NCJ Number
178467
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: August 1999 Pages: 241-251
Date Published
August 1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article explores the ways in which crime is constructed on the Internet through police pages and also highlights some of the issues this raises for criminology.
Abstract
There is a range of Internet sites that are concerned with crime; however, the sites differ in their approaches. Some sites can be defined as "official"; these sites are constructed and maintained by official agencies, usually police departments. These police sites provide access to police-based information. The police use their web pages to indicate their level of activity and their success in combating crime; and through the use of traditional images of offenders and crime, the police are portrayed as maintaining the line between order and chaos, between decency and degradation. Also, many of the police web pages solicit the public's help in locating known criminals by providing a "most wanted" section, in which pictures of suspects and the details of their crimes are described. Such police sites can contribute to the maintenance of the public's fear of crime, as viewers of the site begin to think of themselves as potential victims of the kinds of predatory criminals portrayed. By focusing on the most notorious criminals and crimes, these websites tend to condition the public to believe that uncommon crimes are common daily events. The importance of the Internet is that crime takes on a global representation, as it is presented in its most reductive and simplistic form. This is associated with the need to develop economically viable markets. In so doing, crime is trivialized, and untypical crimes are rendered an everyday occurrence. 13 notes and 29 references