Author(s)

Felicia De Sousa

Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

This paper examines the different ways in which media representations depict images of deviance amongst Toronto’s social housing communities. Social housing communities within Toronto, specifically Regent Park and Jane and Finch, face sensationalized crime coverage regularly and provide both internal and external implications for those communities and their residents. As these communities face extensive criminalization, the policing brought forth onto them is often punitive in nature and proves less beneficial. Such observations have been established by drawing on a series of qualitative and quantitative research conducted on residents within said communities, along with empirical evidence from criminologists that portray the realities of punitive policing. This paper provides recommendations for policing that better protect Toronto’s social housing communities and its members from hard policing tactics stemming from inaccurate media representations.

Media Representations, Criminalization, Policing, Social Housing, Criminality

De Sousa, F. (2022) Media Representations of Toronto’s Social Housing Communities and Their Implications. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 10, 121-130. doi: 10.4236/jss.2022.105009.