NCJ Number
160776
Journal
Up2date Volume: 3 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 18-21
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study examines the content and impact of the "West Australian" newspaper's reporting on juveniles over a 2-year period, 1990-92.
Abstract
Among the variables examined in the news production process were the sources of newspaper stories. The study found that two sources overwhelmingly dominated in youth news: the police and the children's courts. The result of this overreporting of juvenile offending by the media is a public perception of juvenile crime out of all proportion to its actual prevalence. Media readers include policymakers, and there is also a feedback to policymakers from the public response to the news stories. If policymakers fail to respond to this public concern generated by the media, a crisis of confidence in political leaders is likely to result. The ultimate consequence of this overreporting of youth crime is the enactment of laws and the advocacy of policing practices that compromise the civil rights of juveniles and the creation of a general public attitude that juveniles are more likely than not to be criminals.