Social Media and Crime

Arun Kumar Gond & Zabihullah

The book “Crime: Social Media, Crime, and the Criminal Legal System”, by R M Hayes & K Luther [2018, Palgrave Macmillan, 216 p.,12, 845, ISBN: 978-3319894447] is a timely publication, dealing with one of the most pressing problems of present times.

People now live in a digital world. This is something nobody can ignore. Media has become a part of people’s daily life, and it affects all areas of society. The legal and criminal justice system is also influenced by it. New types of media especially social-media have changed the way people see and talk about crime. In today’s time, terrorism is one of the biggest crimes across the world.

 While countries are making rules and plans to stop terrorism, one must also understand how social media plays a role in it. Social-media is both helpful and harmful for terrorists. To spread fear and send their message, terrorists want people to see their violent acts. Social-media helps them by quickly showing these acts to the whole world. People everywhere can see the crime and feel scared. But at the same time, social-media also shows the truth. It shows how wrong and cruel terrorism is. This makes people come together and stand against such violence.

This is why one must study how new media affects crime. For example, the terrorist attack in Paris was planned across different countries, and after the attack, news and videos spread on social-media worldwide. This shows how new media spreads crime news and also affects how people and governments respond; not just in one country, but in many.Now it is important to study these things more deeply. It is very important to understand how new media affects crime, how it changes the way people react, and how police or courts respond. This understanding will help the authorities deal with crime better in the digital world. In today’s world, idea of crime keeps changing. One recent example is revenge porn. This happens when someone shares private sexual photos or videos of their partner online without permission; usually after a breakup, just to take revenge. At first, people didn’t see it as a crime. But now, countries like the US and New Zealand are making laws against it. Interestingly, the issue first came into public view not because of researchers, but because of media and online platforms like Reddit and blogs. Only after that did experts begin to study it seriously. Another example is copycat crime. This is when someone sees a crime in the news; like a school shooting and tries to do the same thing to get fame or attention. Media plays a big role here too. Without the news showing the first crime, maybe the second one wouldn’t even happen. Also, sometimes the media creates fear in society. This is called moral panic; when people overreact and blame certain groups, like youth, without full facts. It’s important to think before we judge.

Many people today are afraid of crime, even when the actual crime rate is not that high. This fear is often shaped by the media. News and social-media show crime in such a big way that people feel unsafe, even in safe areas. This is called the fear of crime, and it is closely linked to moral panic; when society overreacts and blames certain groups like migrants or minorities. For example, after the Paris attacks or the Cologne incident, many started seeing all Arabs or Muslims as criminals, which is unfair. Cultivation theory says that when people keep watching crime stories on TV or social media, they start to believe that the world is more dangerous than it really is. Today, media both old and new strongly affects the criminal justice system. With smartphones in every hand, people can now record crimes, post videos, or live tweet court cases. This changes how people see the police, courts, and justice. Police worry about how they are shown in news and crime shows. If media shows them positively, it helps them gain public support. Many people only know the police through what they see in media, not real life. Media plays a big role in shaping how people see crime and who people think is a criminal. Traditional (legacy) media often blames the otherlike immigrants, minorities, and poor people for crimes. This creates fixed images and stereotypes. For example, Black men are shown as violent, Arabs as terrorists, and women as either evil or mad if they commit crimes. These ideas have deep historical roots. Media also focuses more on violent crimes and presents them in a dramatic way to attract attention. Because many people don’t have direct experience with crime or police, they believe what they see on TV or social-media. This builds false ideas about crime.

New media, like social-media, can both support and challenge these images. Campaigns like #BlackLives Matter and #Criming While White show how some people are unfairly treated, while others are protected. These movements give voice to those who were often ignored in older media. Even when women commit crimes, the media treats them harshly. They are shown as “bad mothers,” “mad women,” or “evil lovers.” This is because society expects women to be soft and emotional, not violent. When it comes to victims, media also shows bias. Not all victims are treated equally. For example, people feel more sympathy for an old woman whose house is robbed than for a sex worker who is raped. The media supports this idea of the “ideal victim” someone who is weak, innocent, and respectable. Such victims are seen as “pure” and not blamed for what happened. But if a victim is a young man, a prisoner, or someone from the LGBTQ+ community, society may not treat them as a “real” victim. Social media has sometimes helped change these views but also spreads harmful ideas like blaming the victim for not being careful enough. For example, the sarcastic hashtag #SafetyTipsForWomen tried to show how women are always told to protect themselves instead of asking why men attack. This kind of message can blame the victim instead of the criminal.

In another case, when the Chibok girls were kidnapped in Nigeria, some social media posts said it was fake news. This made people doubt the truth and may have delayed the rescue of those girls. In cases, false information caused real harm. Now the question is should people who post or spread such false news be punished? Some believe that crime is anything that causes harm and is against shared values. Others say that society slowly decides what a crime is.

This is where new media crimes like trolling, revenge porn, cyberbullying, and performance crime come in. These are crimes that happen on the internet and are difficult to handle because they cross countries and legal boundaries. Questions also arise like: where do people draw the line between free speech and online abuse? Can social-media companies be held responsible? As media becomes a bigger part of everybody’s daily life, it also challenges how people understand crime and justice. Social media can help; but it can also harm. It can give people a voice but it can also spread hate and lies. That’s why better laws are needed for more awareness, and responsible use of technology.

[Arun Kumar Gond, Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh,
Zabihullah, Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh]