The most important aspect of this is to note the practical effect that crime stories have on society. Telling crime stories is not merely a past-time of entertainers or academic researchers, it all contributes to knowledge about crime and criminality which filters into the public consciousness. If these stories are accepted uncritically, they have the potential for abuse by those who are in a position to manipulate images. Crime Writing as a Mode of Experience Reality is not objective, it is subjective to the person perceiving it. The Media mediates a message.
News presents itself as unmediated.
Knowledge and power are inter-dependent. Public policy is informed by the media, particularly where two or three sensationalised cases are represented as a trend. Criminology needs to have a wider, educational role. The relationship between media representations and perceptions is not linear. The murder of Leigh Leigh and its ficitionalisation as Black Rock KQED v Vasquez - televised execution challenge.