claiming that the media alone determines how police or courts behave.
Evaluating media-effects explanations
Claims that the media cause crime need careful evaluation.
AQA mark schemes ask students to analyse or evaluate the extent to which media processes may contribute to crime rather than assuming a simple automatic effect.
Several distinctions help.
Representation does not automatically produce imitation
Showing a crime in the media does not establish that everyone exposed to it will copy it.
The sociological argument identifies a possible process of influence.
Recorded increases may not equal actual increases
Moral panics can increase police targeting and arrests.
This may increase recorded crime even if underlying behaviour does not change to the same extent.
Different media processes work differently
Copycat behaviour, relative deprivation and moral panic should not be merged into one vague claim that "the media causes crime".
Each has a different mechanism.
New media can influence opportunity rather than attitudes
Cybercrime illustrates that technology may alter what offences are possible, independently of whether audiences imitate media representations.
These distinctions allow for more precise evaluation.
Media representation is not neutral evidence of crime
A central sociological lesson is that media coverage should not be treated as a direct measure of the amount or distribution of crime.
Media representation involves selection and presentation.
For evidence about the actual distribution of crime, sociologists may also consider sources such as:
official crime statistics;
victim surveys;
other evidence about offending.
The AQA 2020 mark scheme itself compares media representations with official statistics and victim surveys when identifying distortions.
This provides a useful methodological evaluation:
The prominence of an offence in media coverage does not establish how common that offence is.
Comparing the major media-crime relationships
Relationship | Main sociological issue |
Media selection | Some crimes receive more attention than others |
Distorted representation | Media coverage may not reflect patterns found in other evidence |
Moral panic | A problem or group may be represented as a greater threat |
Deviancy amplification | Social reaction may contribute to greater deviance or recorded crime |
Copycat behaviour | Media portrayals may encourage imitation |
Desensitisation | Repeated portrayals may make offending appear normal |
Relative deprivation | Media consumerism may increase feelings of deprivation |
Labelling | Media stereotypes may contribute to criminal identities and targeting |
New media | Technology can create new opportunities and types of offending |
Social control | Media portrayals may affect perceptions and operation of crime control |
A good essay makes clear which relationship is being discussed at each stage.
Evaluating the sociological significance of media representations
Media representations are sociologically significant for several reasons.
They may shape perceptions of the crime problem
Selective coverage can influence which offences audiences regard as particularly common or threatening.
They may shape perceptions of offenders
Romanticisation or stereotyping can construct different images of criminality.
They may shape perceptions of victims
Media coverage may exaggerate people's perceived risk of victimisation.
They may influence social control
Stereotypes and moral panics may contribute to greater police targeting.
They may contribute to offending
Imitation, desensitisation and relative deprivation are all mechanisms recognised by AQA.
They may affect recorded patterns
Greater targeting can produce more arrests, meaning media reactions can become involved in the production of official crime statistics.
This makes media and crime a topic that connects behaviour, representation, inequality and social control.
Developing an evaluative argument
Suppose a question asks:
"Evaluate the view that media representations significantly contribute to crime."
A strong response might develop the argument as follows:
Copycat crime: glamourised offenders may become role models and encourage imitation.
Evaluation: representation alone does not demonstrate that all audiences copy behaviour.
Relative deprivation: desirable lifestyles may increase pressure towards material offending.
Moral panic: exaggerated coverage may increase police targeting and recorded crime.
Evaluation: this may partly change criminalisation and recording rather than underlying offending.
New media: technology creates genuinely new opportunities such as cybercrime.
Social control: media portrayals may strengthen or undermine perceptions of formal control.
Judgement: media can affect crime through several processes, but its influence differs according to whether the question concerns behaviour, criminalisation or recorded crime.
This is stronger than repeatedly stating that the media "has an effect".
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Media representation | The way crime, offenders or victims are selected and portrayed through media content. | Use when discussing whether media coverage reflects wider evidence about crime. |
Moral panic | An exaggerated social reaction in which a group or behaviour is presented as a serious threat. | Use to explain distorted representation and possible amplification of crime. |
Deviancy amplification | A process in which reactions to deviance contribute to greater or more visible deviance. | Use when linking media attention, policing and increased recorded crime. |
Stereotype | A simplified assumption about the characteristics of a group. | Use when explaining labelling and the targeting of particular groups. |
Labelling | The process of defining a person or group in a particular way. | Link media representations to criminalisation and possible self-fulfilling prophecies. |
Copycat crime | Offending that imitates behaviour represented by the media. | Use when explaining how glamourised criminal role models may influence crime. |
Desensitisation | Becoming less sensitive to behaviour after repeated exposure to it. | Use when explaining why repeated portrayals could make criminal behaviour appear normal. |
Relative deprivation | Feeling disadvantaged compared with others or with expected standards. | Link advertising and consumer lifestyles to possible acquisitive offending. |
Cybercrime | Crime made possible or facilitated by digital technology. | Use when explaining how new media create new opportunities for offending. |
Recorded crime | Crime that has entered official criminal justice records. | Use when explaining how media-driven targeting might affect crime statistics. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
AQA examiner reports provide particularly detailed advice for this lesson because media and crime has appeared several times in Paper 3.
Examiner hint: For a 4-mark media-representation question, do not overwrite. In 2020, many students correctly identified two distortions but wrote unnecessary detail about sociological studies. Examiners warned that this could damage timing elsewhere on the paper.
Examiner hint: In a 10-mark "analyse two" question, find and develop the hooks in the item. In 2021, successful students identified the media hooks and developed them using sociological evidence and appropriate contemporary examples.
Examiner hint: Make your explanations genuinely different. In 2025, some students used moral panic as one point and stereotyping as another but developed both through the same self-fulfilling-prophecy process. This created repetition.
Examiner hint: If you use deviancy amplification, explicitly explain how it produces an increase in crime or recorded crime. The 2025 report notes that some students discussed the amplification spiral but did not complete the link to the wording of the question.
Examiner hint: Stay focused on the command and target of the question. Some 2025 responses discussed under-representation of particular groups when they had been asked how the media might increase crime rates. Relevant media knowledge does not gain full credit if it answers a different question.
Examiner hint: New media can provide a distinct point. The 2025 report notes successful answers that developed new media by linking technologies to new forms of crime.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Treating media coverage as a direct measure of crime
Why this is incorrect: AQA's mark schemes explicitly show that media representations can differ from official statistics and victim-survey evidence.
How to improve: Distinguish media prominence from frequency of offending.
Mistake: Saying the media over-represent crime without saying what is over-represented
Why this is incorrect: The claim is too vague.
How to improve: Identify a specific distortion, such as the over-representation of violent and sexual crime, and explain the comparison.
Mistake: Confusing media distortion with media causation
Why this is incorrect: "The media exaggerates violent crime" describes representation. It does not by itself explain how crime increases.
How to improve: For a causation question, use a mechanism such as imitation, desensitisation, relative deprivation or deviancy amplification.
Mistake: Using moral panic as a one-line explanation
Why this is incorrect: Simply naming a moral panic does not explain its effect.
How to improve: Develop the chain:
exaggeration → stereotyping → increased targeting or reaction → greater recorded or actual deviance
Mistake: Repeating moral panic and stereotyping as two identical points
Why this is incorrect: AQA examiners identified this problem in 2025.
How to improve:
Make each explanation causally distinct. For example:
copycat offending;
relative deprivation;
moral panic and police targeting.
Mistake: Explaining the deviancy amplification spiral without linking it to crime
Why this is incorrect: This was specifically identified by the 2025 examiner report.
How to improve: End with the consequence required by the question, such as more offending, more arrests or higher recorded crime.
Mistake: Assuming all media effects operate through audiences copying behaviour
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises several distinct mechanisms, including policing, relative deprivation, social control and new crime opportunities.
How to improve:
Identify whether your argument concerns:
audience behaviour;
criminalisation;
social control;
technological opportunity.
Mistake: Saying moral panic automatically proves actual crime increased
Why this is incorrect: Greater police attention can increase detection and recorded crime without an identical increase in underlying offending.
How to improve: Distinguish actual crime from recorded crime.
Mistake: Overwriting short-answer questions
Why this is incorrect: AQA repeatedly warns that excessive writing on low-mark questions can create timing problems.
How to improve: For a 4-mark "outline two" question, give two concise developed points. For a 6-mark "outline three", give three concise developed points.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define a moral panic. [1 mark]
Question 2
Explain one way in which a media representation of crime may differ from the wider pattern of crime shown by other evidence. [2 marks]
Question 3
Outline two ways in which media representations may give audiences a distorted picture of crime. [4 marks]
Question 4
Outline three different ways in which the media may contribute to an increase in crime or recorded crime. [6 marks]
Question 5
Explain two ways in which media representations may affect perceptions of crime and victimisation. [4 marks]
Question 6
Read Item A and answer the question that follows.
Item A
Media content may repeatedly present some offenders as exciting or successful. Advertising and other media content may also present desirable lifestyles and material goods that are not equally available to everyone.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which media content may contribute to offending. [10 marks]
Question 7
Read Item B and answer the question that follows.
Item B
News coverage may exaggerate the criminality of particular groups. This can increase public concern and may result in greater attention from agencies of social control. Recorded crime is partly shaped by which behaviour is detected.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which media representations may influence recorded patterns of crime. [10 marks]
Question 8
Read Item C and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Media representations of crime are selective and may not reflect the distribution of offences shown by other evidence. Some sociologists argue that media content can also influence offending through imitation, consumerism and moral panics. New media create additional opportunities for crime.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the sociological significance of media representations of crime. [30 marks]
Answers and mark scheme
Question 1
1 mark for an accurate definition referring to the exaggeration of a perceived social problem or threat.
Example answer: A moral panic is an exaggerated social reaction in which a group or form of behaviour is presented as a serious threat.
Question 2
Award up to 2 marks.
Example answer: Violent and sexual crimes may receive disproportionately high levels of media attention compared with their occurrence in official statistics or victim surveys. This can make audiences perceive these crimes as more typical than other evidence suggests.
One mark for identifying an appropriate distortion and one further mark for explaining it.
Question 3
Award 2 marks for each of two clearly outlined ways.
Possible answers include:
Violent and sexual crime may be over-represented: these offences may receive more media coverage relative to their occurrence in other crime evidence.
Property crime may be under-represented: media attention may not match its prominence in police or victim-survey evidence.
Police success may be exaggerated: representations may create an overly positive image of the effectiveness of policing.
Offenders may be romanticised: criminals may be portrayed as clever, daring or glamorous.
Risk of victimisation may be exaggerated: audiences may develop a perception of victimisation risk that does not match wider evidence.
Moral panics may exaggerate a group's criminality: a group may be presented as a more serious threat than the underlying evidence supports.
One mark for identifying the distortion and one further mark for development.
Question 4
Award 2 marks for each of three genuinely different ways.
Possible answers include:
Copycat crime: audiences may imitate offences, particularly where criminals or offending are glamourised.
Desensitisation: repeated portrayals may make criminal behaviour appear normal.
Relative deprivation: advertising and desirable lifestyles may increase dissatisfaction and contribute to acquisitive crime.
Moral panic: exaggerated representations may increase police targeting and therefore arrests and recorded crime.
New media opportunities: digital technologies may facilitate new offences such as cybercrime.
Undermining social controls: portrayals of the criminal justice system as ineffective may reduce constraints on offending.
Do not credit two points that use the same causal process simply under different labels.
Question 5
Award 2 marks for each of two developed ways.
Possible answers include:
Perceptions of crime: Over-representation of dramatic offences may cause audiences to develop a view of the crime problem that differs from its distribution in other evidence.
Perceptions of victimisation: Repeated media coverage of particular victims or offences may exaggerate people's perceived likelihood of becoming victims.
Perceptions of offenders: Romanticising or stereotyping offenders may shape assumptions about what criminals are like.
Question 6
Students should develop the two separate hooks in Item A.
Hook 1: exciting or successful offenders
This can be developed through imitation or copycat crime. If media offenders are represented as glamorous or successful, some audience members may treat them as role models and imitate offending.
Desensitisation could also be developed where repeated presentation makes offending appear normal.
Hook 2: desirable lifestyles and goods
This can be developed through consumerism and relative deprivation. Media content may encourage aspirations for goods and lifestyles that some individuals cannot access through legitimate means. Feelings of relative deprivation may therefore contribute to acquisitive offending.
8 to 10 marks: Good knowledge and understanding of two ways, two developed applications of Item A and clear analysis of how media content may contribute to offending.
4 to 7 marks: Reasonable knowledge with some successful item application and analysis, although one point may be stronger.
1 to 3 marks: Limited knowledge, weak use of Item A or material that describes media without explaining offending.
0 marks: No relevant material.
Question 7
Students should use the two main ideas in Item B.
Hook 1: exaggerated criminality
This may be developed through stereotypes, labelling or moral panic. Media coverage may associate a group strongly with crime and present its behaviour as a significant threat.
Hook 2: increased social-control attention
Greater police targeting or surveillance may lead to more offences being detected and more arrests. Recorded crime for the targeted group may therefore rise, making the original media representation appear confirmed.
Students may develop this as a deviancy amplification process.
8 to 10 marks: Good knowledge and understanding of two ways, two developed item applications and clear analysis of how media representations can influence the production of recorded crime.
4 to 7 marks: Reasonable knowledge and some successful application, but development may be incomplete.
1 to 3 marks: Limited understanding, little effective use of the item or discussion of moral panic without linking it to recorded crime.
0 marks:No relevant material.
Question 8
This question requires knowledge and understanding, application, analysis and evaluation.
Indicative content may include:
Selection and distorted representation
over-representation of violent and sexual crime;
under-representation of property crime;
romanticising offenders;
exaggerated police success;
exaggerated risk of victimisation.
Students may explain why media content should not be treated as a direct measure of crime.
Moral panics and deviancy amplification
exaggeration;
stereotyping;
labelling;
increased social reaction;
greater policing or surveillance;
increased arrests;
higher recorded crime;
deviancy amplification.
Cohen may be used where relevant.
Imitation and copycat crime
media as a secondary agent of socialisation;
glamorous criminal role models;
copycat offending.
Students should distinguish this process from labelling or moral panic.
Desensitisation
repeated exposure;
normalisation of criminal behaviour;
possible reduction in sensitivity towards offending.
Consumerism and relative deprivation
advertising;
desirable lifestyles;
material aspirations;
relative deprivation;
possible acquisitive crime.
Media and social control
representations of the criminal justice system;
possible weakening of perceived social controls;
police targeting following stereotypes or moral panics.
New media
technological developments;
cybercrime;
new opportunities and forms of offending.
Students may connect this to globalisation where the media link remains explicit.
Victimisation and fear
exaggerated perceptions of victimisation risk;
differences between media representations and wider crime evidence.
Evaluation
Strong responses may consider that:
media prominence does not provide direct evidence about the frequency of offending;
media representations may affect recorded crime through criminal justice responses rather than simply altering actual offending;
different media-effect explanations involve distinct mechanisms;
imitation cannot simply be assumed from exposure;
new media can create criminal opportunity even where audience attitudes do not change;
media can influence crime, perceptions and criminalisation in different ways.
25 to 30 marks: Sound, conceptually detailed knowledge of a range of relevant media-crime relationships. Item material is applied accurately. Analysis and evaluation distinguish representation, offending, criminalisation and recorded crime, and reach a reasoned judgement about the sociological significance of the media.
19 to 24 marks: Accurate and reasonably broad or deep knowledge. Application is largely focused, with some explicit evaluation, although parts may be incomplete.
13 to 18 marks: Largely accurate but narrower knowledge. Application may be limited and evaluation may mainly juxtapose different media effects.
7 to 12 marks: Limited and undeveloped knowledge with weak application and little evaluation.
1 to 6 marks: Very limited relevant material or a general discussion of media with little focus on crime.
0 marks: No relevant material.
A strong conclusion should distinguish between several kinds of media influence. Media representations may shape perceptions of crime and victimisation, contribute to criminalisation through stereotypes and moral panics, and potentially affect offending through imitation, desensitisation or relative deprivation. New media can also create criminal opportunities directly. The significance of media therefore lies not in one simple claim that "media cause crime", but in the multiple ways representation, social reaction, technology and criminal behaviour can interact.
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