Crime stats

In 2004, over four in ten juveniles in England and Wales re-offended within one year of their original conviction. (Page 123)



http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1755



http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0607.html

Detailed Proposal

1. Topic Area

Crime and the media

2. Proposed title, question, hypothesis

Perception of youth crime in the media

3. Teacher approval granted, in principal?

yes

4. Principle texts (if text based study)

5. Reason for choice

Interest in topic area, some knowledge of crime from a sociological perspective, lends itself well to primary research, lots written about crime, acessible through press, film, news etc,

6. Academic context for this study (similar research, relevant theory, named theorists)

to follow

7. Institutional context for this study (industry focus, other texts for comparison, named practitioners, relevant theory, issues, questions)

News/documentary/the press

to follow

8. Identify the audience context for this study (audience profile, access to audience, potential sample)

Potential audience groups that i could consult include:

• the elderly
• parents
• youth
• gang members
• victims of youth crime
• police officers

9. How will the 4 key concepts be relevant to your study (audience, institution, forms and conventions, representation)?

The four topics are completely interconnected...

• Audience groups/general public are involved in 'creating' the stories and consuming the news stories
• The different institutions choose how to present this in their coverage of the topic within the news and newspapers
• This coverage creates a certain representation of crime and youth which is consumed by the audience

10 Potential research sources (secondary): secondary academic books and websites, secondary industry books and websites, secondary popular criticism. Please identify specific examples you have come across.

To follow

11. Potential research sources (primary): audience reception research, your own content/textual analysis etc

• analysis of a news bulletin or documentary
• questionnaires about general perceptions of groups and peoples consumption of the media and news
• follow up interviews with different audience groups about how their news consumption contributes to their perceptions
• perhaps see if there are any correlations between media consumption and attitudes to groups or crime
• discussion with gang members or victims of crime about their experiences, motivations, feelings about their representation and whether it is accurate.

12. Modifications agreed with your lead teacher

??

13. Potential limits/obstacles/problems?

accessing people could be a problem, however i don't think it will be too difficult to find people as it isn't a very niche topic and affects almost everyone.

14. Teacher concerns

15. Teacher approval

Action plan

Following consulation with Ms B, i have a list of things to do over the next few days:

• ask librarian about press clippings
• collect some footage of happy slapping from youtube
• record some news bulletins surrounding youth crime
• think about different audience groups that could be consulted
• look at online archives
• specify either an audience group or type of crime

Initial Proposal

When preparing an initial proposal, please answer the following questions:

1. Which topic area is this proposal for?

Crime and the media

2. What is the suggested focus?

Gang Culture and youth crime. I'd like to find out how they are represented and portrayed in the media, with a particular emphasis on how different audience groups view youth as a group, as a result of the media coverage.

3. Do you have an idea for a question/problematic?

not yet, :-)

4. Why would you choose this?

I'm studying crime and deviance in sociology at the moment, and i'm finding the topic really interesting. I think the knowledge i have from this will help me get a more rounded picture and will give me a head start. I also think this topic will lend itself well to doing a range of primary research methods, such as interviews, questionnaires, as well as allowing me to investigate a wide range of audiences. This will be usefull particularly as it can be difficult to find willing participants for interviews and questionnaires.

5. Do you have any concerns or are there any limitations to this proposal?

I'm not sure at the moment how to fins a specific title for my research, but i think that as i look more into it and perhaps talk to different people, i will find a particular area to research/

6. Can you rate it on a sliding scale 1- 5 (5 being great proposal, 0 being lousy proposal)

4

Initial plans and thoughts

Crime and the media

Mediums

• Film
• TV
• The press
• News
• radio

Types of crime

• Gun and Knife
• Drugs
• Sexual assault
• Underage sex
• Theft
• Jerome
• Corruption
• Fraud
• Murder
• Suiscide
• Paedophilia
• Youth

Controversies

• Madeleine McCann
• ASBO kids
• Gang culture
• Gun and Knife
• Murder in film and effects debate
• Moral Panics

Theories

• Hypodermic needle effect
• Effects debate
• Perception of reality

first post whoo

Hello,

this is me posting my first post whoo

excited!