Juvenile Violence as a Social Problem : Trends, Media Attention and Societal Response

This article challenges the view that juvenile violence is rapidly increasing in Western Europe. The studies portraying such an increase are far too reliant on official crime statistics. In countries where alternative data are available, these often present a different picture. It is thus possible that the way violence is viewed in society and the subsequent response to juvenile offending have changed, leading to a deviancy amplification spiral. This hypothesis is examined using results from two Swedish studies, the one on changes in the media treatment of violence, the other on changes in schools’ reaction to violence. The concluding discussion highlights the role of the media as actor and arena respectively in the creation of this altered reaction