How does Crime and the Media Lead to Young Male Knife Crime Victimisation?

Knife crime is a crime taken place using a sharp object such as a blade or a knife as a weapon. I will be discussing how crime and the media leads to young male knife crime victimisation by discussing the effects of the media. This will include the news, online social media’s such as YouTube, television programs and video games. I will also be touching upon arguments against. The media is today’s main way of communicating and to be a victim is a result of an individual suffering in result of a crime or incident.

Knife crime is frequently reported in the news and many individuals who carry knifes and become victim to knife crime are young males. Knife has been a rising cause of concern in Britain however news reports often exaggerate crimes. ‘All media appear to exaggerate the extent of violent crime in Britain, this includes newspapers, news, entertainment, radio and crime fiction’ (Greer 2005). Violent crimes are often over represented leading crimes to be a popular topic of interest within society leaving people to feel unsafe, fearful and creating a moral panic leading to social disorganisation and a risk society. Research carried out by Ditton and Duffy (1983) found that ’46 percent of the news concerned violent crimes however when looking at police recorded crime such crimes made up less than 3 percent’. Those who feel they are at most risk of becoming a knife crime victim, may feel they need to carry a knife on them for protection. As a result this turns into knife crime victimisation as those who carry knifes are highly likely to become victim of it. Young males may use a knife to defend themselves when they believe they are in a dangerous, unsafe or intimidating situation in result of news reporting’s within the media shaping the way we think about the world we live in. ‘The role of the media is to shape how people think about the world we live in’ (Miliband 2973). ‘Crime news unjustly stereotypes groups (Cohen 197) in orchestration of moral panics (hall et al, 1978) and there by heightens the public fear of crime’.

However sociologists such as Jock young argue news within the media deters individuals from committing violent acts as it informs and shows us consequence for such crimes. ‘Seeing the effects of violence and especially suffering that it causes to victims and families make us more aware of consequences and so less inclined to commit violent acts’ (Jock young). Furthermore, ones attractiveness can make individuals more victim prone to violent acts such as knife crime within society. Dressing in a particularly attractive way can leave individuals to be vulnerable due to other people’s greed for wealth. ‘Ones display of wealth may draw attention’ (Sparks, 1982).

Television programs and documentaries within the media also have a big impact on young male knife crime victimisation due to being criminogenic. This is since the creation of real life knife crime being aired on mainstream television and online websites for entertainment. BBC Three released a short clip on knife crime with the title ‘Teenage Knife Wars: What's behind the rise in UK knife crime?’ The short clip shows various different young boys flaunting knives, blades and wearing intimidating clothing such as balaclavas. This leads to young knife crime victimisation due to content causing an arousal of violent visual imagery. Television content gives young people an idea of what knifes are popular, how to use them and potential copycat crimes to be carried out. ‘Violent programs make people more violent’ (Sonia Livingstone 1996). Moreover this, television programs can lead to social learning theory due to the visual observation of violent content which include knifes. Sociologist Reiner suggested that one of the consequences of how crime is represented in the media is that violence is easy mimicked by others. ‘The media may easily act as a form of social learning theory or be a source of crime by imitation’ (Reiner). Television programs and documentary can blur boundaries through repetitive viewing making it difficult for some individuals to recognise violent acts have consequence and are not normal. ‘Rapid growth in reality TV blurs the boundaries between fact, fiction and entertainment’ (Carrabine et al., 2002:129).

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In contrast to this, why young males become victim to knife crime can be related Socio-economic factors such as radical victimology. Those of a lower social class have increased risk of becoming victim to criminal activity and knife crime. This is due to living in a deprived areas and craving an increase in social status and materialism. Self-fulfilling prophecy and being labelled as deviant or a criminal within society, school or household can also contribute due to individuals living up to their label.

Social media platforms such YouTube and the internet also play a big part in the knife crime industry. This is due to them fuelling knife crime by allowing knife usage content to be posted, streamed and viewed, supporting the knife crime culture. YouTube is one of the world’s biggest search engines and drill trap music has become a popular sub-genre of music for young males in the UK. Drill music is a dark rap genre which often involves gun, knife and violence within its lyrics and visual content. On the 2nd August 2018, a drill rapper named incognito aged 23 was stabbed to death in south London. His death is said to have been gang related. His music contained references to other rival groups, which were of violent content and his music, videos and rivalry had a high amount of views. Social media platforms such as these leads to young knife crime as drill music has a young male target audience. Individuals aspire to such genres and view artists as role models. ‘Popular songs were especially dangerous as they all too often presented criminals as heroes’ (Barker and Petley, 1997:7). YouTube also enables criminals to post videos of violent crimes being carried out. This allows viewers to get a deeper insight to the life of a criminal and the potential development of visual criminology.

On the other hand linking media content such as YouTube and the internet to be the cause of young male knife victimisation is hard to prove due to many factors contributing. Reasons for young males becoming victim to knife crime can be due to facilitation and one knowingly putting themselves at risk of knife victimisation. Young males may have criminal involvement and be part of gangs which are not influenced by the internet. Gangs tend to have rivals and use acts of violence towards the other and being a part of a gang individuals would be at risk of possible becoming a knife crime victim. ‘Victims of violent crime themselves have criminal involvement’ (Dobrin, 2001).

The video game industry is successfully thriving in Britain. It is said that 11 to 64 year olds in the UK spend 10.3 hours per week playing games. 54 percent of video game players in the UK are male and are between the age of 15 to 24 (Ukie game statistics). There are many knife games available for purchase, some examples of these are blade and sorcery, call of duty and dead by daylight. Violent video games normalise deviant and criminal behaviour. Violence such as the usage off knives allows behaviour to be encouraged and praised. Games such as these leads to young male knife crime victimisation due to decriminalising the behaviour of carrying sharp objects such as knifes and blades. Video games are to be played for amusement and for this reason violent content encourages the act of using a knife to victimise another. Lifestyle and fantasy of video games lead to young male knife crime victimisation.

However many would argue against this due to individuals not coming from the traditional nuclear family and coming from a broken or abusive homes. This can lead to individuals picking up traits of violence and using them within society known as social learning theory. Furthermore fear, depression and anxiety can be developed due to various social circumstances leading to knife crime victimisation. Knife crime has existed before video games were introduced to society and although crime rates may have increased, this proves such crimes are down to one characteristics and not the influence of violent knife video games.

References

1. https://ukie.org.uk/research - Video game statistics
2. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/video-games-fuel-knife-crime-says-police-chief-in-suffolk-rh3f6966j
3. https://www.last.fm/tag/uk+drill/artists - Male drill rap artists
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45039590 - icognito
5. ‘All media appear to exaggerate the extent of violent crime in Britain, this includes newspapers, news, entertainment, radio and crime fiction’ (Greer 2005). ( crime and the media ) criminology sociology introduction. Chapter 4 page 77
6. ‘Crime news unjustly stereotypes groups ( Cohen 197) in orchestration of moral panics ( hall et al , 1978) and there by heightens the public fear of crime. criminology sociology introduction. Chapter 4 page 417 crime and the media
7. Violent programs make people more violent’ (Sonia Livingstone 1996).
8. Ditton and Duffy (1983) found that ’46 percent of the news concerned violent crimes however when looking at police recorded crime such crimes made up less than percent’.
9. ‘The role of the media is to shape how people think about the world we live in (Miliband 2973)
10. ‘Seeing the effects of violence and especially suffering that it causes to victims and families make us more aware of consequences and so less inclined to commit violent acts (Jock young)’.
11. . ‘The media may easily act as a form of social learning theory or be a source of crime by imitation ( Riener)’ Page 804- sociology book chapter 12
12. ‘Popular songs were especially dangerous as they all too often presented criminals as heroes’ (Barker and Petley, 1997:7). – page 414 chapter 20 criminology book
13. ‘Rapid growth in reality TV blurs the boundaries between fact, fiction and entertainment’ (Carrabine et al., 2002:129). page 414 chapter 20 criminology book
14. ‘Victims of violent crime themselves have criminal involvement’ (Dobrin, 2001).