This article investigates the relationship between exposure to overall television content and television news on the one hand, and public crime seriousness perceptions, including the two main components of perceived crime seriousness, i.e., perceived wrongfulness and harm severity, on the other hand. Drawing on cultivation theory and additional literature, we have constructed three hypothetical models which, for the first time, also include conservationism and legal cynicism as mediating variables. Using structural equation modelling, we have tested the models empirically in a cross-sectional survey of 1278 adult Dutch-speaking Belgian residents. Our findings indicate that overall exposure to television content is not significantly related to perceived crime seriousness, wrongfulness, harm severity, or any of the mediating variables. Exposure to television news, however, is both directly and indirectly related to perceived crime seriousness, wrongfulness, and harm severity. These findings thus suggest the relevance of television news exposure as a predictor of people’s perceptions of crime seriousness.

中文翻译：

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公众对犯罪严重性的看法：电视曝光在多大程度上推动了他们？

本文一方面调查了整体电视内容和电视新闻的暴露与公共犯罪严重性感知之间的关系，另一方面包括感知犯罪严重性的两个主要组成部分，即感知不法性和危害严重性。借鉴培育理论和其他文献，我们构建了三个假设模型，其中首次将保护主义和法律犬儒主义作为中介变量。使用结构方程模型，我们在对 1278 名讲荷兰语的比利时成年人的横断面调查中凭经验测试了这些模型。我们的研究结果表明，电视内容的整体暴露与感知的犯罪严重性、不法性、伤害严重性或任何中介变量没有显着相关性。然而，接触电视新闻与感知的犯罪严重性、不法性和危害严重性直接或间接相关。因此，这些发现表明，电视新闻曝光与人们对犯罪严重性的看法具有相关性。