Copycat crime

Copycat crime

A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modelled or inspired by a previous crime that has been reported in the media or described in fiction.

Contents

Copycat effect

The copycat effect refers to the tendency of sensational publicity about violent murders or suicides to result in more of the same through imitation. It is also the name of a book on the subject by Loren Coleman.[1]

Causation

It has been shown that most of the persons who mimic crimes seen in the media (especially news and violent movies) have in most cases prior criminal records, prior severe mental health problems or histories of violence suggesting that the effect of the media is indirect (more affecting criminal behaviour) rather than direct (directly affecting the number of criminals).[2]

Statistics

See also

References

  1. ^ Loren Coleman, (2004) The copycat effect: How the media and popular culture trigger the mayhem in tomorrow's headlines, Simon and Schuster, NY.
  2. ^ Surette, R. (2002). Self-Reported Copycat Crime Among a Population of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 48(1), 46-69.

External links


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  • copycat — cop•y•cat [[t]ˈkɒp iˌkæt[/t]] n. adj. v. cat•ted, cat•ting 1) a person or thing that imitates another persistently or exactly 2) cvb imitating or repeating a well known occurrence: a copycat crime[/ex] 3) to imitate; mimic; reproduce Also, cop′y… …   From formal English to slang

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  • copycat — ► NOUN informal 1) a person who copies another. 2) (before another noun ) denoting an action, especially a crime, carried out in imitation of another: copycat attacks …   English terms dictionary

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