Violent Crime: Perception vs. Reality
For many communities, violent crime has been a source of concern due to its noted prevalence. However, a keen look reveals that the frequency of such crimes is not as reported (Nelson, 2015). The media has played a significant role in making violent crime popular compared to other types of crimes, hence making the authorities modify their actions in a public relations manner that sounds well in the media reports (Greer & Reiner, 2015). The media reports do not reflect the real statistics of crime in general. Thus, by only highlighting violent crimes, the society perceives it as the most occurring form of offense. This paper seeks to examine the frequency of violent crime in Australia to despise the notion of high prevalence.
The State of Violence and Crime in Australia
The state of violence and crime in Australia has not been satisfactorily reported in the media. Many media reports indicate that the country is succumbing to a deluge of vehement crime which is past management of the traditional law enforcement. The effects of this kind of publicity on public fear concerning violence should be thoroughly examined. On the other hand, publicity has been influential in pushing for law and order issues, especially within political circles (Nix & Wolfie, 2017).
Public Opinion and Media Influence
Abundant opinion polls can explain the evidence of the increased levels of public nervousness regarding violent crimes on the subject which has influenced decision making in the political approaches and lawmaking. There is a general trend demonstrating that people are not only worried about issues such as unemployment but also violent crimes. However, the increased publicity about the subject has been as a result of local crime occurrences reported.
The Role of Media in Public Perception
The opinions of the majority of the communities on the state of crime are mostly influenced substantially by the way the media gives attention to certain criminal events, not understanding that the media goes for what is newsworthy first (Pickett et al., 2015). Events, such as mass shootings, homicide, sexual assault, and robbery take centre stage within the press despite other criminal events also happening. Since the media reports more of the violent crimes, they have become a significant source of concern than other 'silent' crimes which are also happening. Furthermore, understanding public opinions on crime should explore more than the outcomes of surveys (Roberts, 2018).
Crime Data and Community Awareness
Crime data only signifies what the society is willing to talk about either formally through reporting to the authorities or informally through the surveys conducted on the subject. There has been an increased community awareness of the violent crime that has changed how the justice system deals with crime. The victims are increasingly becoming committed to reporting violent criminal activities. Nonetheless, inconsistencies are existing between primary sources of data. Crimes, like sexual and gender attack remain problematic to regulate since victims are not yet free to report them.
Perceptions vs. Facts
Australians perceive crime and justice from what they hear or read in the news or just on a particular crime incident. Their perceptions are in sharp contrast with crime statistics (Nelson, 2015). Rather than basing the opinions on the media reports and sporadic crime occurrences, it is necessary to look at the whole trend of all criminal activities. For example, a fact check reveals that the murder rate in Australia has reduced significantly (Nelson, 2015). The national record of crime statistics by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the murder rate 1.6 per 100,000 people in 2000, and in 2014, the rate reduced to just one per 100,000 people (Nelson, 2015). However, the public perception and media reports still consider murder rates to be high. For assault, the rates increased in the 1990s and stabilized during 2000s (Nelson, 2015). However, there are no national figures about the assault, but data from the NSW and jurisdictions with lesser population proposes a small reduction in assault rate between 2010 and 2013 (Nelson, 2015). It is difficult to calculate the national trend since different states use different methodologies.
Measuring the Levels of Violence
Homicide usually is used to measure the levels of violence in the community, hence necessitating closer scrutiny. Some of the recorded upsurge in ferocious delinquency is ascribed to the improved reporting rate to the authorities. Nevertheless, changes in the occurrence of robbery, assault, and homicide cases reflect the actual prevalence of the happenings of criminal violence than the tendency to report (Carcach & Makkai, 2005). Victimization studies are also a critical source for determining the trend of criminal violence. Self-reported victimization has its fair share of challenges since sensitive areas such as sexual assault may not be reported, hence ruining the analysis of the trend.
Conclusion
As seen in this paper, Australians are regularly exposed to many criminal violence incidents through the media. The continuous exposure to violent crime stories makes them take it as one of the issues of concern. However, determination of the frequency of such crime lies in the actual victimization aspect whether reported or not rather than perception. It is also challenging to determine violent crime rate as different crimes have different nature. For example, the willingness to report murder and rape is unusual, yet they are all violent crimes. Therefore, despite violent crime being a concern, the perceived frequency is not correct, and there are other crimes which should worry the communities.
References
Carcach, C., " Makkai, T. (2002). Review of Victoria Police crime statistics. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Greer, C., " Reiner, R. (2015). Mediated Mayhem: Media, crime and criminal justice.
Nelson, P. (2015). Violent and property crime trends: local and international comparisons. Crime and Justice Statistics Bureau Brief.
Nix, J., " Wolfe, S. E. (2017). The impact of negative publicity on police self-legitimacy. Justice Quarterly, 34(1), 84-108.
Pickett, J. T., Mancini, C., Mears, D. P., " Gertz, M. (2015). Public (mis) understanding of crime policy: The effects of criminal justice experience and media reliance. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 26(5), 500-522.
Roberts, J. (2018). Public opinion, crime, and criminal justice. Routledge.
