Browsing by Author "Perverseff, Tara Lee"

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    Constructing gender differences: media accounts of female and male youth crime
    (2002) Perverseff, Tara Lee; Gibbs-Van Brunschot, Erin
    This thesis examines the social construction of youth crime in the news media. Specifically, the focus is on the differences (and similarities) in newspaper accounts of young female and male offenders and victims. Various themes and images are presented and compared with respect to young victims and offenders. Using qualitative content analysis of newspapers, findings illustrate different images of youthful offenders and victims and how these differences are reflective of their gender status. The media images of youthful offending and victimization vary by sex of the offender and victim. The news media's general commentary on youth crime, for example, the impact of crime on the community, is further considered to present an overall picture of the images of youth crime. From the media's social construction of youth crime, it appears as though youth crime is a serious problem and that images of youth identified in media accounts suggest that crime is pervasive.