track

with regional crime rates, news producers can improve
the representativeness of their coverage. More nuanced
attention is also needed to improve how – not just how
much – crime reporting differs by race. Content analysis
can help to identify racial disparities in the extent to
which suspects are presented in non-individualized and
threatening ways. In addition to these recommendations,
media producers should address implicit racial bias using
the tools described later in this report.
CONTEXTUALIZE SENTENCING AND CRIME
STORIES
By reporting on criminal sentences that are representative,
and documenting their lifelong consequences, news
producers can help to educate the public about the reality
of existing penalties. By contextualizing specific crime
stories or policy debates within crime trends, they can
avoid creating the impression of a false crisis. Correctly
reporting on crime trends in part requires recognizing the
difference between the Department of Justice’s two crime
measures: the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program
and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). 222
The UCR measures crimes reported to the police – which
are affected by changes in victim reporting and police
categorization practices – as well as arrests – which are
heavily influenced by law enforcement practices. The
NCVS measures crime victimization regardless of whether
incidents were reported to or cleared by the police. The
two data sources sometimes depict conflicting trends. 223
Noting these nuances and accurately reporting levels of
crime and sentencing would help both policymakers and
the public develop more informed views about crime
policies.
IMPROVE PUBLIC OPINION POLLING AND
REPORTING
Researchers and pollsters play a crucial role in measuring
and representing public opinion. Given the repercussions
of presenting distorted measures, the wording and
formats of some survey questions should be revised to
not exaggerate the public’s support for punitive policies.
As described in Section II, Americans are far less
supportive of the death penalty when provided with life
imprisonment as a sentencing option. And although the
public expresses a great deal of pragmatism in its views of
crime policy – supporting not just punishment, but also
rehabilitation and prevention – this range of preferences
is lost in many reports.
B. POLICYMAKERS
Policymakers have never simply followed public opinion;
they have also shaped it through their words and work.
Elected officials can therefore lead by educating the
public about the harms of excessive punishment, as
they are beginning to do in the United States and have
been doing in other countries. Canadians are as punitive
as Americans, but their government has less severe
sentences. 224 England and France abolished the death
penalty at a time when their populations supported the
sanction, but now the majority of British and French
residents oppose executions. 225 With years of declining
crime rates and reduced public punitiveness, American
policymakers have the opportunity to develop criminal
justice policies that are morally sound, fiscally responsible,
and effective.
222 Federal Bureau of Investigation (2004). Crime in the United States 2004. Washington, D.C. Available at: https://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/
appendices/appendix_04.html.
223 Blumstein, A. (2004). Disaggregating the Violence Trends. In Blumstein, A. & Wallman, J. (eds.) The Crime Drop in America, pp. 13–44. New York,
NY: Cambridge University Press; Beckett & Sasson (2004), note 111 above (pp. 13–23).
224 Kugler, M. B., Funk, F., Braun, J., Gollwitzer, M., Kay, A.C., Darley, J.M. (2013). Differences in Punitiveness Across Three Cultures: A Test of American
Exceptionalism in Justice Attitudes. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 103(4), 1071–1114.
225 Death Penalty Information Center (2014). International Polls and Studies. Washington, D.C. Available at: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
international-polls-and-studies-0.
Race and Punishment: Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punitive Policies 37