INTRODUCTION

Crime related television has experienced a boom in the last half decade thanks to shows
like Making a Murderer, Crime Patrol and the podcast Serial, along with many
fictionalized depictions of crimes.

With a large booming interest in this genre of programming, the question of the ethicality
of such programming was brought into the spotlight. The question at hand is that
whether these crime-related TV shows has severe detrimental repercussions or are
beneficial to the society as a whole.

There are many schools of thoughts to approach this issue and every approach has its
own merits related to it. Despite this conundrum at hand, it is an imperative that we
conclude to favor a particular school of thought which serves the best interest of the
society.

The following are a few considerable arguments which will be elaborated in this project

With regards to the benefit of Crime-related television

Such programming informs society of the evils that are present and provides them
with the knowledge to approach them. True Crime Documentaries helps people to
paint a more accurate picture of the world at hand and also bring to light many
issues that they were unaware of.
Such programming can inform people and helps them in identifying the signs of a
probable crime before it is executed and also the appropriate actions to be taken
in the given circumstances.
These shows bring to the front the inner working of police and the effective
method adopted by them with regards to solving criminal offences. This would
instill a sense of security and confidence in or law enforcement.
Such programming brings to light current issue and helps people to have a more
well-informed view of the world upon which they can make informed discussions.
This includes many laws that are in place and the state of affairs at the present
moment
With regards to the negative connotations of Crime-related television

Such programming can cause people to become overcautious of each other. This
poisons relationship people have with each other as it would paint the world in a
dark and cynical manner. This change will have a greater effect on younger people
like kids and teenagers as they are in a state of mental growth.
These shows depict gruesome and heinous crimes in great detail which can have
severe effects on mentally disturbed people and could cause such people to
become more mentally ill.
Such programming along with informing people also provides knowledge to
criminals and soon to be criminals. This helps them learn about the working of
law enforcement and can provide them with an edge which would make the job of
law enforcement more challenging.
Many programs might quote on quote True Crime Documentaries might
dramatize or misrepresent the facts and events which would cause the people to
have a misinformed view of the crime at hand and their society as a whole.
OBJECTIVE
In our project, we will attempt to investigate these issues with greater depth and to
answer the following questions

Should crime related television to be aired or not and if they are permitted to be
aired should there be a censorship and guidelines enforces
What should be the demographics for such programming. And what would be the
appropriate time slot for such programming
Is such a genre of programming beneficial or detrimental to society as a whole.
Depending on the answers to the previous questions we will attempt to find effective
alternatives which, nullify or minimize the negative repercussions of the show of the
show.

CASE STUDIES
Functional Fear and Public Insecurities About Crime: -
Dr Jackson analyzed responses from 2,844 Londoners who were asked how worried they
were by crime and whether the quality of their life was affected both by worry itself but
also by the precautions they took.

Sparks and Susan Huelsing Sarapin Theory:-

Glenn Sparks, a professor of communication and his student conducted 103 surveys
with adults about crime television show viewing and found that Heavy TV-crime viewers
consistently overestimated the frequency of crime in the real world. "Many people die as a
result of being murdered in these types of shows, and we found the heavy TV-crime
viewers estimated two and a half times more real-world deaths due to murder than non-
viewers, says Sparks.

Mudassar Abdullah and Nik Adzrieman B. Abd Rahman s study:-

Children who are at their behavioral developmental phase are more susceptible to adopt
negative behavioral leanings. In this research effort, introduction and detail of TV crime
shows in Pakistan are provided, the literature concerning media as risk factor in
children's development is discussed, and relevant theories inferences are deliberated. It
was found that media has powerful role in behavior formulating of children and violence
media portrayal may appear with grave concerns

The leader of the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit on Criminal Minds: -

Jason Gideon, departed the show after season two for reasons revolving around
familiarity of the dark scenarios. The actor playing the character of Gideon, Mandy
Patinkin, has since stated the highly watched program as his biggest public mistake.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaires will be prepared related to the viewpoint of people regarding the issues of
display of these shows and violence. This questionnaire will be provided to different age
groups and their responses recorded. According to the data collected from this survey,
conclusions will be drawn about the opinions that the people hold and their rationality
for holding their respective viewpoints.
PEC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SYNOPSIS
ON
IMPACTS OF
VIOLENCE IN TV
SHOWS
Submitted by :

Sidharth Bhandari (16103001)

Pranjali Soni (16103018)

Nikita Gupta (16103022)

Krittika Chhabra (16103035)

Shivam Sehgal (16103037)

Sunpriya Kaur Bhatia (16103051)

Vaibhav Setia (16103069)

Noordeep Kaur (16103091)