The problem

News media have undoubtedly played a role in sustaining over 50 years of mass incarceration in the United States. It is hard to deny that news media— the public's primary source of crime information— have shaped public perceptions about who commits crime, the extent of the crime problem, and what we should do about it. Amidst a historic crime drop, the majority of Americans continued to believe that crime has been increasing in spite of voluminous evidence to the contrary. Starting in the early 1990s, over the course of three decades, crime rates fell across the nation by roughly 50 percent. While there was an increase in homicide rates during the social upheaval of the COVID- 19 pandemic, these have now begun to decline and overall property crime rates have remained low. Yet, counter to this reality, many Americans feel our criminal legal system is not tough enough on crime and continue to call for more policing.

Contributing to public misperceptions about crime are news media headlines and corresponding stories that too often fail to offer context and nuance. Headlines such as “Ex- convict convicted in fatal shootings of 2 California women in 2016 near Las Vegas strip” and “Crimes committed by kids on the rise as expert warns harsher consequences needed: ‘The penalties aren't scary’ “ run counter to what we know about adult and youth involvement in crime. Contrary to common news media crime coverage, recidivism data tells us that individuals previously convicted of a crime of violence have an exceptionally low likelihood to later commit murder. Arrests for youth aged 17 and under have fallen approximately 10 percent since 2000, representing only 6 percent of all arrests in 2020. The deleterious effects of harsh punishment for youth have also been well documented. While these headlines may garner public attention in an increasingly competitive media market, they do little to accurately portray crime and hamper the public's understanding of it.

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the research evidence highlighting the news media's role in spreading misinformation about crime, such as perpetuating racial stereotypes and crime myths, as well as its relationship to people's fear of crime.