Connecting journalists with information and experts on crime and criminal legal issues
Journalists who cover crime and the criminal legal system influence everything from public policy to our collective sense of safety.
At its best, journalism informs & empowers.
At its worst, journalism misleads & sensationalizes.
Sensational crime reporting has been happening for centuries, and it endures today.
This reporting follows predictable patterns.
The following 5 examples are practices common in sensational journalism.
- Emphasizing crime over harm
- Sensationalizing outlier cases
- Cherry-picking alarming crime statistics
- Prioritizing the voices of police and prosecutors
- Using dehumanizing labels
The Center will continue to expand and explore this list.
01Crime is king
Contemporary journalism emphasizes crime over other factors that influence our safety, leaving people in the dark about important issues that impact their lives.
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Reports of crime
OSHA violations
Pedestrian fatalities
Reports of contaminated water
Police shootings
Minimum wage violations
Extreme weather events
up 16% over the last year, impacting the lives of thousands more Americans.
Nearly 5,000 people in the United States died on the job in 2020, and an estimated 120,000 more die each year from diseases related to their occupations.
Nearly 5,000 people in the United States died on the job in 2020, and an estimated 120,000 more die each year from diseases related to their occupations.
More than 7,000 pedestrians were struck and killed by cars in 2021, the highest number in four decades.
Tens of millions of people are sickened by contaminated drinking water in the United States each year due to violations of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Roughly 1,000 people are killed by police officers in the United States each year. Government agencies do not publish comprehensive national data on those killings, so news outlets and nonprofits have stepped in to do that work.
In just the ten most populous U.S. states, minimum wage violations cost more than two million workers over $8 billion each year.
In 2021, there were 20 separate weather-related disaster events that cost more than one billion dollars in the United States, the second-highest number on record.
02Outlier cases
Sensational crimes are often covered with such intensity that the coverage results in demands for policy change that are not responsive to actual public safety trends.
The following are real headlines sourced from:
The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune published more than 175 stories about Willie Horton and the program that allowed for his temporary release from prison.
That coverage won a 1988 Pulitzer Prize, with the committee lauding “an investigation that revealed serious flaws in the Massachusetts prison furlough system and led to significant statewide reforms.” Willie Horton’s case became a major issue in the 1988 presidential election.
All this happened despite the fact that furlough programs had a long track record of safety and success.
More than 50,000 people across the United States were temporarily released from prison through furlough programs in 1987–the same year as Willie Horton– without incident, including more than 99% of people granted furlough in Massachusetts that year.
Despite these facts, politicians limited eligibility for Massachusetts’ furlough system, and many other states followed suit–restricting or abolishing furlough, parole, and other release opportunities for people in prison.
03Cherry-picked
statistics
News articles often focus on the most alarming crime statistics, ignoring or minimizing decreases and failing to put increases in historical or locational context.
04Police first
The structure of crime stories reveals a lot about whose perspectives the media prioritizes. In the “inverted pyramid” model of news writing, the most important information appears first (the lede), supporting details come in the middle (the body), and the least essential elements of the story are held for the end (the tail).
In crime reporting, quotes from police and prosecutors often appear first, while competing voices and perspectives show up at the end, where people are less likely to see them.
The Inverted Pyramid of Contemporary Crime Reporting.
The Lede
The most essential information: who, what, when, where, and why?
...Police Commissioner says ...police union officials oppose... DA and Sheriff believe...
05Dehumanizing labels
News stories label people based on their criminal records, perpetuating stereotypes and biasing readers and viewers against those individuals. When journalists use dehumanizing labels to describe someone, their audience is more likely to associate that person with negative terms (i.e. “dangerous”). When journalists use people-first language, audience associations are evenly split between negative and neutral/positive (i.e. “not necessarily a bad person”).
Source:
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
69 %
31 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
54 %
46 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
58 %
42 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
51 %
49 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
68 %
32 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
50 %
50 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
77 %
23 %
Click the phrases above to see how audience associations change based on the language journalists use to describe people with criminal convictions.
57 %
43 %
This reporting has major impacts on public opinion and public policy.
Year after year, Americans believe crime is increasing even when it isn’t.
People overestimate the likelihood that they will be the victim of a crime and underestimate the risks posed by other threats to their health and safety.
Worst of all, this journalism drives knee-jerk policymaking that does not make communities safer & comes at enormous human, social, & financial cost.
But, journalism has also helped build safer communities.
Journalists have expanded our collective understanding of safety
and uncovered
some of the worst excesses
and abuses of power in the criminal legal system.
Today, journalists across the country are following in these footsteps and blazing their own trails.
Covering under-reported threats to public safety
Focusing on trends over anecdotes
Reporting on causes and solutions
Contextualizing alarming trends
Investigating the criminal legal system
Digging for evidence to back up official claims
This is a critical moment.
People are hungry for information that will help them address violence of all forms in their communities.
Journalists working to get people that information face many challenges, from misinformation to threats.
The Center for Just Journalism exists to help journalists meet those challenges by...
Supporting newsrooms engaged in rethinking their public safety coverage
Collaborating with educators to design teaching tools for the next generation of journalists
Identifying patterns in public safety reporting and recommending opportunities for change
