ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the mass media represents crime, criminals and victims of crime. It examines some developments in the media and the impact they have had on crime and the reporting of it. The chapter considers how new forms of electronic media have altered the relationship between the media, crime and justice. Crime via the Internet has become known as cybercrime. The victims of the crimes range from governments and businesses to individuals and many tend to be from particularly vulnerable groups. Cybercrime is not a minor or minority area of criminal behaviour; its costs and extent in human and economic terms are enormous and growing. ‘The Internet has created a transnational environment that provides entirely new opportunities for harmful activities currently the subject of existing criminal or civil law.’ The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre said the proliferation of indecent images online and the spread of high-speed Internet connections were putting more children at risk.
