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Jyuana Gray

Victoria White

UWRT 1104

19 September 2018

What Makes a Crime Report apart of a Genre?

Genre studies is an academic subject which studies genre as a branch of general critical

theory in several different fields (Wikipedia). Genre can be determined by literary technique,

tone, content, or even length (Wikipedia). This analysis will give a better understanding of why a

crime report can be considered a genre and all the specific features that it has to make it distinct

from any other articles/report. In this analysis, I will thoroughly explain what a crime report is,

how it affects culture, and all the special features it has to make it classified as a genre.

Crime reports help residents of a certain area see and understand what crime is happening

around them, and to engage with their local law enforcement agencies (CrimeReports). Crime

reports have specific features that make them distinct from any other type of report. One feature

of a crime report is to identify the crime and put the crime into the correct category so they can

be analysed. Crime reports have to be collected and looked over into statistical data, which is

used by law enforcements. Crime reports also include report narratives where the police should

write a narrative of the entire crime. Report narratives should be well written, accurate, concise

and complete. Information in report narratives should refrain from being repeated and should be

organized in chronological order (Key Features of a Police Report).

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Another feature of a crime report that makes it very different from other reports is the

language. Language is a big part in a crime report because it has to be formal and non-personal,

meaning the writer has to avoid writing down his/her opinions and feelings and focus on the

evidence (Key Features of a Police Report).

Culture affects this genre because it influences who gets arrested, charged, convicted, and

what sentence they will receive. The culture of this genre can affect an individual because of

their background and what they’re exposed too (New explorations in Culture and Crime). For

example, a crime report of a person of color will be very different from a crime report of a white

person. This is because the system already have a stigma of people of color. Crime reports can

also affect a culture because the person committing the crime can be another’s mother, father,

sister, brother, lover, etc.

Daily News says that police in Wisconsin pulls over a 15 year-old boy for reckless

driving but soons find out that the teen was drunk and had a baby in the backseat. The police

discovered that the baby’s mother and another teen was in the car intoxicated as well on Sunday,

September 14, 2018 at about 10:30 p.m, when the incident was reported. The news also reported

that 19 year-old baby’s mother was so intoxicated that she couldn’t even stand up. Authorities

say that they found beer bottles near the baby’s carseat and the teen driver was taken into

custody (NY Daily News). “The other teen girl in the car was cited for drinking, The Journal

Times reported, and then released back to her parents. Police say that the minor was vomiting

because of how much alcohol she had consumed earlier.” (Miami Herald). This quote can be an

example of a report narrative because it’s concise and the information is well written and

accurate. This quote also contains a very good language because it avoids becoming personal.
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There was an incident where a Louisiana State University basketball player was fatally

gunned down after being involved in a fight early Friday morning. His coach opened up about

the death by saying “We are all devastated. We need your prayers for Wayde, his family, for all

of us. We are heartbroken.” Wayde Sims was 20 and a junior at the University playing forward

position on the basketball team. Wayde was shot around 12:25 a.m. and was taken to a hospital

nearby where they pronounced him dead (People). This can be used as an example because it

shows how a crime committed can affect a culture. In this particular death we see that Wayde’s

death impacted a lot of people and we see that the people around him is going to do everything to

support his family because his coach states “He was a blast to be around at all times. We’re

devastated and in shock. We’re going to support Wayde’s family and our guys.” This can also be

used as an example because it uses quotations, which is something that should be used when a

crime happens and is reported to the police. This example uses interviews which is also

something that is used when a crime is reported. If you report a crime and don’t have interviews

then it can’t be used because the police has to be notified by somebody that a crime has

happened. They should also use interviews to get an insight of what the person is like or what

they were like.

On October 1, 2018 a teacher confessed to having sex with a student who ‘looked and

acted’ like her ex-husband. Laura Bucy was a 32 year old home economics teacher at Twinsburg

High School. She was placed on administrative leave following her arrest on charges of sexual

battery. In August, she told the father of her ex-husband that she needed to “confess her sins”,

according to a police report. She then told her ex-husband’s father about the relationship with her

student and made other “incoherent statements” before driving off (nypost). This is an example
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of how a crime report can be classified as a crime report because it identifies what is being done,

who committed the crime, and it gives accurate information about the situation that has taken

place. This is also a good example because it exemplifies how culture play a part in this. Culture

plays a big role in this example because just like how the system has already set in stone the type

of person colored people are, this just gives people a reason to put a stigma on every white

person.

Crime reports tend to have things in common like what type of crime, the background of

the person who committed the crime, and the person’s race. In my current crime reports that I’ve

stated they seem to have some similarities and differences. One of the similarities in the

examples is the culture and how it affects each individual in the situation. Another similarity in

these examples is that each crime report send out a notice to people in those areas what’s

happening around them and letting them know to be careful and what to look out for. They also

have some differences. For example, one of the articles talk about a colored male while the other

ones talk about white people. Another difference is the age range. In the first article the people in

that particular situation were 15, 19, and a newborn. In the second article, the young boy was

only 20. Last but not least the last article talks about a 32 year old female teacher. The

differences between the articles is also the content that each article holds. Each article talks about

something different and each article has a different crime committed.

Most crime reports are turned into written documents that form a police investigation

procedure (Coralx). Crime reports can also go through to the media because the media informs

the public about crime while also reflecting and shaping and thinking about crime. The news

media provides information when they report on crime as part of the coverage of public affairs.
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The entertainment media, particularly television and film crime stories reflect and shape on

public opinion about the threat of crime, the causes of crime, criminal justice policies, and the

criminal justice system. The media as a whole affects the public thinking because the trends

towards “infotainment” in the news media and realism in the crime genre (Ideology in the Crime

Genre).
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Works Cited

Press, The Associated. “Police Arrest 15-Year-Old Boy Accused of Drunken Driving with Baby

and Boozed-up Mom in Car - NY Daily News.” ​Nydailynews.com,​ New York Daily News, 19

Sept. 2018,

www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-news-teen-drunken-driving-baby-car-20180918-story.ht

ml.

“16tokuyamat's Blog.” ​Powered by The Learning Hub,​

blogs.yis.ac.jp/16tokuyamat/2014/04/08/key-features-of-a-police-report/.

“Genre Studies.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_studies.

CrimeReports​, ​www.crimereports.com/​.

“LSU Basketball Player Wayde Sims Gunned Down Hours Before First Practice of the Season .”

PEOPLE.com​, Time Inc, people.com/crime/lsu-basketball-player-wayde-sims-shot-killed-fight/.

Miller, Joshua Rhett. “Teacher Confessed to Sex with Student Who 'Looked and Acted' like

Ex-Husband: Cops.” ​New York Post,​ New York Post, 1 Oct. 2018,

nypost.com/2018/10/01/teacher-confessed-to-sex-with-student-who-looked-and-acted-like-ex-hu

sband-cops/.

Lenz, Timothy O. “Ideology in the Crime Genre.” ​Oxford Research Encyclopedia of

Criminology​, 8 June 2017,

criminology.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-97801902

64079-e-168.
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