Mapping out the fear: The spatial distribution and social construction of juvenile homicides

It's a paradox, homicides involving juvenile offenders are at an all-time low, yet it seems as if the general consensus in society is that juvenile homicide is a major problem in the U.S. today. In the early 1990s, homicides involving juveniles offenders increased, and during this time-period, the news media reported this increase on a regular basis. However, this increase peaked in 1994 and has declined thereafter. Has the media picked up on the decline? Or, are they, through their reporting patterns, perpetuating an "atypical" image of juvenile homicide and of youth in general? In this dissertation, I take a social constructionist approach in examining the reporting patterns of homicides involving juvenile and adult offenders by two major daily newspapers in Chicago, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, from 1992 to 2000. I speculate that although juvenile homicide rates have steadily declined, the number of cases receiving media attention have increased. I also hypothesize that the newspapers over-report certain atypical, "newsworthy" cases, which influence public perceptions and fear of crime. To test these hypotheses, a comparison is made between homicide cases that received newspaper coverage to those that did not receive any media exposure. Perceptions and fear of crime were measured with a mail-survey questionnaire and focus group sessions conducted with Chicago residents. The findings provide limited support to suggest that the newspapers may be responsible for socially constructing an atypical image of juvenile homicide. Although homicide rates have declined since 1994, the amount of media attention has increased. Additionally, certain atypical characteristics received increased media attention. Homicides that involved very young victims, or Caucasian offenders received more newspaper coverage. Finally, the findings indicated that those who received most of their crime-related news from the newspapers reported higher levels of fear of crime than those who received crime information from other media. However, the most intriguing finding was that most individuals were not fearful of juvenile crime and felt relatively safe in their neighborhoods. Focus group data revealed that variables such as familiarity with the city and lived experiences played a bigger role in formulating perceptions and fear than news media exposure.