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The Influence Of Technology, Media, & Popular Culture On Criminal Behavior: Copycat Crime & Cybercrime “Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die sometime.” -- 18 year-old Devin Moore Technology-Related Risk Factors for Criminal Behavior Criminologists can no longer ignore the ways in which media and computer technology shape criminal behavior. With the unprecedented exposure to and influence of media and popular culture it is increasingly important to examine the unique role that technology-related factors play in motivating and shaping criminal behavior. Technology breeds false familiarity, blurs fantasy and reality, and provides a virtual realm that mediates conscience. This has important implications for the study of criminal behavior. Technological advances have impacted criminal behavior in three ways: 1) Mass Communication Technology has transformed media and popular culture into a powerful influence on offender behavior. 2) Computer Technology has created new avenues and different opportunities for criminal behavior. 3) Investigative Technology has altered methods used by offenders and the types of crimes they engage in. Technology-Related Subtypes Copycat Crime Cybercrime • Copycat crime and cybercrime are likely to become a significant part of the crime landscape in the 21st century. •Copycat crime and cybercrime are subtypes that can cut across all of the major crime categories while maintaining distinct features. •In some respects, copycat and cybercrime represent more the process by which criminal behavior occurs rather than a type of crime. •Both copycat and cybercrime can be violent, sex, economic, public order, or political crimes. Copycat and cyber crime are unique in that technology shapes their nature and presentation. The Criminogenic Effects of Mass Media Technology Electronic media presents greater concerns than print media because there is a larger at-risk pool of individuals who can be criminally influenced (Surette, 1990) We live in a “Historically unprecedented context of hyperaestheticized mass-culture” (Black, 1991,p. 136). Technologies have become more culturally dominant as an information source. This increases the probability that people (particularly adolescents) will use this information as a tool to understand themselves and others (Lloyd, 2002). MEDIA INFLUENCE Virtually all families with children have a TV with at least one VCR or DVD player, and most (approx 75%) subscribe to cable or satellite TV. 7 in 10 families with children own a computer and have a video-game system. In their bedrooms, the majority of American children have a TV (30% of children age 0-3), 33-39% age 2-17 have a video-game player, 30% have a VCR, and 6-11% have Internet access. Children spend more time consuming entertainment media than engaging in any other activity besides sleeping and school (avg. 4 hrs per day in front of a TV or computer screen). 25% of 6th graders watch more than 40 hours of TV per week. On any given Saturday morning at 10 a.m., 60% of American 6-11 yearolds are watching TV. Surette on Copycat Crime See Surette, R. (1998). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images and realities. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. To be a copycat, a crime “must have been inspired by an earlier, publicized crime … there must be a pair of crimes linked by the media” (Surette, 1998, p. 137). Copycat phenomenon affects crime in two ways: 1) As a trigger – creating crime that wouldn’t otherwise occur turning law abiding citizens into criminals. As a shaper – giving ideas to already active criminals, molding rather than triggering crime. Copycat Crime Revisited It’s time to revisit and revive Surette and others’ work on copycat crime to develop an integrated theoretical framework for empirical research examining the influence of the copycat effect on criminal behavior. Copycat crime is often thought of in terms of crimes that mimic news representation of actual events. However, fiction may be more powerful than reality in terms of its power to inspire copycat crimes (Black, 1990; Fister, 2005). DEFINITION OF COPYCAT CRIME: A crime inspired by another crime that has been publicized in the news media or fictionally or artistically represented whereby the offender incorporates aspects of the original offense into a new crime. Anecdotal Evidence of Copycat Crime NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994) - linked to a dozen murders in the U.S, Canada, and Europe and to school shooter cases including Columbine. Three copycats involved male/female pairs who went on murder sprees including the 1995 robbery/murder spree of 18 year-old Benjamin Darras and Sarah Edmondson that led to a civil suit against NBK director Oliver Stone that went to the U.S. Supreme court before it was dismissed in 2001; Four murders committed by 19 year-old Florence Rey and 22 year-old boyfriend Audry Maupin dubbed “France’s Natural Born Killers"; and 1998 case involving Veronique Herbert and Sebastien Paindavoine who murdered a 16 year-old boy in a sex set-up right out of the film. THE MATRIX (1999, 2003) - Associated with a half a dozen murders. In several of the offenders’ trials (including D.C. Sniper shooter John Malvo), the Matrix was woven into the defendant’s insanity defense. In at least two cases (Lynne Ansley in Ohio in 2002 and Vadim Mieseges San Francisco in 2003) the “matrix defense” resulted in a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. GRAND THEFT AUTO VICE CITY (2002) –18 year-old Devin Moore allegedly played the game for hours before stealing a car and gunning down two police officers and a 911 dispatcher in 2003. When captured he said “Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die some time.” At trial, it was revealed that he was a compulsive violent video game player who suffered from childhood abuserelated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Moore’s attorney’s argued the “GTA defense” -- that he lost touch with reality and was acting out the virtual violence in GTA. Despite his attorney’s efforts, the GTA defense was unsuccessful and Moore was sentenced to death in 2005. Cultural Artifacts Associated with Copycat Crime – Examples Heathers (film) Taxi Driver (film) Catcher in the Rye (novel) The Secret Agent (novel) Ice T’s Cop Killer (music/lyrics) Dungeons & Dragons (role playing game) Slayer (heavy metal band) Beavis & Butthead (cartoon) Jack Ass (TV show/film) The Basketball Diaries (novel/film) Sopranos (TV show) Scream (film) … Doom/Doom II (computer game) Grand Theft Auto (computer game) Thelma & Louise (film) Mapplethorpe (photographer) Gone in 60 Seconds (film) Money Train (film) Burning Bed (TV movie) Marilyn Manson (musician) Starsky & Hutch (TV show) Menace II Society (film) TV news and print news media Child’s Play 3 (film) Battle Royale (film) Summary Technology, media, and popular culture shape offender motivation, modus operandi, and play a role in neutralizing guilt and providing justification for offenders’ actions. It is important to consider technology as a potential risk factor for criminal behavior for some individuals. Technological influences on criminal behavior exist along a continuum. Copycat crime and cybercrime as two distinct subtypes of criminal behavior that involve technological influence. Technology will play an increasingly salient role in influencing offender motivation and modus operandi in a segment of offenses and it is important that criminological theory and research examine technology as a risk factor for criminal behavior..