Here’s what your TV habits say about your fear of crime

WASHINGTON - What you watch on TV may say a lot about your fears and attitudes about crime, suggests a new study.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers surveyed hundreds of adults about how often they watched various kinds of crime TV - made-up dramas, documentary-style ‘real crime’ programs, and local and national news.

They found that how each type of program depicts crime was a factor in viewers’ opinions on everything from their fear of crime to their confidence in the justice system to their support of the death penalty.

“The results support the idea that program type really does matter when it comes to understanding people’s fear of crime and their attitudes about criminal justice,” said Lisa Kort-Butler, lead author of the study.

The more frequently people watched non-fiction crime documentaries like ‘The First 48,’ the more fearful they were of becoming a crime victim, found the study.

Frequent viewers of fictional crime dramas were not affected by the programming to believe they would become crime victims, and their support of and confidence in the criminal justice system also was unaffected by their viewing habits. Interestingly, though, the more frequently they watched crime dramas, the more certain they were in their support of the death penalty. (ANI)