Is contemporary society fascinated by and frightened of crime?

Crime is usually approached by individuals and societies in terms of narratives. The reasons behind the use of these stories might be several, for example they might help us express our emotions and feelings, give us keys to make sense of what happened or let us identify possible solutions.
The two main types of stories which are widely spread today, describe a society which is increasingly frightened by crime and yet, at the same time, is increasingly seduced by its deviance.
With particular reference to contemporary UK, this essay will explore these stories and their origins.

Today’s fear towards crime relies strongly on the shared belief in a present of ever-increasing criminality, compared to a relatively safe past. Attempts to explain this apparent decline, point at social fragmentation of the family and the community, greater economic inequality and a general moral forfeiture as the main causes. This is the common-sense story, the story which everybody believes in: middle-age and older people refer to the higher honesty and integrity of their earlier days, through news, books, reality shows and so on, media present us with a growing violent society and politicians have included crime prevention and reduction in their key issues.

In fact, the tendency to compare a safer past with a more dangerous present has always existed and, as Pearson pointed out, this kind of stories, which he terms respectable fears, is more common as people grow older. As a past example of these accounts, we might consider the pamphlet that Defoe wrote in the 1730, where he expressed his concern for the rising levels of street crime in the 17th century London (Pearson, 1983, quoted in Mooney et al., 2004, p. 22).

Respectable fears, especially in periods of rapid changes like today, lead to what Stanley Cohen defines as moral panics, where targeted behaviours are perceived as serious threats to social stability and security, thus increasing the sense of anxiety and, in turn, giving rise to a wider social reaction (Cohen, 1973, quoted in Mooney et al., 2004, p. 23).

However, we cannot conclude that respectable fears and moral panics are the only causes for our increasing sense of vulnerability. In fact official figures relating to crime in the UK indicate a general increase in crime over the past 50 years, although evidence is influenced by several factors. Examples are: the appearance of new crimes, the increased number of crime reports, the greater opportunities for criminal actions as more valuables become available and are exhibited. Data also seems to indicate that people’s perception of crime is different from the actual crime rates and is influenced by factors such as gender, ethnicity, income and location (Muncie and McLaughlin, 1996, Mirrlees-black et al., 1998, Social Trends, 2002, quoted in Mooney et al., 2004, p. 16-22).

The escalating presence of crime fiction and non-fiction in various media, clearly shows how our society is not only scared but also attracted by crime. This seduction might be related to the thrill for the risks involved in committing criminal actions or because of the fact that the individual, by breaking the rules, stands against society and confronts what is defined as socially acceptable.

Again, fascination with crime is a characteristic which contemporary society shares with the past: 19th century murder ballads, peep-shows, Chambers of Horrors, crimes reported in the newspapers (Reijinders, 2005, p.5) and ‘penny dreadfuls’, can be all set as examples of how crime has always attracted us.

In conclusion, we have seen that the view of a contemporary society that is frightened of as well as fascinated by crime, coincides with the two main types of stories that we, as individuals as well as a society, tell ourselves to confront the crime problem. In fact these stories are not specific to contemporary society, but have been similarly told in the past.

We have also seen how fear and anxiety rely upon the common-sense story of a present where crime rates are increasingly higher. This belief can be partially explained using the concepts of respectable fears and moral panics, which indicate how fear of crime might reflect a more general sense of uncertainty.

Quantitative and qualitative data on the levels of crime in contemporary UK, however, seem to confirm a growth in crime rates in the last 50 years. On the other hand, evidence shows that this growth is overrated and should in any case be read bearing in mind all the numerous factors which come into play in reporting and recording crime.