For a fair and effective

youth justice system

OFF BALANCE:
YOUTH, RACE & CRIME IN THE NEWS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Prepared by
Lori Dorfman, DrPH
Berkeley Media Studies Group,
Public Health Institute

Vincent Schiraldi,
Justice Policy Institute

April 2001
 OFF BALANCE:
YOUTH, RACE & CRIME IN THE NEWS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is the fourth in an ongoing series of analyses published by Building Blocks for Youth, a multi-
organizational initiative whose goal is to promote a fair and effective juvenile justice system. In
January, 2000, Building Blocks issued its first report, “The Color of Justice” which found that
youth of color in California were more than eight times as likely to be incarcerated by adult courts
as White youth, for equally serious crimes. Building Blocks’ comprehensive national study, “And
Justice for Some”, reported that youth of color are treated more severely than White youth at each
stage of the justice system, even when charged with the same offenses. In October, 2000 Building
Blocks’ third report, “Youth Crime, Adult Time” an in-depth study of youth prosecuted as adults
in 18 of the largest jurisdictions in the country, found racial disparities similar to the earlier
reports, and raised serious concerns about the fairness and appropriateness of the process.

The initiative has five major components:

(1) Research on the disparate impact of the justice system on minority youth, on the effects of new
adult-court transfer legislation in the states, and on the privatization of juvenile justice facilities
by for-profit corporations;

(2) Analyses of decisionmaking at critical points in the justice system, including arrest, detention,
adjudication, and disposition;

(3) Direct advocacy on behalf of youth in the justice system, particularly on issues that
disproportionately affect youth of color such as conditions of confinement in jails, prisons, and
juvenile facilities; access to counsel and adequacy of representation in juvenile court; and "zero
tolerance" and other issues relating to school suspensions and expulsions;

(4) Constituency-building among African-American, Latino, and Native-American and other minority
organizations, as well as organizations in the medical, mental health, legal, law enforcement,
child welfare, civil rights, human rights, religious, victim's rights, and domestic violence areas, at
the national, state, and local levels;

(5) Development of communications strategies to provide timely, accurate, and relevant information
to these constituencies, public officials, policymakers, the media, and the public.

The partners in the initiative are the Youth Law Center, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice
Center, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, Juvenile Law Center, Minorities in Law
Enforcement, National Council on Crime and Delinquency and Pretrial Services Resource Center.

The initiative is supported by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Mott, MacArthur, Rockefeller and
William T. Grant foundations, and the Center on Crime, Communities & Culture of the Open
Society Institute. This project was supported by award No. 98-JN-FX-K003 awarded by the Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of
Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the supporting
foundations.
A. INTRODUCTION What Is The News Media’s Role?

Despite sharp declines in youth crime, the More than 70 years ago, in his classic
public expresses great fear of its young work, Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann
people. Although violent crime by youth in wrote that it was impossible to know
1998 was at its lowest point in the 25-year through direct experience everything that
history of the National Crime Victimization it was necessary to know to function as a
Survey, 62% of poll respondents felt that citizen in our modern democracy. Instead,
juvenile crime was on the increase. In the Lippmann explained, we depend on
1998/99 school year, there was less than “pictures in our heads,” many of them
a one in two million chance of being killed delivered by the news media, to tell us
in a school in America, yet 71% of about the world. Our decisions about how
respondents to an NBC/Wall Street to behave and how to construct our
Journal poll felt that a school shooting was society have to be based on those pictures,
likely in their community. Despite a 40% Lippmann believed, because the world was
decline in school associated violent deaths too vast to experience personally.
between 1998 and 1999 and declines in
other areas of youth violence, respondents The public depends on the media for its
to a USA Today poll were 49% more likely pictures of crime. Three quarters (76%) of
to express fear of their schools in 1999 the public say they form their opinions
than in 1998. about crime from what they see or read in
the news, more than three times the
In an environment in which fear of youth number who state that they get their
crime and actual youth crime are so out of primary information on crime from
sync, policies affecting young people are personal experience (22%). In a Los
bound to be impacted. Since 1992, 47 Angeles Times poll, 80% of respondents
states have made their juvenile justice stated that the media’s coverage of violent
systems more punitive by eroding crime had in-creased their personal fear of
confidentiality protections or making it being a victim.
easier to try juveniles as adults. In one
estimate, more than 200,000 youths were These survey results are consistent with
prosecuted in adult court in America in communications research that confirms
1998. that the news media largely determine
what issues we collectively think about,
Americans are also more likely to how we think about them and what kinds
exaggerate the threat of victimization by of policy alternatives are considered
minorities. Twice as many White viable. News portrayals of juvenile justice
Americans believe they are more likely to issues are significant for how they
be victimized by a minority than a White, influence policymakers and the public
despite the fact that Whites are three regarding what should be done to ensure
times more likely to be victimized by public safety. The public and policy
Whites than by minorities. makers do not consider issues unless they
are visible, and they are not visible unless
the news brings them to light.

3 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

Most people have little or no personal • Does news coverage reflect actual crime
experience with juvenile crime since trends?
adults commit most of the crime in the
nation: adults commit about 89% of all • How does news coverage depict
crimes cleared by arrest. minorities and crime?

The public depends on the media even • Does news coverage disproportionately
more for its pictures of crime done by or to depict youth of color as perpetrators of
minority youth, since most of the public crime?
doesn’t have personal experience with it.
Eighty-six percent of White homicide B. METHODS
victims are killed by other Whites and,
overall, Whites are three times as likely to Our objective was to compile and examine
be victimized by other Whites as by the best social science that has analyzed
minorities. There is a very small likelihood the content of crime news to answer the
that a White adult will have the questions above, particularly analyses
unfortunate opportunity to form an that included examinations of race and
opinion about Black youth violence based youth. Toward that end, we conducted a
on personal experience. Consequently, comprehensive, computerized search of
America’s dominant voting and opinion criminal justice and communications data
setting block — its White adult population bases on content analyses of crime news,
— simply must rely on the news to explain which we augmented with additional
minority youth crime to them. studies gleaned from references in the
computer-generated articles. Altogether,
The news media should help as many the search yielded 146 articles that we
citizens as possible make sense of the reviewed, abstracted, and categorized. We
world around them. But does the current eliminated any articles that were about
approach to covering youth and crime single events (e.g. O.J. Simpson), “reality”
maximize public understanding of reality? shows, or non-US news. We also
What information on youth and crime eliminated articles that did not offer
does the American public get from the primary data analyses and books that
news? In view of the powerful impact news were not peer-reviewed. Ultimately we
coverage of crime has on public opinion focused on the 77 studies that directly
and the dependence of most Americans on assessed the content of crime, race and/or
the media for depictions of crime, there youth in the news.
are several important questions we have
about the accuracy of the picture Once we had summarized and condensed
Americans are receiving from the news the findings about news content, we
media: compared those findings to crime trends
reported by law enforcement agencies. For
example, if studies of the news showed an
ever-larger proportion of the “news hole”
(the amount of newspaper or television
time devoted to news) occupied by violent
crime, was that simply a reflection of

Off Balance 4
actual increases in violent crime during studies that examine race and crime find
the same time period? According to the that the proportion of crime committed by
best scientific analyses of media content, people of color (usually African Americans)
is the news providing an accurate is over-reported and that Black victims are
reflection of crime trends? We ascertained under-represented. Other studies find that
whether the studies themselves made the crimes committed by people of color are
relevant comparisons to crime trends, covered in proportion with arrest rates,
and, if they did not, we collected the but that crimes committed by Whites are
appropriate crime data to compare to the under-covered.
content of the news.
Finding #1: The news media report
The studies we surveyed covered a range crime, especially violent crime, out of
of media — local and network television, proportion to its actual occurrence.
newspapers, and broadcast and print
news magazines — from 1910 through Studies of newspapers and television
2001. Most studies analyzed newspapers identified three clear patterns. First, and
(N=55), followed by local television (N=25). most consistent over time, is that
Nineteen studies analyzed network newspapers and television emphasize
television news. Only three studies violent crime. Second, the more unusual
analyzed print news magazines and two the crime, the greater the chance it will be
analyzed the content of TV news magazine covered. Third, the rate of crime coverage
programs. (The numbers add to more than increased while real crime rates dropped.
77 because several studies analyzed more While all media emphasize violence in
than one medium). their news, newspapers do it to a lesser
degree than network television, which
C. FINDINGS does it less than local TV news. There are
fewer studies of Spanish language
Overall, the studies taken together newspapers and television news broadcast
indicate that depictions of crime in the in the US, but those that exist also
news are not reflective of the rate of demonstrate an emphasis on crime
crime generally, the proportion of consistent with studies of English-
crime which is violent, the proportion language US news.
of crime committed by people of color,
or the proportion of crime committed Violent crime dominates crime
by youth. The problem is not the coverage. Crime is often the dominant
inaccuracy of individual stories, but that topic on local television news, network
the cumulative choices of what is included news, and TV news magazines. In general,
in the news — or not included —presents TV crime reporting is the inverse of crime
the public with a false picture of higher frequency. That is, murder is reported
frequency and severity of crime than is most often on the news though it happens
actually the case. the least. Several analyses of the evening
news found that, although homicides
Furthermore, the studies show that crime made up from one to two-tenths of one
is depicted as a series of distinct events percent of all arrests, homicides made up
unrelated to any broader context. Most more than a quarter (27% - 29%) of the

5 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

crimes reported on the evening news. While
it is to be expected that a homicide will Graph 2: From 1990-1998, homicide
receive more media attention than a petty coverage was increasing on network
theft, overcoverage of violent crime can news by 473% while homicides were
give viewers the sense that the world is a
down 32.9%
more dangerous place than it actually is.
Homicide
The more unusual the crime or news
500% increase
violence, the more likely it is to be
covered. Factors that increase the
likelihood of a homicide being reported in
the news are multiple victims, multiple
offenders, an unusual method, a White Percent
victim, a child, elderly, or female victim, or Change
occurrence in an affluent neighborhood. 473%
One study found that the least frequent
murders—homicides between strangers
and interracial homicides—received more National
homicide
coverage when, in reality, most people drop
0%
were murdered by someone they knew and
someone of the same race. -32.9%
-100%
Crime coverage has increased while real
crime rates have fallen. Overall the rate Source: Center for Media & Public Affairs, US DOJ 2000
of crime coverage in the news did not
reflect crime trends. Nationally, crime
dropped by 20% from 1990 to 1998 while
Studies spanning almost 100 years—1910
network TV showed an 83% increase in
to 2000—were consistent in their findings
crime news. While homicide coverage was
that news reports describe what happened
increasing on network news -- a 473%
with little reporting about why the crime
jump from 1990 to 1998 -- homicides were
and violence happened or what could be
down 32.9% during the same time period.
done about it. In one example, researchers
(See Figure 1).
found that the nation’s dominant news
magazines portrayed the race riots of the
Finding #2: The news media report crime
late 1960’s as “random, unpredictable and
as a series of individual events without most of all, unjustified” events outside a
adequate attention to its overall context. larger social context, despite Kerner
Commission findings that there were
Presumably, if the emphasis on crime is many identifiable— and justifiable—
satisfying viewers’ desire to know about it, reasons for the riots. The lack of
print and broadcast journalists should explanations for crime and violence
also be explaining it. Yet most crime news complicates the problem of exaggerated
is episodic, describing crime events as if frequency in news stories by leaving the
they are isolated from larger social, impression that the violence is inevitable.
historical or environmental contexts.

Off Balance 6
Finding #3: The news media, particularly Blacks arrested for murder (60% and 61%,
television news, unduly connect race respectively), but if the suspect was Black,
and crime, especially violent crime. the average article length was longer than
for a White suspect. Close looks at local
A disproportionate number of perpetrators TV news in a large urban center found
on the news are people of color, especially disparities as well. Blacks were 22% more
African Americans, and the strongest likely to be shown on local TV news in Los
evidence shows that people of color, again Angeles committing violent crime than
primarily African Americans, are under- nonviolent crime, while according to police
represented as victims in crime news. statistics, Blacks were equally likely to be
African American perpetrators are arrested for violent crime and nonviolent
depicted as dangerous and crime. Likewise, Hispanics were 14% more
indistinguishable as a group, and they likely to be depicted as committing violent
appear more frequently in crime news crime than a nonviolent crime, whereas
stories than Whites. Interracial crime is Hispanics were 7% more likely to be
also covered disproportionately. arrested for a violent crime than a
nonviolent crime. Some might argue that
Invisible Black victims. Six out of seven this is simply because violent crime is
studies that clearly identify the race of more newsworthy than non-violent crime.
victims found more attention was paid to But Whites were 31% more likely to be
White victims than to Black victims. depicted committing a nonviolent crime
Homicides of White victims not only than a violent crime, whereas Whites were
resulted in more articles, but also longer only 7% more likely to be arrested for a
articles than homicides of Black victims. nonviolent crime than a violent crime.
This prompted one researcher to coin the While Blacks and Hispanics were over-
term “worthy victims” to describe the represented as violent offenders, Whites
greater coverage received by White crime were underrepresented as violent
victims compared to people of color. offenders on the same evening news. In
addition, researchers found that when
Visible Black suspects. Overall, while the stories featured a Black perpetrator,
coverage of perpetrators of color is out of reporters included sources hostile to the
balance with actual crime trends, it is less perpetrator half the time, whereas with
so than the coverage of minority victims. White perpetrators, reporters included
In nine of twelve (75%) studies, minorities hostile sources 25 percent of the time.
were overrepresented as perpetrators of
crime. Some studies found distinct How are African Americans depicted in
disparities, while others found crime stories? In his extensive work on
perpetrators of color represented in portrayals of African Americans on local
numbers that matched their local arrest television news, Robert Entman
rates, but found Whites underrepresented. documents that Blacks are most likely to
be seen in television news stories in the
For example, a study of murder coverage role of criminal, victim, or demanding
in Indianapolis newspapers found that the politician. Black suspects were less likely
percentage of articles about Black to be identified by name than White
suspects reflected the percentage of suspects; were not as well dressed as

7 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

White suspects; and were more likely to be Finding #4: Few studies examine
shown physically restrained than Whites. portrayals of youth on the news. Those
In sum, Entman concluded that Black that do find that youth rarely appear in
suspects were routinely depicted as being the news and when they do, it is
poor, dangerous, and indistinct from other connected to violence.
non-criminal Blacks.
There is substantially less research that
Interracial crime. Our nation has an ugly focuses on portrayals of youth in the
history of treatment of interracial crime, news. Though the findings are consistent,
dating from slavery through the “Jim there are fewer of them. Of the 146
Crow” era to the well-documented fact that articles we originally identified, only 16
today Blacks have a higher risk of examined whether and how youth were
receiving the death penalty for killing portrayed on television news or in
Whites than any other victim-offender newspapers. The findings on the coverage
racial mix. That history is reflected in of youth crime are consistent with overall
public opinion polling on race and crime
crime coverage – when youth appear in the
that shows that Whites overestimate their news, it is in connection with violence. A
likelihood of being victimized by minorities few of the studies also uphold the findings
by three to one. Studies of TV news on race and the news. Young people of
coverage of crime in Philadelphia, Los color seem to fare as poorly as their elders
Angeles and Chicago found that interracial
on the news — perhaps worse. Finally,
crime was substantially more likely to be some studies find that violence
reported than its actual percentage of
perpetrated by adults upon youth is
crime statistics would predict. These
underreported.
findings are disturbing since people of all
races are far more likely to be killed by News involving youth is violent. Stories
someone of the same race. about youth in newspapers and on
television news are scarce. When they do
Summary. While every content analysis of
appear in the news, youth usually are in
media coverage of crime by and against stories about education or violence.
people of color does not show disparate Relatively few youth are arrested each year
coverage, a clear majority of the research for violent crimes, yet the message from
reveals a disturbing pattern of dispropor- the news is that this is a common
tionate coverage. Consequently, it is likely occurrence.
that most Americans form an erroneous
picture of which groups are violent and One study of newspaper coverage of youth
who suffers most often from crime and in Minnesota concluded that youth “are
violence. In particular, the absence of presented as inevitably bad, and, if left
Black victims, coupled with the repeated untreated, they will inevitably go wrong.”
presence of Black suspects across An analysis of Hawaii’s major dailies over
different sources of news, reinforces 10 years showed a 30-fold increase in
stereotypes about African Ameri-cans as a coverage of youth crime, despite declining
group audiences should fear. rates of youth crime. An analysis
examining 840 newspaper stories and 109

Off Balance 8
network news segments in 1993 showed one out of every 50 (2%) young people in
that 40% of all newspaper stories on California were either victims or
children were about violence, as were 48% perpetrators of violence in 1993. Nearly
of network television news, whereas seven in 10 news stories (68%) on violence
nominal attention was given to topics of in California involved youth, whereas
family, health, or economic concerns. youth made up 14.1% of violence arrests
There was more overall coverage of crime in California that year. (See Figure 2) By
and violence than of all other policy issues contrast, young people had to perform
combined. In a later study that examined extraordinary feats to appear on local
3,172 randomly selected stories on youth television news in non-violence-related
in one year of the Los Angeles Times, circumstances. When youth crime receives
Sacramento Bee, and San Francisco a far larger share of all crime coverage
Chronicle, the newspapers focused largely than youths actually commit, and when
on two topics: education and violence. No youth crime coverage dramatically
other topic rated even a third as much increases while actual youth crime is
attention. Education stories comprised decreasing, the public that relies on media
26% of all stories involving youth. The coverage as its primary source of
authors concluded that this is appropriate information about youth crime is
since the vast majority of youth between misinformed.
the ages of 5 and 17 attend
school and about half continue
after high school. But violence Figure 2: Seven out of 10 local TV news
stories made up 25% of all stories on violence in California involved
youth coverage, when only youth, but young people only made up
three young people in 100 14.1% of violent arrests
perpetrated or became victims
of violence. Young people made up
14.1% of violence arrests in
The circumstances in which California in 1993. **
youth are seen on television
news are similar. A study of 14.1%
youth on local television news
in 1993 examined 214 hours of
local television news broadcast 68%
over 11 days on 26 stations
through-out California. More
than two-thirds of violence
stories involved youth while In 1993, seven out of 10
(68%) of local TV news
more than half of all stories stories on violence in
that included youth involved California involved youth. *
violence. One out of every two
* Dorfman & Woodruff 1998. The study examined 214 hours of local TV news
(53%) TV news stories during October-November 1993.
concerning children or youth ** Youthful arrest data come from the California Department of Criminal Justice's
California Criminal Justice Profile, 1995. Population data come from the California
involved violence, while Department of Finance, Race/Ethnic Population with Age and Sex Detail, 1970-
California crime data show that 2040, December 1998.

9 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

Youth of color fare worse than their committed by adults against teens for
white counterparts. The one study that every violent offense committed by youth
examined youth portrayals in magazines under 18. In another examination of the
had the most to say about race. A Los Angeles Times in 1997, researchers
qualitative analysis of all cover stories in found that nearly one in four murder
Time and Newsweek between 1946-1995 suspects (23.9%) whose ages were
determined that the term “young Black identified in the Times were youth, while
males” became synonymous with the word only one in six homicide arrestees (15.8%)
“criminal” during the late 1960’s when in Los Angeles were youth that year.
Blacks were struggling for equality. A
March 1965 Newsweek article was the Violence against youth is
first to connect crime with Black crime. In underreported. Two studies assessed
later stories in the 1970’s, both Time and whether crimes against young people were
Newsweek portrayed crime as “largely being covered; both studies found that
perpetrated by ‘young Black males’”. Later, crimes perpetrated by adults against
Hispanic males were added to the picture. youth are underreported. Several other
studies that examined depictions of youth
A study of youth crime portrayals in the in the news generally did not detect
New York Times found that Black or substantial coverage of youth as victims of
Latino youth were never quoted directly, violence.
while White youth were quoted in all five
stories in which they appeared. The relative lack of reporting on violence
Furthermore, defense attorneys for White against youth can be juxtaposed with the
youth were quoted 13 times, but attorneys overreporting of homicide by youth as
for youth of color only twice. compared to adults. In a comparison of
youth portrayals in 327 stories from the
Crime news is where all youth are most 1997 Los Angeles Times (Orange County
likely to be seen on TV news, but youth of edition) to crime reports from the Los
color appear in crime news more often Angeles Police Department, researchers
than White youth—52% and 35%, found youth homicides were nearly three
respectively. White youth were present times more likely to be reported in the Los
more often in health or education stories Angeles Times, despite the fact that adults
(13%) than were youth of color (2%). commit and are victims of far more
murders. The authors conclude that the
Youth victims & perpetrators. Only a Times’ coverage scapegoats youth, since
few studies distinguished between youth they commit far fewer crimes than adults.
victims and perpetrators. One found that
homicide victims under age 15 received Journalists ponder why. There are
more coverage in the Los Angeles Times reasons the coverage looks as it does. One
than would be expected based on the is that crime news is easy — everyone
frequency of homicides in that group. knows what it looks like, how to gather it,
Researchers examining the San Francisco and how to report it. Some journalists
Chronicle found more depictions of youth argue that audiences want news about
perpetrators than youth victims, despite violence, though most polls dispute that
crime data that show three crimes argument. Another reason is that news is

Off Balance 10
a business, and reporters, producers, and There are homicides and then there
editors have learned to choose the news are homicides on the police beat. There
they believe will draw the most attractive are homicides I can work hard on and
audience for advertisers. only get this much into the paper. And
then there are the kind that all you
The study of Denver’s “Summer of have to do is mention to the editor,
Violence” offers some insight into “Gotta former district attorney who
newsroom decision-making about which just killed his wife,” and we’re all over
homicides warrant coverage. After it…And as a colleague of mine once
interviewing editors, producers, and said, he had this theory that there
reporters, the researcher concludes that, were misdemeanor murders. That’s
in covering Denver’s “Summer of Violence” not a theory I subscribe to, but he had
in 1993, journalists viewed these mostly a point. Obviously, there are some
White, middle class victims killed by murders that don’t count as much as
minority youth through a predominantly others. A misdemeanor homicide
White middle class lens. Denver Post according to Tony was typically a drug
reporter Steven Lipscher said, for example: dealer [who] wipes out another drug
dealer in an alley somewhere over a
Take a look at our editors over there. business deal gone bad. That is
Take a look at the news editors at the considered a low interest homicide
TV stations. Most of them are White (Emphasis in original).
middle class. Most of them are men
but that doesn’t make a whole lot of Ultimately, individual news workers make
difference here. They live in these nice decisions about what to include in the
middle class neighborhoods and when news of the day based on whether they
those neighborhoods start having personally care about the story. Reporters,
random crime…and it gets close to the editors, and producers have finely honed
suburbs or even in the suburbs where internalized mechanisms that are
these news editors live, you know that triggered by their personal values and
deeply troubles them. When the crime emotional responses, tempered by news
was centered solely on the inner city judgement, experience, and expectations
if we had minority editors, people who of audience response. Standard selection
lived in the inner city, we might have criteria for news stories — controversy,
covered it. But we didn’t and we still conflict, novelty, proximity, significance,
don’t. Inner city crime is not nearly timeliness, visual appeal, practicality —
as shocking as suburban crime and are processed through the personal filters
the only reason why is look at who is of journalists.
writing the stories and look at who is
assigning the stories. Discussion – Creation of a
“Misinformation Synergy”
The White, middle class lens means that
some murders are more important than The public relies on news for its
others, as explained by this Rocky knowledge of crime. We suggest that a
Mountain News reporter: “misinformation synergy” occurs in crime

11 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

news that profoundly misinforms the documented by researchers since 1910?
public. The synergy results from the How can their cumulative choices better
simultaneous and consistent presentation reflect the crime and violence they cover?
of three significant distortions in print and When they make those choices, how can
broadcast news. It is not just that African the media add more context to crime
Americans are overrepresented as coverage so as to improve the viewers’
criminals and underrepresented as understanding of the causes and solutions
victims, or that young people are to violent crime? And what, if anything,
overrepresented as criminals, or that can the public do to get more accurate
violent crime itself is given undue information in the news?
coverage. It is that all three occur together,
combining forces to produce a terribly D. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE
unfair and inaccurate overall image of NEWS MEDIA
crime in America. Add to that a majority of
readers and viewers who rarely have any The overwhelming evidence is that in the
personal experience with crime by Black aggregate, crime coverage is not reflecting
youth, and a White adult population who an accurate picture of who the victims and
must rely on the media to tell them about perpetrators are. The most consistent
minority youth crime, and the result is a finding across media and across time is
perfect recipe for a misinformed public the gross distortion of the types of crime
and misguided power structure. reported in the news. Rather than
informing citizens about their world, the
Each study’s findings, taken alone, may news is reinforcing stereotypes that inhibit
not be cause for alarm. After all, crime is a society’s ability to respond to the problem
serious problem that demands news of crime, including juvenile crime. This is
attention and political action. an admittedly difficult problem to fix,
given the many constraints of daily
But if news audiences are taking the crime journalism. Nonetheless, it is way past
coverage at face value, they are accepting time to try to create a more accurate
a serious distortion. They are likely to overall picture of crime, who suffers from
believe that most crime is extremely it, and what can be done to prevent it. To
violent and that perpetrators are Black begin to address this dilemma, we suggest
and victims, White. If news audiences that reporters, editors, and producers
have little contact with young people, they expand their sources; provide context for
are likely to believe that youth are crime news; increase enterprise and
dangerous threats, in part because there investigative journalism; balance stories
are so few other representations of youth about crime and youth with stories about
in the news to the contrary. youth generally; conduct and discuss
Since every news outlet can’t cover every content audits of their own news; and
crime, the question then becomes, how examine the story selection process,
should editors, producers, and reporters adjusting if necessary.
choose which crimes to cover? How can
the picture be made more accurate? How
can print and broadcast journalists make
choices that minimize the distortions

Off Balance 12
1. Expand sources beyond police and in the news as education. This exaggerates
courts. Health departments and coroner’s the rate of violence, particularly since 52
offices are good sources of homicide data. million young people go to school but only
Hospital admission data, though not 125,000 are arrested for violent crimes
always available for a breaking story, can each year. What issues affect them? What
help reporters put crime and its other newsworthy activities are they
consequences in perspective. Other social engaged in?
agency employees and community
residents have information about 5. Conduct periodic audits of news
neighborhood life pertinent to crime content and share the results with
stories. Reporters need to cultivate these readers and viewers. Newspapers and
sources the same way they cultivate the television newsrooms should periodically
local beat cops. pause to examine their content. An audit
would look beyond the evening ratings and
2. Provide context for crime in regular sales numbers to ask the question: If the
reporting. In almost every area of news — only information our readers and viewers
sports, business, politics, entertainment got was from our news, what would they
— general information is integrated with know about youth and violence? What
spot reports and the news makes sense of wouldn’t they know? Assess whether the
events for audiences by placing them in a news gives readers and viewers enough
larger context, if not in the same article, information to deliberate their
then with additional graphics or sidebars community’s problems.
or standing reports. Stories on crime and
youth could be treated with equal depth 6. Examine the story selection process,
and breadth. and use restraint when necessary. Who
qualifies as newsworthy in the newsroom?
3. Bolster enterprise and increase Who doesn’t? Of course, news outlets
investigative journalism. This cannot stop telling unusual stories, but
recommendation requires adequate they need not tell every one, thereby
investment in the practice of journalism. overwhelming readers and viewers with a
Reporters need the time and resources to cumulative misrepresentation, especially
cultivate sources, investigate leads, and when it means there is not room for less
identify the connections between sensational but more important news. Is
seemingly isolated events. They need perceived victim “worthiness” the
support for understanding the patterns in unspoken criteria for whether a murder is
a community so that they recognize when selected for the news? Reporters should
an event is important and interesting, not ask themselves: Who qualifies as a worthy
just interesting. victim in my newsroom? Who doesn’t? If
reporters limit themselves to reporting
4. Balance stories about crime and what just happened without considering
youth with stories about youth in how that crime fits into larger patterns,
general. News organizations must pull the news is doomed to be distorted.
back their lens to get a broader picture of
what else young people are doing. When it
comes to youth, violence is as prominent

13 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

E. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHILD their needs and to jointly seek solutions to
ADVOCATES, YOUTH GROUPS AND the complex issues raised in this and
other reports about coverage of youth
CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS
crime. We Interrupt This Message, an
advocacy group that conducted two of the
While most of this report and these
studies discussed in this report, took its
recommendations have focused on what
findings on disproportionate youth crime
the news media can and should do to
portrayals directly to the San Francisco
improve crime coverage, there is much
Chronicle and the New York Times. In
that the community can do to help
2000, Suffolk University’s law school held
generate a fairer depiction of youth crime.
a forum which brought together reporters
from the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald,
1. Work with the media to give a more
and several electronic media with lawyers
accurate picture of youth crime.
and community groups that work with
Because of the juvenile justice system’s
young people for a productive exchange of
historic confidentiality protections, many
ideas about coverage of youth crime. In
child advocates refuse to talk to reporters
recent years, civil rights groups like the
about the context of individual cases. This
NAACP and the National Council of La
places a serious and sometimes
Raza have highlighted the scarcity of
insurmountable burden on reporters when
minority representation on network
they try to tell a more complete story. It
programming. Although these efforts
can also result in depictions of youths as
concerned entertainment media, there is
monolithic criminals whose delinquency is
no reason to believe that similar efforts to
presented without important contributing
educate news media about depictions of
antecedents. Child advocates and lawyers
minority offenders and victims would fall
must develop creative ways to tell a more
on deaf ears.
contextual story about youth crime
without jeopardizing their clients’
3. Make data available. Journalists need
confidentiality. Advocacy groups can
local data to make national problems
conduct their own audits of crime
relevant for their audiences. Share
coverage, as some youth groups have
information with the media so journalists
done, and directly engage media outlets in
can learn about local patterns, incorporate
dialogue about youth crime coverage. Civil
that information into daily stories, and
rights groups which have successfully
give citizens the information they need to
demanded diversification in entertainment
make better decisions about violence
media should now turn their attention and
prevention policy.
creativity to the disparate coverage of
youth crime.
4. Prepare young people to speak for
themselves, then give them the
2. Engage the media in a dialogue about
opportunity to do so. Youth are
their coverage. Further, child advocates,
becoming involved in advocacy efforts
youth groups and civil rights groups need
about juvenile justice and violence
to begin to engage news outlets as
prevention from coast to coast. Give young
consumers to educate the media about
people the training and support they need
to speak confidently about the work they

Off Balance 14
are doing to improve their communities for
themselves and others. Increasing the
visibility of young people in the news will
help balance the current picture. Create
situations where you can introduce young
people to journalists so they can begin
establishing themselves as sources on
their own.

5. Make yourself available to the media.

Youth advocates and researchers cannot
have an impact on the coverage of youth
crime if journalists don’t know they exist,
if they cannot find spokespeople when
they need them, or if advocates do not
respond to their requests for information
in a timely manner. Sometimes, this will
be difficult, because breaking stories
about youth crime do not always arise at
convenient times. But advocates’
availability as experts or alternative voices
prior to deadline can help shape coverage
and put youth violence into its proper
context.

15 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

 THE AUTHORS

Lori Dorfman is Director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group where she
directs the group's work with community groups, journalists and public
health professionals. Dr. Dorfman's current research examines how local
television news and newspapers portray youth and violence. She edited
Reporting on Violence, a handbook for journalists illustrating how to include
a public health perspective in violence reporting, published by BMSG. Based
on this work, she is part of an interdisciplinary team that is conducting
workshops on violence reporting for newspapers and local TV news stations.
Dr. Dorfman teaches a course for masters students on mass communication
and public health at the School of Public Health at the University of
California, Berkeley. She has published articles on public health and mass
communication, and co-authored Public Health and Media Advocacy: Power
for Prevention, (Sage Publications, 1993) and News for a Change: An
advocates' guide to working with the media (Sage Publications, 1999). Dr.
Dorfman consults for government agencies and community programs across
the U.S. and internationally on a variety of public health issues including
violence prevention and injury control, alcohol control, tobacco control,
children's health, child care, childhood lead poisoning, affirmative action,
nutrition and exercise, and women and HIV/AIDS.

Vincent Schiraldi is founder and president of the Center on Juvenile and

Criminal Justice and its research and public policy arm, the Justice Policy
Institute. He has a 20-year history of research, public education, and direct
services in the criminal/juvenile justice field. Mr. Schiraldi served on the
California Blue Ribbon Commission on Inmate Population Management,
the National Criminal Justice Commission, and the San Francisco Juvenile
Probation Commission and as an advisor to the California Commission on
the Status of African American Men. His research findings and
commentaries have been covered in print and on electronic media
throughout the country including Nightline, the Today Show, the New York
Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science
Monitor, the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, evening newscasts for ABC, CBS,
and NBC; National Public Radio, CNN, and the BBC, among others. He is
a regular commentator on Washington, DC's public radio station, WAMU.
Mr. Schiraldi has a Masters Degree in Social Work from New York University.

Off Balance 16
 Berkeley Media Studies Group

The Berkeley Media Studies Group operates out of the belief that the mass
media, especially the news, have a significant influence on people's beliefs
and actions regarding public health and social issues and that the news
media can be a powerful force for change. BMSG works with community
groups, journalists and public health professionals to harness the power
of the media to advance healthy public policy. BMSG studies the news and
news gathering to support professional education for journalists and media
advocacy training for grass roots and public health leadership groups. BMSG
is a project of the Public Health Institute.

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice/Justice Policy Institute

The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice is a private, non-profit

organization devoted to reducing society's reliance on incarceration as a
solution to social problems. The Center provides advocacy services and
direct services on behalf of youth and adults facing incarceration throughout
the country, with offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Baltimore, and
Philadelphia. The Justice Policy Institute (JPI) is the research and public
policy arm of the Center. Among other research topics, JPI has produced
analyses of the disproportionate confinement of minorities in adult and
juvenile institutions, the growing impact of America's drug war, the tradeoff
between funding prisons and universities, and the impact of imprisoning
youth with adults.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Diane

Camper, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Meda Chesney-Lind, University of Hawaii;
Frank Gilliam, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles; Mike Males, Ph.D.,
University of California, Santa Cruz; John McManus, PhD, Berkeley Media
Studies Group; Mark Soler, President of the Youth Law Center; Susan Sorenson,
PhD, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Lawrence
Wallack, DrPH, Portland State University; Jason Ziedenberg, Senior Researcher
at the Justice Policy Institute and staff from the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice for their review of
and advice on this research. We would also like to thank Alea Brown, intern
with the Justice Policy Institute, and Maria Len Rios, School of Journalism,
University of Missouri, for their research assistance for this report, Jill
Herschman, Systems Administrator for the Justice Policy Institute for layout,
graphics work, and internet posting of this report, and Phyllis Schultze,
Information Specialist, Rutgers Law Library, for her database search assistance.

17 Youth, Race & Crime in the News

 Youth Law Center
1010 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 310
Washington, DC 20005-4902
202 637-0377
www.buildingblocksforyouth.org