Violent Crime
Violent crime is where the offender utilizes force on the victim. Violent crime is normally associated with violent actions with the main objective being to murder. There are cases whereby violence is the only means of crime, for example, in cases of robbery. Weapons such as guns, knives, machetes are normally used in committing violent crimes. Statistics have it that males are the main victims of violent crime except for the case of rape in women. According to the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, violent crime is characterized by intense assault, murder, robbery, physical attack and aggressive rape. The following is a description of the difference between media depiction and the reality of crime taking into account the film The Killer Inside Me.
The Killer Inside Me is an American film which was produced in the year 2010 with Michel Winterbottom as the director. The film was tailored from the 1952 novel with a similar name and authored by Jim Thompson. There were several criticisms on the explicit depiction of violence and crime in the movie which was mainly directed at women. Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is the pillar of the society in Texas town. Despite showing well-liked and patient characteristics, Lou has violent tastes for sex. Actually, he is a sociopath with dangerous sexual desires. Lou started raping women when he was a teenager. One day, Lou was found sexually insulting a five-year-old girl but his brother Mike took the blame to protect Lou. Mike pleaded guilty to the crime and was sent to prison. Later on, after Mike was released from prison, he got employment with a Construction Company. He was, however, murdered by Conway by brutally pushing him from a cliff. Lou continued insulting women and killing them, for example, after raping Joyce and Elmer, he ended up killing them. Lou was also accused of killing Johnnie. Lou actually turned up to be homicidal and ended up killing his best friend Amy and accused bum of the crime. Bum is later murdered by Jeff Plummer who is Lou’s deputy.
The crime portrayed in the film The Killer Inside Me is more violent, dangerous and random as compared to the real world. This is, however, common in most movies and TV shows. Lou is a town Deputy Sheriff who is supposed to be the pillar of society but, inside, he is homicidal with dangerous sexual desires. Nevertheless, such a thing cannot happen in real life; a person cannot commit many crimes for a long period of time and get away with it as easily as Lou did. This shows that media presentation of crime is actually not true; they tend to exaggerate things. They do not present the true facts: crime in media is more complex as compared to those that occur in real life. There is an actually high level of hypocrisy in the way media present and report the crime.
In conclusion, the majority of people become aware of crime largely through the media such as by watching television shows, movies or films. Viewers usually internalize the crime images they watch on the media, thus, developing a fear of being victims of crime. This leads to mistrust, fear and alienation in society. These people normally end up having fear of crimes such as sexual assault and murder. Nevertheless, the media tends to exaggerate the manner in which they present crime making people fear more. Research has it that those people who watch more television are more likely to live in fear of crime. It is therefore advisable that people should avoid watching too much television to prevent them from living in fear of crime victimization.