Media influences on public perceptions of sex offenders: impact on policy and practice
2013
It is difficult to consider the wider issue of the management and treatment of
sex offenders without some appreciation of the influence of the media. This
is said to have a powerful (and overwhelmingly negative) impact upon the
public’s view of sex offending and sex offenders, particularly with regard to
offences against children. The media are said (e.g. Thomas 2005: 23) to claim
to speak on behalf of the public in wanting punitive and ‘risk averse’ responses
to such offences, and to hold themselves up as moral guardians and crusaders
‘protecting our children’. At the same time, there are those who would accuse
the media of being part of the problem of sex offending by dint of the way in
which they report sexual matters in general by creating moral panics (Cohen
1972) on the one hand while also being implicated in the sexualisation of
children and the normalisation of more laissez-faire attitudes to sex and
sexuality on the other.
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