ABSTRACT
This chapter describes media portrayal of crime, and looks at how criminals are represented. It considers how the different categories of criminal are shown and reported by the media. The chapter explains the ways in which the age of criminals influences media representations. As well as there being a strong link between age and crime, there is also a strong relationship between gender and crime. The media portrayal of elderly criminals has to be seen in the context of the increasing numbers of elderly offenders. Although there are many more offenders than prisoners, prison statistics can help illustrate trends in data on offenders. Most reports of female offenders are dichotomized into those who fit the male gaze, those who are physically attractive, and those who are the opposite and physically unattractive. The chapter discusses the use of the fictional and ‘real’ female offender within television and film.
