Week Nine – Media, Human Rights and Sex Crime In recent decades, sex crime, in all its myriad forms, has become a staple of media discourse. At the same time, the problem of sex crime – and especially the sexual abuse of children – has become a major source of fear and anxiety. Media representations of sex crime give important indicators of the nature and extent of the problem, of how we should think and feel about it, of how we should respond to it, and of preventive measures that might be taken to reduce the risk of victimisation. Yet without exception, research exploring the representation of sex crime in popular discourses has evidenced high levels of sensationalism, stereotyping and inaccuracy. It can be cogently argued that the paedophile truly is one of the ‘bogey men’ of our age. Few other groups are subject to the same levels of undifferentiated fear and loathing as those convicted (or simply accused) of abusing children and young persons. It is quite acceptable, it seems, to strip sex offenders of all their civil and human rights. It is with this in mind that this session explores the connections between media, human rights and sex crime. Reading Bates, A. (2005) ‘Evaluation’, in Circles of Support and Accountability: The First Three Years, London: Quaker Communications. Cross, S. (2005) ‘Paedophiles in the Community: Inter-agency Conflict, News Leaks, and the Local Press’, in Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 1, 3: 284-300. Greer, C. and Jewkes, Y. (2005) ‘Extremes of Otherness: Media Images of Social Exclusion’, in Social Justice, special edition on ‘Emerging Imaginaries of Regulation, Control and Oppression’, 32, 1: 20-31. Kemshall, H. and Maguire, M. (2005) Sex Offenders, Risk Penality and the Problem of Disclosure to the Community’, in A. Matravers (ed.) Sex Offenders in the Community: Managing and Reducing the Risks, Cullompton: Willan. Kitzinger, J. (1999) ‘The Ultimate Neighbour from Hell? Stranger Danger and the Media Framing of Paedophiles’, in B. Franklin (ed.) Social Policy, the Media and Misrepresentation, London: Routledge. Power, H. (2005) ‘Disclosing Information on Sex Offenders: The Human Rights Implications’, in A. Matravers (ed.) Sex Offenders in the Community: Managing and Reducing the Risks, Cullompton: Willan. Thomas, T. (2000) Sex Crime: Sex Offenders and Society, Cullompton: Willan. Wilson, C. (2006) ‘A Problem Shared’, in Safer Society, 30: 30-32. Wilson, D. and Silverman, J. (2002) Innocence Betrayed: Paedophilia, the Media and Society, Cambridge: Polity Press002E.