언론의 범죄 관련 보도가 대중의 범죄 발생 인식에 미치는 영향

초록

The present study explored the trends of crime reports in the media for the recent 11 years, compared them with the actual crime rates in Korea, and analyzed the influence of media coverages of crime on public perception of crime trends and fear of crime. The crime reports of a total of four types of crime (homicide, rape, theft, and robbery) were included for analysis in the present study. As a result, we found that based on the official crime statistics, only the number of offense for rape and theft has increased for the last 11 years. It turned out that there has been little change in the rates of homicide, and that the rates for robbery have actually decreased for the last 11 years. However, we found that the number of crime reports on homicide, rape, theft, and robbery in the media has all dramatically increased for the recent 11 years. Among all, crime reports on homicide exceeded the reports of all the other three types of crime in number between 2001-2009, until 2010 when crime reports on rape exceeded others in number since. Moreover, the over-reporting of crime in the media turned out to be a serious problem in Korea, as the rates of reporting for homicide and rape, for instance, increased by 5.4 times and 7.7 times each in the last eleven years. Furthermore, it turned out people believe that the number of crime has increased at least three times for the last 11 years, and especially 4.5 times for rape. People also believe that reading media coverages on crime worsens the fear of crime, and that, at the same time, media coverages on crime do not help preventing crime. Furthermore, the more a person reads media coverages on crime, the more they think that the crime rate has increased for the last 11 years. Finally, limitations of the current study were discussed and suggestions for future research were made.

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