Profiles in Character: on Crime


Heinous crimes no longer news: exposure lowers norms

Because of increased exposure to the strange or abnormal, we consciously lower the parameters of what we tolerate as acceptable behavior. Consider the extensive coverage of the 1929 Valentine’s Day Massacre, involving the killing of 7 gangsters during Prohibition. In contrast, in a recent drug execution in which 3 people were slain, the story appeared only in the second section of the newspaper, at the bottom of the page. The contrast demonstrates not our approval of violent crime, but rather our trivialization of such crime, our growing accustomed to violent acts or other kinds of behavior that skirt the bounds of decency.

Crime is no longer outrageous to us. We do not put the routine stories of heinous behavior on the front page anymore because they are no longer abnormal. Only the truly outrageous makes the front page. These journalistic decisions should be taken as a warning. Do we now treat our societal dysfunctions as if they were only part of a TV show, surrealistic & out of reach?

Source: Profiles in Character, by Jeb Bush & B.Yablonski, p. 39-41 Nov 1, 1995

  • The above quotations are from Profiles in Character, by Jeb Bush & B.Yablonski.
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Page last updated: Feb 21, 2019