| This study examined the relationship between the amount of television (TV) viewing, gender, and public perception of the seriousness of crime. Internet users (N=214) were randomly selected from 12 Yahoo! groups and were asked to report on their perception of the seriousness of 20 criminal offenses.;The study examined two hypotheses. First, perceived seriousness of crime would decrease as TV viewing increased. Second, females would rate crimes related to bodily injury, property, and drugs more seriously than males.;Results partially supported the hypotheses. Increased television viewing did not affect male ratings of perceived crime seriousness; however, female ratings of crime seriousness did decrease as their TV viewing increased. Limitations of the study are described, as are directions for future research. |
