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Perceived Fears: The Reporting Patterns of Juvenile Homicide in Chicago Newspapers

Southeastern Louisiana University

Martha J. Heltsley

Blackburn College

This article takes a social constructionist approach in examining the reporting patterns of juvenile homicide in two major daily newspapers:Chicago Tribune andChicago Sun-Times, from 1992 to 2000. The authors speculate that although juvenile homicide rates have steadily declined, the number of cases receiving media attention have increased. Also hypothesized is that the newspapers overreport 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 mailed survey to Chicago residents. The findings suggest that the newspapers may be responsible for socially constructing an atypical image of juvenile homicide by overreporting cases involving females, Caucasians, and extremely young victims and offenders. Additionally, in examining the spatial distribution of the reporting patterns of the papers, the findings indicate that cases in the northern districts of the city are preferred over cases in the south side. In examining perceptions of fear, the findings suggest that individuals receiving most of their crimerelated information from the newspapers report higher levels of fear of crime than those who receive crime information from other mediums.

Key Words: homicide • media • juvenile • fear of crime

Criminal Justice Policy Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, 132-160 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0887403404263624


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