True crime and culture
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- Non-fictional crime portrayals result in:
- Reactions:
- Public policy (eg. anti-crime legislation)
- Personal acts (eg. safety precautions)
- Individual beliefs:
- Accuracy can be measured versus:
- Murder v. suicide rates
- Demographics of criminals and victims
- Accuracy can be measured versus:
- Research (Gerbner, et al, 1980): individuals who watch a large amount of television are more likely to
- Feel a greater threat from crime
- Believe crime is more prevalent than statistics indicate
- Take more precautions against crime
- Archetypal identification
- Eg. Psychopath, vigilante, victim
- Reactions:
History: Mass culture and the Western outlaws
- Basics
- During and following Civil War, period of regional conflict, geographic expansion
- Media during period is primitive by today's standards
- Frontier newspapers
- But permitted portrayal of the outlaw
- The outlaw is treated similiar to the subcultural icon, with coinciding dread and fascination
- Dread: murder, violence, robbery
- Fascination: Robin Hood (the legend) qualities, allegiances with confederacy, ability to elude capture
- The early American Robin Hood
- Jesse James (1847-1882) was the first modern outlaw
- Crimes
- Earlier part of Centralia massacre that killed 150 Union troops in cold blood, led by Bloody Bill Anderson
- Following Anderson's death, the James gang robbed their first bank Valentine's Day, 1866
- Continued robbing banks during following years, eluding authorities and lynch mobs
- A December 1869 robbery -- where he shot and killed a cashier mistaken for an a Union officer (serving as revenge) and escaped in daring fashion -- first put names in newspapers
- By 1873, James & gang began robbing trains, sometimes with KKK masks
- Overall, continued robbing banks for 15 years
- Earlier part of Centralia massacre that killed 150 Union troops in cold blood, led by Bloody Bill Anderson
- Media association
- The James gang cultivated their image through direct correspondence with the press, sometimes leaving notes for local editors
- "We prefer this to be published instead of the exaggerated account that usually appears in the newspapers after such an event."
- The James gang was sympathetically received by southern readers
- In Missouri, served as bushwhackers, guerillas fighting for southern side after Confederate forces were driven from the state
- The banks and railroads were northern institutions; editors happy to publish tales of criminals subverting these institutions
- James was a former Confederate officer, earlier beaten by Union troops
- Most enthusiastic editor: John Edwards
- Editor of KC Times, alcoholic ex-Confederate
- More than any other individual, Edwards shaped the James legend
- Likened James to Robin Hood, called him fastest gun in the West (likely exaggeration)
- Printed letter from James that claimed (incorrectly) that his gang "rob the rich and give to the poor"
- Coverage of James
& his gang
- Violence, harm not focus of stories
- Depicted as heros through elaborate descriptions and sympathetic editorials
- Editorials: crimes as "daring" feats performed with "cool audacity" that "has never been surpassed"
- "Chivalry of Crime" -- "A feat of stupendous nerve and fearlessness that makes one's hair rise to think of it, with a condiment of crime to season it, becomes chivalric; poetic; superb."
- The James gang cultivated their image through direct correspondence with the press, sometimes leaving notes for local editors
- Legend reshaped through newspapers, song, oral legend
- Folk & blues music, film, etc.
- Like Robin Hood, contemporary images contrast with reality (though we can more accurately judge this variation with James)
- Not sole outlaw celebrated by media
- Billy the Kid
- Like James, Henry McCarty was a 19th-century outlaw
- Lacked Southern association but elusiveness celebrated
- Newspapers provided in-depth accounts, specifically the Las Vegas Daily Optic
- Like Jesse James, Billy the Kid represented in modern popular music: Billy 4
- Billy the Kid
- Media
- American Experience: Jesse James [part two] [3] [4]
- NPR: On the Media about Jesse James and his legend
Contemporary crime and issues
- Audio -- right click to download
- The "subway vigilante"
- Bernhard Goetz earned moniker after shooting four black men he assuming would rob him on NYC subway
- The Goetz saga
(1984)
- Enters subway at near Greenwich Village, car that is occupied by four black youth who were "acting rowdy" and "horsing around"
- Other passengers sit on other end of car, Goetz is unintimidated
- One youth asks for five dollars, repeats himself as another gestures toward a suspicious-looking bulge in his pocket
- Reacting to situation (Troy Canty, who asked for five dollars had eyes that were "shiny, and he was enjoying himself....He had a big smile on his face.)
- Goetz pulls out chrome-plated .38 firing at each youth
- One lies screaming on the floor, Goetz says "you seem all right and fires another"
- Checks on other passengers ("Are you all right") and escapes down subway tunne
- Enters subway at near Greenwich Village, car that is occupied by four black youth who were "acting rowdy" and "horsing around"
- Context: NYC subway
- During the eighties, NYC was in the midst of a crime epidemic that witnessed 2,000 murders and 600,000 serious felonies each year
- Comparison, 2008: 522 murders
- Subway was in disrepair
- Fires daily, derailing bi-weekly, graffiti-covered walls
- Cars often filthy, trash littered on floors; too hot in summer, cold in winter
- Often went as slow as 15 mph (today 40 mph is standard)
- 15,000-20,000 felonies on subway system yearly
- Panhandlers, petty criminals pervasive
- Gangs would jam coin slots, demand customers give to gang leader operating a nearby gate
- Other riders simply went over, under, around turnstiles for free
- During the eighties, NYC was in the midst of a crime epidemic that witnessed 2,000 murders and 600,000 serious felonies each year
- The media sensation
- Justified crime?
- Youths founds to have criminal records (one for theft, another for armed robbery)
- Seemed embodiment of young thugs feared by urban residents
- Later recalled that they intended to rob Goetz
- Tabloids labelled Goetz "Subway Vigilante" and "Death Wish Shooter"
- Radio call-in shows and in streets Goetz treated as a hero, who had fulfilled the fantasy of intimidated New Yorkers
- Al Sharpton and others declared Goetz to be a racist
- Youths founds to have criminal records (one for theft, another for armed robbery)
- Goetz turns self in
- Front page of NY Post contrasts Goetz, handcuffed with head bowed, with one prepetrator defiant, arms folded, being released from hospital
- "Led Away in Cuffs While Wounded Mugger Walks to Freedom"
- Goetz is later acquitted on charges of assault and attempted murder
- Impromptu street party outside Goetz's apartment after verdict read
- Front page of NY Post contrasts Goetz, handcuffed with head bowed, with one prepetrator defiant, arms folded, being released from hospital
- Despite being a self-employed businessman during time of shooting, Goetz fit the profile of someone who becomes violent
- Strict, harsh-tempered father, teased by classmates (lonely), inconsistent employment history
- Was upset about condition of his neighborhood, prone to homelessness and drug dealing
- Blamed societal ills on races -- specifically blacks and hispanics
- In 1981, mugged by three black youths as entering Canal Street station
- Grabbed electronics equipment and ran out of station -- caught, beaten, permanent damage to chest (perps charged with misdemeanor)
- But news media often ignored personal history for glorified vision of vigilante
- New York Post's coverage was most dramatic
- Initially, identified as Death Wish shooter -- a copycat from the movie about a urban vigilante
- Once identity revealed, Post and other outlets present details reflecting Goetz to be a solid citizen
- Eg. security clearance from federal government, written to Planning Commission on zoning matter, showed toy fire engine purchased at Toys R Us
- "His voice was whisper-quiet and he seemed awed by the five people around him. Somehow he wished it would all go away. But the quiet-spoken Goetz was giving a signal: He had been bullied once too often." (Post)
- Post even portrayed young blacks sympathetic to Goetz ("Come on, man, we dig the guy. Ain't nothing wrong with old Bernie. Nobody is gonna touch that guy.")
- Implication that Goetz inspired other examples of self-defense
- "75-YR-OLD ROUTS TEEN MUGGERS -- Subway Drama: 'I kicked like hell'"
- Ribbon on page four: "We're fighting back ... we're fighting back ... we're fighting back!"
- Shows the sale of Goetz masks a entrance to subway
- Anticipating charges of racist coverage, Post made sure Goetz stories appeared in close proximity to stories about African-American vigilantes
- Not all NY media follows suit
- Times is troubled by Post coverage
- Puts responsibility on shoulders of city officials
- Offers solutions by state: more training for police, college scholarships for young men who want to be officers
- Daily News is more critical of Goetz and noted lack of sharpened screwdrivers
- Harlem's Amsterdam News painted Goetz as representing not all New Yorkers but racist New Yorkers
- Times is troubled by Post coverage
- New York Post's coverage was most dramatic
- In-class media: Dateline interview with Goetz (1996)
- Justified crime?
Criminals in mass culture
Jesse James
Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty)
Coverage of the Bernard Goetz case
Goetz was compared to Charles Bronson's character in "Death Wish"
Matthew Blake, CSU-Chico Department of Journalism