To date, there have been few truly scientific investigations of the influence of such forms of entertainment on juvenile delinquency. There has been limited investigation of the millions of nondelinquent juveniles who avidly attend crime movies, listen nightly to several radio broadcasts dealing with criminal cases, and read one or two crime comic books a week.
The present report was prepared after a survey of the available materials in the Library of Congress. The basis for choosing articles and studies to be included were the background of the author, his standing and experience in his field of specialty; and in the case of the critiques, the author's recognized authority to judge the studies. This material is presented in chronological order (except when there is a critique of a specific study) with a note about the author, and a statement of the purpose of the study.
Herbert Blumer, and Philip M. Hauser. Movies, Delinquency, and Crime. New York: the Macmillan Company. 1933. 233 p. [⟨PN19995.5.B53⟩]
- (Herbert Blumer at the time of this study was associate professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and Phillip M. Hauser was an instructor in sociology at the same University.)
The following statement is from the preface of the above book and gives background material on the reason for the study:
"The history of [these] investigations is brief, In 1928 William H. Short, executive director of the Motion Picture Research Council, invited a group of university psychologists, sociologists, and educators to meet with the Members of the Council to confer about the possibility of discovering just what effect motion pictures have upon children, a subject * * * upon which many conflicting opinions and few substantial facts were in existence. The university men proposed a program of study. When Mr. Short appealed to the Payne Fund for a grant to support such an investigation, he found the foundation receptive because of its well-known interest in motion pictures as one of the major influences in the lives of modern youth."
The investigations extended over a period of 4 years (1929–32). The purpose was to study the role of motion pictures in the lives of delinquents and criminals of both sexes; and the effects of motion pictures shown to them in prisons and reformatories; and the effect of movies on nondelinquents.
Data were secured by two methods: Questionnaires and autobiographical accounts. The authors give the following "word of caution" at the beginning of their report:
"These statistical data are based on questionnaire tabulations and must be interpreted with great care. They should not be taken as definitely proven measurements of different forms of motion-picture influences but rather as rough approximations suggestive of a likely extent of such influences * * * questionnaire responses are in the nature of opinion and judgment and are subject to the uncertainty and instability which attend such kinds of response."[1]
The reader is cautioned to regard the statistical results as "merely distributions of replies roughly suggestive of the extent of different kinds of motion-picture influences."[2]
Summary of findings
"* * * motion pictures were a factor of importance in the delinquent or criminal careers of about 10 percent of the male and 25 percent of the female offenders studied * * *. In addition to these readily traced influences, motion pictures, by reason of subtle and often unconscious effects, may unwittingly dispose or lead individuals to various forms of misconduct.
"Several important indirect influences disposing or leading persons to delinquency or crime are discernible in the experience of male and female offenders.[3]
"On the other hand, movies may redirect the behavior of delinquents and criminals along socially acceptable lines and make them hesitant about, and sometimes deter them from, the commission of offenses.[4]
"It is evident that motion pictures may exert influences in diametrically opposite directions. The movies may help to dispose or lead persons to delinquency and crime or they may fortify conventional behavior.[5]
