ABSTRACT
In the wake of the widespread social and political changes experienced by Europe during the 1990s, there has been a marked increase in crime rates, accompanied by mounting public fear, particularly in Eastern European states. This has resulted in both an increased sense of freedom and, on the other hand, increased East–West migration due to continuing domestic problems in the former Eastern Bloc countries (Kury and Obergfell-Fuchs, 1996). The largely uncensored free press in the East has merely increased levels of public anxiety. For example, ever-increasing competition between media moguls contributed to the extensive coverage of a few spectacular crimes, such as the murder of James Bulger by two ten-year-old boys in England in 1993.
