Verified by 
There are a number of popular myths surrounding the commission of homicide in our society which are perpetuated and reinforced by the news and entertainment media. These myths are mostly based on common stereotypes involving gender and race.
One such myth is that murder is primarily inter-racial—that is, blacks killing whites and whites killing blacks, etc. Another popular myth is that women, generally, and young, white women, particularly, are the most likely victims of homicide. Both of these popular assumptions are entirely incorrect.
Such myths and others like them are dangerous because they give everyone, including policy makers in the government, a distorted picture of homicide.
Much of the general public’s knowledge concerning homicide is a product of stylized and incorrect depictions of such events in the news and entertainment media. Colorful and sensationalized stories are presented in order to pique the interest of commercial audiences, not to paint an accurate picture of either the perpetrators or victims of homicide.
And it does not matter to the news media if alleged offenders are guilty or not. For example, Amanda Knox was vilified by the media around the world prior to her murder trial in Italy. She was later completely exonerated but is now in the process of rebuilding her life.
By focusing on atypical cases, particularly those involving attractive, young, white women, the media captivate the public with sensationalized depictions of the females involved, and create the erroneous impression that such cases are far more prevalent than they really are. In other words, the use of hyperbole and stereotypes by the news and entertainment media perpetuate popular myths regarding the characteristics and patterns of murder in the U.S.
The media are not alone in their misrepresentation of homicide to the public. Law enforcement professionals and other criminal justice practitioners also contribute to homicide myths involving race and gender. Homicides cases in which a young, white female is either the victim or perpetrator are extremely rare.
Because they are so rarely encountered in real life, there is a tendency among homicide detectives and other practitioners to generalize between incidents. More precisely, their lack of exposure to such cases leads investigators to extrapolate rare anecdotal knowledge from one incident and apply it to another.
As a result of this practice, certain stereotypes take root among law enforcement authorities regarding the nature of homicide cases involving white females. Such stereotypes and inaccuracies are passed on to the general public through the news media in official police statements regarding these atypical cases.
Ever since the televised trial of Pamela Smart in 1991, murder cases involving a young, white, female offender generate tremendous interest and curiosity among the public. In such cases, the public’s massive appetite for information and images leads to the equivalent of a screaming match between competing media outlets that vie for the public’s limited attention.
People can only watch one television network at a time, and sensationalized and exaggerated content attracts viewers, so the television networks try to outdo one another by offering the most shocking information and images possible to lure viewers. The so-called news that results from their frenzied competition is often filled with stereotypes and exaggerations.
The normal routines of crime news reporting almost guarantee that inaccuracies and exaggerations will be presented to the public in high-profile, atypical cases. This has to do with the nature of the relationship between the news media and the police. More specifically, a quid pro quo relationship exists between the news media and law enforcement which leads them to cooperatively disseminate misinformation without either party being aware of it.
In the normal routines of news reporting, journalists rely on state authorities to provide both the official definitions of crime and the details of a particular case, so they generally report what they are told without question. Conversely, law enforcement authorities rely on the news media to disseminate their official statements, policies and status reports to the public.
Given the symbiotic nature of their relationship, it is in the best mutual interests of the news media and law enforcement authorities to cooperate with one another and not to question each other’s motives. This situation is exacerbated in unusual, high-profile cases where law enforcement authorities are under tremendous pressure to explain and solve the murder, while the public’s insatiable demand for graphic, news information on the case outweighs journalistic integrity.
In such instances, popular stereotypes, myths and hyperbole become standard fair in both police and news accounts of the case. In chapter seven, I explain in greater detail and also critique the symbiotic relationship that exists between law enforcement authorities and the news media—a relationship that leads to the spreading of myths about young, white, female killers.
I examine the public’s intense fascination with notorious and deadly serial killers, including David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) and Dennis Rader (“Bind, Torture, Kill”) with whom I personally corresponded, in my best-selling book Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers.
Dr. Scott Bonn is a criminologist, professor and TV analyst. Follow him @DocBonn on Twitter and visit his website docbonn.com
