Juvenile Crime & Media in North Carolina:1986-2001

• In Event: Crime in the Media: Perceptions and Reality

Abstract

The early 1990s saw a rise in the number of violent juvenile crimes. As a result of this increase in juvenile crime and based on predictions about a growing population of male youth of color. Political Scientist John predicted that because of these violent young boys, the number of juveniles in custody would triple by 2010. Dilulio’s predictions had the intended effect, setting off a panic made worse by a few highly publicized acts of youth violence. As a result, 38 states including North Carolina passed legislation to deal with juvenile offenders more punitively. Research has since suggested that the moral panic about juvenile crime in the early 1990s reflected news coverage not actual crime trends. The purpose of this study is to investigate the connection between news coverage of violent juvenile crime and actual violent juvenile crime in North Carolina. The results suggest that crime was not over-reported during the early 1990s, but there is a possibility that due to mass school shootings in the late 1990s, there may have been an over-reporting of violent juvenile crime. This

Author

• Zimife Umeh, Duke University