Media Bias on TV Police Shows: CBS’ FBI Most Wanted, Criminals Using Machine Guns to Commit an Art Robbery

Because the Crime Prevention Analysis Middle has typically identified, tv crime exhibits appear to assume criminals consistently use machine weapons to commit crime. Sadly, CBS’ FBI Most Wished isn’t any completely different (Season 5 Episode 9, April 16, 2024). This episode exhibits criminals utilizing machine weapons to commit an artwork theft.

In actual life, criminals typically use machine weapons so not often that a 2016 survey of jail inmates solely broke down the numbers for makes use of in crime of handguns (11.2%), rifles (0.8%), and shotguns (1.1%). There are few rifles, and the survey didn’t point out absolutely automated weapons. An analogous discovering is out there from the FBI UCR report, the place 2.6% of all murders contain rifles of any kind, and 0.3% of all murders contain unspecified “different weapons.” There’s a purpose for that. Since 1934, there was just one attainable identified use of a civilian utilizing a machine gun in a homicide. And even earlier than 1934, they have been very uncommon.

Examples of comparable tv exhibits might be discovered right here.

FBI Most Wished Season 5 Episode 9, April 16, 2024