Skip to Content
swipe flip
headline
Curriculum Resource Library
Menu

< Back

Resources

Considering the difference between crime and harm

Suggested Time
90 minutes
Skills

Summary

The crimes that police departments track and report out are known as "index crimes." Police departments use this small fraction of overall crime as their primary measure of public safety, and the news media has largely followed suit. A small percentage of illegal activity and an even smaller percentage of harm that people experience every day are represented by index crime. The social harm approach to criminology frames crime through the lenses of both intentional and unintentional wrongdoing as well as direct and indirect damages in society. The social harm approach expands the criminology frame to include issues like environmental hazards, workplace injuries and deaths, police violence, and wage theft, among other issues. In this lesson, students will learn about social harm theory, use this lens to examine what’s included and what’s missing from current news coverage of crime in the United States, and reconsider the role of journalists in accurately informing the public about public safety issues.

  • Define social harm and facilitate understanding of the categories of harm. 

  • Define index crimes. 

  • Explain how crime is measured and reported in the United States and how this impacts which stories are covered. 

  • Inspire journalistic curiosity in the reporting of crime and public safety issues. 

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • Identify instances of crime and harm and differentiate between the two. 

  • Evaluate crime news coverage for accurate reflection of social harm. 

  • Gather information on public safety issues affecting the local community. 

  • Apply journalistic curiosity to the coverage of public safety issues in mainstream news media. 

  1. Prior to instruction, assign Dorling, et al. (2008) for students to read.

  2. Additionally, instruct students to do a quick Google search and identify 25 headlines from crime or public safety sections of local or national news outlets. Students should rank what they believe to be the top 5 public safety issues, based solely on this sampling of news articles. Instructional note: Students can complete this as homework prior to this class, or time in class can be provided to complete this step. It might be helpful for students to already have a working understanding of the definition of public safety, or a class constructed definition.

  1. Ask students to share the public safety issues they found in their research.

  2. Record the issues on the board, making note of topics that are repeated frequently.

  3. Discuss briefly with students: do you think this list accurately reflects public safety issues in the United States? Your community? Why or why not?

  4. Provide students with the definition of index crime. Inform students that these categories are what most police departments use to track and report crime. Ask: how many of these crimes are top issues found in your research? What might influence this? Instructional Note: Frame the discussion to help students understand that relying on police as the main sources in crime reporting shapes how people think about public safety.

  5. Next, provide students with the following data sets. Instructional Note: You can show these on the screen or provide students with links to access.

  6. In partners, small groups, or as a whole class, ask students to consider these drivers of physical and financial well-being. Questions to consider: 

    • How well is this data reflected in the categories of police index crimes? 

    • How well is this data reflected in media coverage of public safety?

    • What drivers of public safety are not being covered in the news? Why might that be?

  7. Review the definition of social harm with students. 

  8. Using the definition and examples from Dorling, et al. (2006), ask students what they believe the leading causes of harm are in their communities or the United States.

  9. Provide students with 10-15 minutes to search for news stories related to these topics.

  10. Facilitate a discussion using the following questions:

    • How many stories about public safety referenced these issues of social harm?

    • Did you notice differences between local and national coverage?

    • Why do you think index crimes dominate public safety coverage?

    • What is the role of journalists in informing people about public safety issues?

Using the headlines researched for class and their new understanding of social harm, students should apply journalistic curiosity to one of the articles. Students should write a 1-2 page reflection about the piece, answering the questions:

  1. What information is not here?

  2. What are the missing elements that would better contextualize this information in terms of harm?

  3. What other sources of information might help paint a clearer picture of public safety?

  4. How can journalists use the concept of social harm to guide their information gathering efforts when writing about crime and public safety issues?

Add to saved resources
Topic: Crime vs. Harm Theme: Story Selection Skills: Information Gathering Journalistic Curiosity