The Media and Crime: Remembering Reena Virk
The media and the decontextualization of crime is a major issue. Why? The media plays a major role in influencing society and reinforcing beliefs – positive or negative.
Sometimes we need to talk about difficult things in order to get to a point where we are able to start asking tough questions. As we start asking questions, identifying core issues becomes the next challenge. Once that hurdle is crossed, can we do something constructive about it?
An example of taking the focus away from the real issue is the murder of Reena Virk. The murder of Reena Virk was horrific event.
The beating and subsequent murder of the young teen is detailed as:
On November 14, 1997, seven girls (aged fourteen to sixteen years) and one sixteen-year-old boy brutally attacked Reena Virk, a young girl of South Asian origin, in a suburb of Victoria, B.C. As Reena left the scene of the beating to make her way home, she was followed by two members of the group – Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski…Kelly then proceed to beat her up again, smashing her head against a tree trunk to the point where Reena was rendered unconscious…Kelly hit Reena in the throat again and forcibly drowned her…Ellard stood in the water with her foot over Reena’s head and smoked a cigarette. (Faith & Jiwani 99)
Intense media coverage was about how violence among girls and young women was increasing, even though statistically this was not the case. However, public outrage was not about how this may have been an act of racism. Rather, media scrutiny focused on how it could be possible that such a nice looking; apparently ‘normal’ girl could have actually committed this heinous crime.
The media actually tried to explain the event using the theoretical background of the liberation thesis put forth by Rita Simon (1975) and Freda Adler (1975). “The thesis suggests that changes in women’s gender roles will be reflected in their rates of criminal involvement.” (Comack 172) The explanation of the crime was that because women were now equal, they were also being more assertive and masculine. Therefore, according to this particular theory, they were becoming more aggressive and were able to commit crimes that were similar to their male counterparts. The media did not touch upon the context in which this crime was committed.
Virk was from a marginalized background and was trying to fit in. It was left out of the discussion that Ellard was a white female and that there may have been an element of racism involved because the victim was from a minority group. In effect, the crime was decontextualized in order to detract from the real issues. The discussion was centered on what should be done about girls’ violence, as opposed to addressing the systemic discrimination embedded in society that manifests itself in targeting minority groups.
The main issue is that the media decontextualize crime. Crimes are always, by the very nature of newspaper reporting, discussed out of context. A journalist provides information or details about the crime event in a manner that generates a number of emotions-fear, moral outrage, despair, panic, and hatred-emotions all directed from readers towards the vulnerable in society (Schissel 1997: 34, 37). As such, media discourse is extremely powerful in promoting and reinforcing a sense that the only thing that can be done about girls’ violence is to implement punitive repressive measures. (Bell 131)
The only result of the media reporting of the Virk murder was a call to toughen laws for young offenders. By focusing on violent female crime, the media is able to detract attention away from social and economic factors that cause women to commit crimes. There was no attempt made to address the systemic and also invisible forms of racism that lead people from dominant groups to commit crimes against people from minority groups. Media condemnation of the murder was very restricted.
We can see that because of this approach, prescribed norms of femininity are being forcefully upheld by a system that advances patriarchy. Even though women have achieved formal equality, they are still treated unequally in the public realm because of their prescribed roles in the private realm. By focusing on the individual pathology of Kelly Ellard, the actually crime was successfully decontextualized and the focus was put on assessing how girls and women are becoming more violent. Essentially the call to tough laws to be more punitive is a mechanism to keep women in their prescribed roles and the criminal justice system contributes to the preservation of this.
We can sit back and independently get upset or even ignore these issues, but what good will that do? Constructive discussion needs to occur. Some people think that these are negative topics and it is pointless talking about them. Until we don’t admit there is a problem, and then work towards fixing it, nothing can be done.
Also, the point is not to rant and rave that everyone is racist, because that is not the case. But to ignore that racism exists, and not talk about it, makes the problem worse. It becomes easier to take the focus away from the core issues, and eventually we forget that something is systemically wrong, and start blaming individuals.
But this is not the only problem, so what are some of the core issues? Poverty, inequality, systemic barriers, racism, fear of the other, gender roles, decontextualized news reporting…just to name a few. These are all real issues that need to be addressed.
Resources:
Bell, Sandra J. “Girls in Trouble” Marginality and Condemnation: An Introduction to Critical Criminology. Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2002. 129-152.
Comack, Elizabeth, Edited by Balfour, Gillian. “Criminalizing Women.” Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2006.
Comack, Elizabeth. “Feminism and Criminology” Criminology a Canadian Perspective. 5th ed. Toronto: Thompson Canada, 2004. 165-195.
Faith, Karlene and Jiwani, Yasmin. “The Social Construction of ‘Dangerous’ Girls and Women”
Marginality and Condemnation: An Introduction to Critical Criminology. Black Point: Fernwood Publishing, 2002. 83-107.
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While I agree with you that the fact that the murder may have been “racially motivated” should have been a main line of media and legal inquiry, I do find the fact that these were fourteen-year-old kids (and not just girls) is pretty alarming.
Meg: You’re right to point out that it is alarming that 14 year old kids were involved in this kind of horrific event. But that should not have been the media focus. I do not think that Young Offender laws should be toughened as a result. Perhaps the system should focus on stronger restorative methods, rather than retributive ones.
Another problem is that lack of government social funding and programming that can lead to people getting into trouble with the law.
It has become increasingly difficult to qualify for social assistance (welfare). The amount of single mothers living below the poverty line is disturbing and sad. Perhaps the question is, “what is lacking in our social system that is creating systemic inequality & barriers?”
I always just relate this back to history, which is not right of me because I’m just basically putting the blame on shoddy government policies. However back when the NDP were in power in Ontario they really messed things up. So when the PC’s came into power after them, they cut things in schools and hospitals so much so that all the programs and social activites that would happen without a thought, disappeared! Hence you get kids with nothing to do but “hang out” and divulge into things they otherwise wouldn’t be.
If the people involved had been five years older, most likely this would have been cast as a “hate crime.” My guess is that media decided that the age of the perpetrators would create a greater stir than the “speculation” that Virk was killed because of the racism of her killers, something less immediate than big photos of “the accused” young teenager.
Apparently, increasing the punishment for young offenders is going to be part of the Conservative Party’s platform next election. I don’t agree with this or think that Young Offenders should serve long prison terms, but mostly in the same way that I don’t think imprisoning someone for twenty years, even if they committed a murder, is ideal. That won’t bring the victim back to life and is probably unlikely to serve a “rehabilitative” function, seeing as, if nothing else, twenty years spending most of one’s time in a prison cell won’t make for a particularly “well-adjusted” human being.
It is also difficult to make the argument that Ellard “didn’t know what she was doing.” Given this, I am not sure she would deserve to have been treated less harshly than an adult, were the context to be one of a less punitive legal system.
Very well written article. It does make you think.
Thanks. It’s easy for the real issues to get buried underneath all of the sensational headlines. I’m hoping to bring some focus into a very disturbing issue.
Hi,Superb blog post dude! i am Fed up with using RSS feeds and do you use twitter?so i can follow you there:D.
PS:Have you thought putting video to your blog to keep the visitors more enjoyed?I think it works.Yours, Nobuko Highfill
Thanks for your comment Nobuko. I haven’t been writing much lately but plan to get back into it. I’m not on twitter….yet.