John,
Misleading news coverage of crime and justice policies has played an integral role in the 50-year history of mass incarceration. Newsrooms should strive to more accurately and critically cover these issues. The Sentencing Project’s updated Media Guide: 10 Crime Coverage Dos and Don’ts can help media outlets develop coverage that will inform the public and policymakers on how to pursue the most effective and humane public safety policies.
U.S. crime rates increased dramatically beginning in the 1960s, but between 1991 and 2019 crime rates fell by about half. However during this crime drop, polls showed that most Americans continued to believe that crime rates were increasing. As certain crimes began climbing in 2020, driven by the turbulence of the pandemic, it has become especially important for the media to ensure that its crime coverage is accurate and complete. Included among the media guide’s recommendations: - Critically assess whether the “tough on crime” label should be adopted for ineffective policies;
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Note the limited and declining role of youth crimes;
- Recognize that growing prison terms for violent crimes are a key driver of mass incarceration and have been proven to be largely ineffective;
- Accurately present crime survivors as having a complexity of views regarding sentencing;
- Conduct a racial equity audit on the quantity and quality of crime coverage.
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