I’ve always connected the media to the largely unjustified overwhelming fear of crime in our society, and I’m not the only one. As a matter of fact, I mentioned it here just last week. But a study released last month from the University of Nebraska shows just how someone’s programming choices might be connected to their fear of crime.

On any given night you don’t have to go far in your cable lineup to find crime dramas, crime reality-type shows, or crime coverage on the news. Some nights that’s all that seems to be on. And when we are constantly bombarded with images of crime, both real and fiction, it seems only natural that we would begin to believe crime is always just around the corner or just on the other side of the door, waiting to impact our lives in a very real and potentially life threatening manner.

While political propaganda certainly plays into our perception of crime, more people are in tune to what cable companies pipe into their homes than what local politicians and officials say, making television a highly influential medium when it comes to crime and our feelings of safety in society.

According to the study Watching the Detectives, those people who opt for non-fiction crime shows like 48 Hours Mysteries, The First 48, or any of the number of prison and law enforcement documentaries, are most likely to be fearful of becoming victims themselves. They also have less confidence in law enforcement and the criminal justice system in general.

People who prefer Law & Order, CSI, and fictional crime dramas weren’t any more or less likely to fear victimization and their confidence in the system didn’t waiver. But, they were more likely to support the death penalty.

Both of these groups (documentary and drama watchers) and people who stuck with news coverage were found to believe the actual crime rate was increasing, regardless of fact. This finding was perhaps the most telling particularly considering crime rates across the country are falling rather than climbing (even in the midst of troubling economic times).

The authors of this study state the reality-documentary type crime shows give the viewers a sense of crime being possible nearly anywhere, with anyone potentially falling victim. In providing the viewers with a personal view of suspects as well, they are able to see flaws within the actions of law enforcement and they may even feel a twinge of sympathy for the “bad guy”, leading to distrust of the system overall.

Too many people are satisfied with accepting what they are given on the television, whether through dramas or the news, without questioning either the accuracy of the facts presented or the effects of those portrayals on their own personal views. Rather than being able to cite statistics for their fear of crime, they can easily tell you about the gruesome case they heard about on the news or the criminal profile they saw on A&E last week.

Unfortunately for those easily swayed viewers, when confronted with facts about the current risk of victimization, these singular stories of fear-inducing crime are revealed to be little more than just that, singular stories, and are rarely indicative of the criminal-state of society overall.

The study Watching The Detectives: Crime Programming, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes About the Criminal Justice System from Lisa A. Kort-Butler and Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn can be read in its entirety in the current volume of Sociological Quarterly.

© 2011, Elizabeth Renter. All rights reserved.