The law is usually disproportionally enforced on people of color ("Crime in new york city" 2014). Although only a very small percentage of stops result in finding anything, like an illegal gun or drugs, the practice is still being used as a form of crime deterrence.
Another group in our society that is targeted unfairly by the media is the youth. From teens to young adults, more and more media attention is being put on young offenders ("Juvenile delinquency" 2014). The news stories are far too often accompanied with some negative facts about millennial crime, and how the youth of this nation will inevitably cause its downfall. Even in newspapers from other parts of the world, youths are negatively referred to as "punks" or some sort of delinquent, giving the article a skew instead of staying objective. We hear of this pervasive narrative that crime trends among the youth are increasing, or becoming an epidemic, which is less than true ("Juvenile delinquency" 2014).
Negative portrayals of youth can be detrimental for the same reason it is detrimental to minorities. The labeling can be used to envelope a large portion of the population with a negative stigma. If youths being thought of and told they are delinquents or vandals, it can cause them to act out these titles. There is a theme that crimes committed by the youth population are getting worse, becoming more frequent, and that the offenders are getting younger and younger. By making false generalizations and unsupported claims, the media invokes a sense of fear into the public to be aware at all times because crime is everywhere and can be committed by anyone ("Crime in new york city" 2014). .
When looking at forms of media influence, we must also take a look at the entertainment factors like television and video games. Both media violence through television and through video games have been shown to have increased aggression in people, mainly children (Pozios, Kambam, and Bender 2013 and Procon 2014).