THE STUDY IS BASED ON LITERATURE AND A SURVEY OF WEST GERMAN CITIZENS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE INFORMAL SOCIAL REACTION TO DEVIANT BEHAVIOR. RESEARCH ON MASS MEDIA REPRESENTATION HAS TENDED TO FOCUS ON COUNTING ARTICLES OF A PARTICULAR TYPE, SHOWING THE PARTICULAR DIRECTION OF DISTORTION IN ARTICLES, OR EXPOSING THE EFFECTS OF TELEVISION VIOLENCE, WHILE ASSUMING THE EXISTENCE OF A VIOLENT TYPE AND THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL CLASS. A RECENT ATTEMPT SEEKS TO DECIPHER THE SIGNIFICANT SYMBOLS IN CRIME REPORTING IN ORDER TO REVEAL HOW THESE SYMBOLS REFLECT SOCIETY'S NORMS OF BEHAVIOR AND STRENGTHEN GROUP SOLIDARITY OR GIVE RISE TO MORAL PANIC AND LAW AND ORDER CAMPAIGNS. THE STATUS QUO IS UPHELD BY MEDIA DISSEMINATION OF STEREOTYPES SUCH AS THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED VIEW THAT IMPRISONMENT SHOULD FUNCTION AS A SEVERE FORM OF PUNISHMENT. IDENTIFICATION MODELS, ESPECIALLY THOSE PERPETUATED BY TELEVISION, PERMIT CITIZENS TO CONSIDER THEMSELVES PART OF THE NORMAL MAJORITY, WHILE TOTALLY REJECTING THE 'CRIMINAL MINORITY.' SENSITIZATION TO CRIME PROBLEMS HAS LED BOTH CITIZENS AND POLICE TO REGARD CRIME AS ONE OF THE GREATEST SOCIAL PROBLEMS, EVEN THOUGH MOST INDIVIDUALS DO NOT FEEL PERSONALLY ENDANGERED. A VERY LARGE PERCENTAGE (81 PERCENT) OF THE INDIVIDUALS SURVEYED TAKE AN INTEREST IN NEWS AND MANY EXHIBIT AN INTEREST IN CRIME-ORIENTED TELEVISION PROGRAMS. REASONS GIVEN FOR THE INTEREST ARE ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION ON SELF-PROTECTION. THE UNDERLYING PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVATION FOR SUCH INTEREST APPEARS TO BE GRATIFICATION OF THE NEED OF SUBSERVIENT INDIVIDUALS TO BE A PART OF THE ESTABLISHED ORDER AND TO IDENTIFY WITH THE OFFENDER WHO BREAKS AWAY FROM THAT ORDER. NOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE FURNISHED. --IN GERMAN. (KMD)