Deserving and Undeserving Victims the Media

   The media have the power to construct opinions of certain segments of society.  Crime reports within the media embody this omnipotent role, dictating the way in which the public react to and perceive victims of crime (Marsh; Meville, 2009, p.101).  Victims of crime as represented by media reports, are defined under one of two categories, deserving or undeserving (Marsh et al. 2009, p.104).

   

   Taking the science of positivist victiminolgy (Marsh et al. 2009, p. 104-105) and Christie’s ideal victim (1986), the media create positive sentiments of deserving victims as those who are fearful and vulnerable to an unforeseeable sequence of criminal events (Marsh et al. 2009, p.101).  Deserving victims stereotypically appeal to public values and sentiments. It is for this reason that the most defenceless and gruesome descriptions of victims are seen to be a profitable commodity by the media (Marsh et al. 2009, p. 104-105).

   A really great example of this deserving victim model is the portrayal, within the media, of elderly victims. Twenty-first century society is one of which traditional cultural familial ties and obligations have been broken and disregarded, where the elderly are seen to be a burden. No longer are we a society who take care of the elderly population, but rather a population who leave this responsibility onto retirement homes and government pensioner payments to take care of.  Essentially making the elderly seem especially vulnerable and therefore ensuing guilt and insecurity within the public (Cheliotis, 2010, p. 170-171).  The media feed off this remorse and allow society to condemn those who so blatantly, to the extremities of crime, conform to societal practises (Cheliotis, 2010, p. 171, 174). In essence we are passing on the bla me to a more serious and criminalised disregard, by deviant persons named, in an effort to feel better about our own disrespectful practises towards the elderly.   Most crime reports, portray the elderly as completely helpless and volatile victims, who due to their deteriorating health and age, are unable to stop and/or prevent any violent assault and larceny crimes from happening to them (Cheliotis, 2010, p. 174).  

Terry White,73, and Graham Law,64 (Wilsion, 2014)

Terry White,73, and Graham Law,64 (Wilsion, 2014)

I recently read a sunshine coast daily newspaper article that used this idea. The article titled, Grub who did this could be out in less than a year, reports a vicious assault in which two men aged in their sixties and seventies, were at the mercy of a violent and heavily intoxicated twenty five year old male (Wilsion, 2014, p. 1). The two enjoying a quite drink at a local pub, were attacked because they were deemed, by the male in question, “too old” to be at the Victory Hotel (Wilsion, 2014, p. 1).  Ghastly images of the two elderly men as well as CCTV footage of the attack presented within the article, highlighted the complete disrespect of the young man towards the two elderly victims (Wilsion, 2014, p. 1). This article is just one example of the overwhelm number of crime reports which allows society to publically shame individuals who are simply conforming, although in a more severe way, to the all too common lack of respect ensued upon the elderly within contemporary society (Wilsion, 2014, p. 1).   

Those who don’t’ fit this deserving victim model are identified as underserving victims of crime. These statistically overrepresented population of victims, yet demonised within the media, are on a regular basis faced with a predetermined sequence of criminal events (Marsh; Meville, 2009, p.102). These individuals are then represented within crime reports, as numbed to their circumstances and therefore in some shape or form, contributing to their own victimisation (Marsh et al. 2009, p.102). Which through media influence, exposes these individuals to a criminalised status and/or secondary victimisation. 

(Bachelard, 2013)

    A contemporary example of a media-deemed underserving victim of crime is asylum seekers (Marsh et al. 2009, p.113).  Ask yourself how are the images of the asylum seekers above any different to the ones of the two elderly victims listed previously? Why are they deemed underserving victims?

    The answer…. THE REPRESENTATION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN THE MEDIA

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    Boat People’, ‘Queue Jumpers’, ‘Aliens’ and ‘Terrorists’ are terms  which have been used by the global media to describe a global population of underserving victims who a merely fulfilling their inalienable human right to seek a better life.  The News of the World headline on the 30^th of January (2005) “HALT THIS CROOKED TIDE” (as cited in Marsh et al. 2009, p. 115), is just one example of how the an unsympathetically media representation utilise negative, value loaded imagery to define asylum seekers as criminals and therefore underserving victims (Marsh et al.  2009, p. 115-116).

   

    It can therefore be understood the immense power that the media have in influencing and therefore establishing the way in which society perceive deserving and undeserving victims of crime (Marsh et al. 2009, p.101).  

References

• Bachelard, M (2013), ‘Unrest grows over large asylum seeker numbers’, Sdyney Morning Herald, 13^th July, p. 1, available at http://www.smh.com.au/world/unrest-grows-over-large-asylum-seeker-numbers-20130712-2pvkj.html
• Cheliotis, L. K.  (2010) ‘The ambivalent consequences of visibility: Crime and prisons in the mass media’, Crime Media Culture, 6:2, p. 169-180
• Christie, N. (1986). The Ideal Victim.  In E. Fattah (ed), From Crime Policy to Victim Policy.  London: Macmillan

• Marsh, I; Meville, G. (2009). Crimes, Justice and the Media, 1^st edi. London: Routledge
• Solomon, E (2005) ‘Is the Press the Real Power Behind Punitivism?’, Criminal Justice Matters, 59:1, p. 34-35
• Wilsion, R (2014), ‘Video shows horrifying attack on elderly cancer patient’, Sunshine Coast Daily,2^nd May, p. 1, available at http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/video-shows-horrifying-attack-elderly-hervey-bay-m/2247076/