International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research__________________________________ ISSN 2277-3630 IJSSIR, Vol. 5 (5), MAY (2016), pp. 61-68 Online available at indianresearchjournals.com 61 POPULAR CONCEPTIONS OF CRIME: AS CREATED BY THE MEDIA SUPRATIM KARMAKAR SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW (UGC) DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, VISVA BHARATI, WEST BENGAL. ABSTRACT The way people think about crime is deeply influenced by how media showcase the criminal incidences. This paper will review the popular notions about criminality and how they affected by the media. Today we are exposed to a lot of media coverage of crime in the form of fiction and non-fiction, which not only shape our mind set about criminality but influences the overall thought process. The present discourse critically examines both the positive and negative impact media on the crime perception of common people. The study is entirely based on the literature review and review of various reports on media journalism and crime. KEY WORDS: Crime, Media, Non-Fiction, Reporting. Introduction Crime is a deep rooted pathological disorder of our society. It is very difficult to define crime because there is a wide gap between theoretical understanding of crime and people’s perception about crime. It is very important to know the popular perceptions of crime because public’s attitude towards crime and criminals are the base of social labelling. Labelling of certain acts as crime or certain community as criminal can make difference in social cohesion. The ideas related to crimes as being abhorrent may be questioned when crime is looked from a wider perspective rather than looking just at the acts generally associated with the thought of crime. Public perception of crime is also important when it comes to punish some offender. If perception of crime is not accurate, determine or influence punishment the result may be unfairness. The public perception of crime is largely determined by the way media showcase the incidences of crimes and how they analyze those incidences. Media and Crime In today’s world everybody is very much influenced by the media of all forms. Crime and violence are the two widely discussed topics through all the forms of media. Printed media and electronic media both are preoccupied with the idea of crime (Allen et al., 1997). Whether it is fiction or nonfiction most of the output of media is related to crime in anyways. There are some distinct impacts of media on shaping up the perceptions of crime. Firstly, frequent coverage of