Media Role in Up surging The Youth Participation in Street Crimes

Abstract

The main focus of this study is to explore the media's role in youth street criminal behavior. Undoubtedly, youth exposure to violent media content plays a dominant role in their offending behavior. Primary data were collected from 300 participants charged in various street crimes and housed in selected jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan. Collected data were analyzed on the univariate level, bivariate, and multivariate level. Findings of the study revealed that about two-thirds (74.3%) of the study participants watching movies for several hours and movies make them daydreamer (81.7%). Nearly all (86%) of the participants like action movies & video games and they were fans of action movies heroes and villain characters’ heroes (86.3%). Furthermore, viewing criminal contents have a strong influence on participant thoughts (85.0%) and their antisocial behavior is the outcome of the movies (81.7%). At Bi and Multivariate level associations between youth media exposure and youth involvement in the street crime was observed as significant (P= ≤ 0.05) for both groups i.e. literate and illiterate. It has been concluded from the study that youth exposure to violent media is closely associated with youth street criminal behavior. Study findings were also supported by previous empirical findings in this area. Notwithstanding, this study has a substantial contribution to the existing literature in the context of Pakistan. And can be a potential base for those who are currently planning policies for reducing crime in Pakistan.