ABSTRACT
Another point to keep in mind is how perceptions about racial groups affect individuals’ fears and views of crime rates. Racial stereotypes and fears may be reinforced by crime reporting by the media that, evidence shows, overrepresents Blacks in stories of criminal perpetrators and that minimize their portrayal as victims of crime. If Whites rather than Blacks are continuously portrayed as the victims, Whites may begin to be more fearful of crime than warranted by the facts, and the lack of attention paid to groups that are the most victimized may result in less public support for policies that would lessen their rate of victimization ( Bjornstrom et al. 2010 ).
