Perceptions of Violence

Thanks to our media, the perception of increasing violent crime seems to be shared by the majority of Americans, a view strongly at odds with the reality of both the national and global stage. An annual Gallup poll asking Americans if they viewed crime as increasing, decreasing or staying the same seems to indicate a rising perception of crime increasing from 2002 and on, despite the fact that violent victimization rates have dropped from 80 people per 100,000 in 1993 to 23 in 100,000 in 2013, a rate almost a quarter of its 2013 value. Interestingly enough, perceptions of crime increasing locally have dropped slightly since the previous polling year (2012) but have remained within the mean since 1972, pointing at non-local new sources skewing our opinions of violent crime within the past 15 years.

                This shouldn’t be particularly surprising to anyone, there exists few better ways to sell a headline than to make someone feel their individual safety or way of life is in peril. Ebola is an interesting example of this phenomena, bearing a host of symptoms like bleeding into the skin and gums, multiple organ failure and decreased blood clotting. Few things are as viscerally abhorrent as a death from such a horrific virus.  Yet lower respiratory infections, malaria and diarrheal diseases making up the largest chunk of microbial deaths in the African continent. You have to give some serious credit to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their development of the Omniproccessor , a machine that turns liquid waste into electricity and drinking water, and the tremendous effect to diminish malaria related deaths through the foundation. These massive killers, much more serious threats to impoverished citizens in Africa, have no bearing on the quality of our lives and no perceived risk of causing harm to the average citizen of the developed world. Malaria isn’t some boogeyman that causes uncontrolled bleeding and a violent, gory death, it’s an uncomfortable and tired demise.

This coupling of news with entertainment leads to a disconnect between how viewers see the world and how it actually is, with “sexier” topics taking the bulk of news coverage. News providers need to cover their expenses, and greater viewership means more ad revenue. This has the unfortunate consequence of shifting more ill-advised viewers to a view of the world that is much more violent, angry, and fitting of a dualistic good vs. evil motif than it actually is. The viewpoint is echoed by a Dr. Mark Warr, a sociologist at UT Austin:

“ “Many people don’t realize that while reported crime may appear to go up in a given year, that doesn’t mean real crime rates are on the rise,” Warr says. “Based on data from a variety of measurement tools, the overall trend is actually quite good. In fact, the homicide rate in the western world has actually been declining for more than 700 years.”

Yet when dramas such as “CSI,” “Criminal Minds” and “Law & Order” dominate popular television, and crime coverage often fills a quarter of newspapers, measured perspectives such as Warr’s are often lost in the clamor for lurid stories about America’s most wanted.

As a result, the messages about crime that people receive from the mass media are often out of sync with reality, Warr contends.

“People are bombarded with information about crime from the media, which makes them believe the world is a much more dangerous place than it really is,” Warr says. “This creates a climate of fear that can negatively affect the way we live, the way we go to work, the times we shop and the precautions we take for our families and children.” ”

The effects such views can have on Public Policy formation should be strongly considered by the public at large. The relative risk violent crime contributes to our everyday experience, or even our lives as a whole, is minimal. With so many other major causes of death like Diarrhoeal disease (death being preventable by simply hydrating affected individuals during the duration of their illness) and motor accidents still making the top ten list of killers globally, policy should be pushed much further in those directions if human mortality is really the goal driving policy.