Inmates treat crime shows as instructional programming and copy televised techniques

Evidence

To increase authentic-ity, crime shows convey a lot of useful information about criminal techniques, security systems, and police procedures. A study of inmates in a maximum-security prison revealed that they improve their criminal skills by watching crime programs (Hendricks, 1977). Forty percent of the inmates reported that they modeled crimes they saw on television. For inmates, crime shows are educational TV. They take notes. They learn how to break into homes, how to hot-wire cars, and how to pull off scams. They also learn how the police work in apprehending transgressors and how alarm systems operate. Crime shows also bring them up to date on modern police procedures. Novel strategies modeled after televised programs, such as using an ambulance to break through a roadblock, were verified independently through checks of police records. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 741 (#expands, via linked claim)

According to data collected by the Federal Aviation Agency, for two months following the broadcast, there was an eightfold increase in attempted extortions using an identical scenario. Requests by the airline industry to remove this hazardous drama from the airwaves were rebuffed. Airlines continued to be subjected to extortion threats a day or two after the program was shown as a rerun in different cities in the United States and abroad. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 735 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crime television shows function as instructional media teaching viewers criminal techniques — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 741; Prisoners take notes on crime shows to sharpen their criminal skills — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 741; Pseudo-realistic crime shows train audiences to read daily life as crime scenarios — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 249 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Crime television shows function as instructional media teaching viewers criminal techniques #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 741
• Televised fictional aggression can directly model criminal methods for audiences #corroborates (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 735