Editing Moral panic (section)

==Examples==
{{See also|List of moral panics}}<!-- Note: Please do not make NEW ADDITIONS to this section unless you have a SCHOLARLY reference that cites the incident or phenomenon as an EXAMPLE OF A MORAL PANIC, *AND* which references the work of Stanley Cohen, Jock Young, Goode & Ben-Yehuda, or other researchers who have specifically defined this term. -->

Researchers have considered a number of historical and current events to meet the criteria set out by Stanley Cohen.

=== Historic examples ===
==== Nativist movement and the Know-Nothing Party (1840s–1860s) ====
{{Main|Nativism (politics)|Know Nothing}}

The brief success of the [[Know Nothing|Know-Nothing Party]] in the US during the 1850s can be understood as resulting from a moral panic over Irish Catholic immigration dating back to the 1840s, particularly as it related to religion, politics, and jobs.<ref name="Ramet-2013" /> [[Nativism (politics)|Nativist]] criticism of immigrants from [[Catholic countries|Catholic nations]] centered upon the control of the [[Pope]] over church members. The concern regarding the social threat led the Know-Nothing Party in the [[1856 United States presidential election|1856 presidential election]] to win 21.5% of the vote. The quick decline in political success for the Know-Nothing Party as a result of a decline in concern for the perceived social threat is an indicative feature of the movements situated in moral panic.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Downs|first=A.|date=1972|title=Up with Ecology and Down with Ecology: The 'Issue Attention' Cycle|journal=The Public Interest|volume=28|issue=38–50}}</ref>

==== Red Scare (1919–1920, late 1940s–1950s) ====
{{Main|First Red Scare|Second Red Scare}}

During the years 1919 to 1920, followed by the late 1940s to the 1950s, the United States had a moral panic over [[communism]] and feared being attacked by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-5569-5_6 |chapter=Case Study 2: Communist Panic |title=The Oldest Trick in the Book |year=2020 |last1=Debney |first1=Ben M. |pages=149–229 |isbn=978-981-15-5568-8 |s2cid=226498342 }}</ref><ref name="RodwellReds" /><ref name="MoralPanicToPermanentWar" /> In the late 1940s and the 1950s, a period now known as the [[McCarthy Era]], Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] used his power as a senator to conduct a [[Witch-hunt#Figurative use of the term|witch hunt]] for communists he claimed had infiltrated all levels of American society, including Hollywood, the [[United States Department of State|State Department]], and the armed forces.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Griffith |first1=Robert |title=The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy |date=1970 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location=Boston|isbn=0-87023-555-9 |page=49 |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsoffearjo00grif |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref> When he began, he held little influence or respect within the Senate,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Herman |first1=Arthur |title=Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator. |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0684836256 |pages=44, 51, 55 |url=https://archive.org/details/josephmccarthyre00herm/mode/2up |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref> but he exploited Americans' fears of communism (and Congress' desire to not lose re-election) to rise to prominence and keep the hunt going in spite of an increasingly apparent lack of evidence, often accusing those who dared oppose him of being communists themselves.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pontikes |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Negro |first2=Giacomo |last3=Rao |first3=Hayagreeva |title=Stained Red: A Study of Stigma by Association to Blacklisted Artists during the 'Red Scare' in Hollywood, 1945 to 1960 |journal=American Sociological Review |date=June 2010 |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=456–478 |doi=10.1177/0003122410368929 |s2cid=145166332 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wark |first1=Colin |last2=Galliher |first2=John F. |title=Progressive lawyers under siege: Moral panic during the McCarthy era |journal=Crime, Law and Social Change |date=June 2013 |volume=59 |issue=5 |pages=517–535 |doi=10.1007/s10611-013-9428-z |s2cid=143542653 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-5569-5_2 |chapter=Patterning Moral Panics |title=The Oldest Trick in the Book |year=2020 |last1=Debney |first1=Ben M. |pages=21–44 |isbn=978-981-15-5568-8 |s2cid=226722746 }}</ref>

==== "The Devil's music" (1920s–1980s) ====
{{See also|Parents Music Resource Center}}

Over the years, there has been concern of various types of new music causing spiritual or otherwise [[moral corruption]] to younger generations,<ref name="Centre for Suicide Prevention">{{Cite web|title=Suicide, Rock Music and Moral Panics|url=https://www.suicideinfo.ca/resource/musicandsuicide/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Centre for Suicide Prevention}}</ref> often called "the devil's music". While the types of music popularly labeled as such has changed with time, along with the intended meaning of the term, this basic factor of the moral panic has remained constant. It could thus be argued that this is really a series of smaller moral panics that fall under a larger umbrella. While most notable in the United States, other countries such as [[Romania]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nechita |first1=Costel Mirel |title=SATANISMUL ÎN MUZICĂ-PUSTIIREA SUFLETEASCĂ A TINERETULUI |journal=Altarul Reîntregirii |date=2016 |issue=3 |pages=307–323 |doi=10.29302/AR.2016.3.17 |doi-access=free }}</ref> have seen exposure to or promotion of the idea as well.

[[Blues]] was one of the first music genres to receive this label, mainly due to a perception that it incited violence and other poor behavior.<ref>SFGate{{Full citation needed|date=March 2021}}</ref> In the early 20th century, the blues was considered disreputable, especially as white audiences began listening to the blues during the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of Blues Music - SantaFe.com |url=https://santafe.com/a-history-of-blues-music/ |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=santafe.com}}</ref>

[[Jazz]] was another early receiver of the label. At the time, traditionalists considered jazz to contribute to the breakdown of morality.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fass|first=Paula|title=The damned and the beautiful : American youth in the 1920's|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1977|isbn=978-0-19-502148-6|location=New York|page=22}}</ref> Despite the veiled attacks on blues and jazz as "negro music" often going hand-in-hand with other attacks on the genres, urban middle-class African Americans perceived jazz as "devil's music", and agreed with the beliefs that jazz's improvised rhythms and sounds were promoting promiscuity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dinerstein|first=Joel|year=2003|title=Music, Memory, and Cultural Identity in the Jazz Age|journal=American Quarterly|volume=55|issue=2|pages=303–313|doi=10.1353/aq.2003.0012|s2cid=145194943}}</ref>

Some have speculated that the rock phase of the panic in the 1970s and 1980s contributed to the popularity of the [[satanic ritual abuse]] alleged moral panic in the 1980s.<ref name="Centre for Suicide Prevention" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Romano|first=Aja|date=2016-10-30|title=The history of Satanic Panic in the US – and why it's not over yet|url=https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained|access-date=2020-07-22|website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]}}</ref>

==== Comic books (1950s) ====
{{See also|Comics Code Authority}}

In the United States, substantial limits were placed on comic book content during the 1950s, especially in the horror and crime genres. This moral panic was promoted by the psychologist [[Fredric Wertham]], who claimed that comics were a major source of juvenile delinquency, arguing in his book ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'' that they predisposed children to violence. Comic books appeared in congressional hearings, and organisations promoted [[book burning]]s.<ref name="haberman">{{Cite web |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |title=Two Pop Culture Wars: First Over Comics, Then Over Music |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/us/two-pop-culture-wars-first-over-comics-then-over-music.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=25 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="heer">{{Cite web |last1=Heer |first1=Jeet |title=The Caped Crusader |url=https://slate.com/culture/2008/04/the-campaign-against-comic-books.html |website=Slate |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=4 April 2008}}</ref> Wertham's work resulted in the creation of the [[Comics Code Authority|Comics Code]], which drastically limited what kind of content could be published.<ref name="heer"/> As a result of these limitations, many comics publishers and illustrators were forced to leave the profession, and the content produced by those that remained became tamer and more focused on [[superhero]]es.<ref name="heer"/><ref name="abad-santos">{{Cite web |last1=Abad-Santos |first1=Alex |title=The insane history of how American paranoia ruined and censored comic books |url=https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7326605/comic-book-censorship |website=Vox |access-date=13 March 2024 |date=15 December 2014}}</ref>

During the following decades, the Comics Code was loosened in scope before finally being abolished in 2011.<ref name="haberman"/><ref name="abad-santos"/>

==== Switchblades (1950s) ====
{{Main|Switchblade#1950s gang usage and controversy}}

In the United States, a 1950 article titled "The Toy That Kills" in the ''[[Woman's Home Companion|Women's Home Companion]]'',<ref>Pollack, Jack H., "The Toy That Kills", 77 ''Women's Home Companion Magazine'' 38, November 1950</ref> about automatic knives, or "[[switchblade]]s", sparked significant controversy. It was further fuelled by highly popular films of the late 1950s, including ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' (1955), ''[[Crime in the Streets]]'' (1956), ''[[12 Angry Men (1957 film)|12 Angry Men]]'' (1957), ''[[The Delinquents (1957 film)|The Delinquents]]'', ''[[High School Confidential (film)|High School Confidential]]'' (1958), and the 1957 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[West Side Story (musical)|West Side Story]]''.<ref name="TWFK" /><ref name="LEV" />

Fixation on the switchblade as the symbol of youth violence, sex, and delinquency resulted in demands from the public and Congress to control the sale and possession of such knives.<ref name="TWFK">{{Cite book | surname=Dick | given=Steven| title=The Working Folding Knife | year=1997| publisher= Stoeger Publishing Company |isbn= 978-0-88317-210-0 }}</ref><ref name="LEV">Levine, Bernard R., "[http://www.knife-expert.com/schr-pb.txt The Switchblade Menace]", ''OKCA Newsletter'' (1993): Rep. [[Sidney R. Yates]] (D) of Illinois was convinced of a sadistic connection, proclaiming that "vicious fantasies of omnipotence, idolatry...barbaric and sadistic atrocities, and monstrous violations of accepted values spring from [switchblades]&nbsp;... Minus switchblade knives and the distorted feeling of power they beget{{snd}}power that is swaggering, reckless, and itching to express itself in violence{{snd}}our delinquent adolescents would be shorn of one of their most potent means of incitement to crime".</ref> State laws restricting or criminalizing switchblade possession and use were adopted by an increasing number of state legislatures, and many of the [[Switchblade#Legality|restrictive laws around them]] worldwide date back to this period.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020|reason=Unsourced}}

==== Mods and rockers (1960s) ====
{{Main|Mods and rockers}}

In early 1960s Britain, the two main [[youth subculture]]s were [[Mod (subculture)|Mods]] and [[Rocker (subculture)|Rockers]]. The "Mods and Rockers" conflict was explored as an instance of moral panic by sociologist [[Stanley Cohen (sociologist)|Stanley Cohen]] in his seminal study ''Folk Devils and Moral Panics'',{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=}} which examined media coverage of the Mod and Rocker riots in the 1960s.<ref>British Film Commission (BFC) (PDF), Film Education.</ref>

Although Cohen acknowledged that Mods and Rockers engaged in [[street fighting]] in the mid-1960s, he argued that they were no different from the evening brawls that occurred between non-Mod and non-Rocker youths throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, both at seaside resorts and after football games.{{sfn|Cohen|2002|p=27}}

==== ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (1980s–1990s) ====
{{Main|Dungeons & Dragons controversies}}

At various times, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and other [[tabletop role-playing game]]s have been accused of promoting such practices as [[Satanism]], [[witchcraft]], [[suicide]], [[pornography]] and [[murder]]. In the 1980s and later, some groups, especially [[Christian fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] Christian groups, accused the games of encouraging interest in [[Magic (paranormal)|sorcery]] and the veneration of [[demon]]s.<ref name="panic">{{Cite journal |year=2005 |title=Role-Playing Games and the Christian Right: Community Formation in Response to a Moral Panic |journal=The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture |volume=9 |pages=3 |doi=10.3138/jrpc.9.1.003 |last1=Waldron |first1=David|hdl=1959.17/44257 |url=https://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/vital:919/DS1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Laycock |first1=Joseph P. |title=Dangerous Games: What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds |date=2015 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-28492-0 }}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}</ref>

==== <span class="anchor" id="AIDS"></span><!--[[AIDS panic]] redirects here--> HIV/AIDS (1980s–1990s) ====
{{See also|Gay plague}}

[[HIV/AIDS|Acquired immune deficiency syndrome]] (AIDS) is a viral illness that may lead to or exacerbate other health conditions such as [[pneumonia]], [[fungal infection]]s, [[tuberculosis]], [[toxoplasmosis]], and [[cytomegalovirus]]. A meeting of the [[British Sociological Association]]'s South West and Wales Study entitled "AIDS: The Latest Moral Panic" was prompted by the growing interest of medical sociologists in [[AIDS]], as well as that of UK health care professionals working in the field of health education. It took place at a time when both groups were beginning to voice an increased concern with the growing media attention and [[Fearmongering|fear-mongering]] that AIDS was attracting.<ref name="ATLMP">{{Cite book |last1=Coxon |first1=Anthony Peter Macmillan |last2=Gilligan |first2=J. H. |title=Aids: The Latest Moral Panic |date=1985 |publisher=School of Social Studies, University College of Swansea |isbn=978-0-947622-10-7 }}{{page needed|date=November 2016}}</ref> In the 1980s, a moral panic was created within the media over HIV/AIDS. For example, in Britain, a prominent advertisement by the government<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pemberton |first1=Max |title=HIV/Aids treatment has come a long way– in the West |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/sexual-health-and-advice/9715372/HIVAids-treatment-has-come-a-long-way-in-the-West.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/sexual-health-and-advice/9715372/HIVAids-treatment-has-come-a-long-way-in-the-West.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=14 June 2017 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=3 December 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> suggested that the public was uninformed about HIV/AIDS due to a lack of publicly accessible and accurate information.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remembering the 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign |url=https://placingthepublic.lshtm.ac.uk/2018/05/20/remembering-the-dont-die-of-ignorance-campaign/ |website=Placing the Public in Public Health: Public Health in Britain, 1948-2010 |access-date=10 November 2024 |date=20 May 2018}}</ref>

The media outlets nicknamed HIV/AIDS the "gay plague", which further stigmatized the disease. However, scientists gained a far better understanding of HIV/AIDS as it grew in the 1980s and moved into the 1990s and beyond. The illness was still negatively viewed by many as either being caused by or passed on through the gay community. Once it became clear that this was not the case, the moral panic created by the media changed to blaming the overall negligence of ethical standards by the younger generation (both male and female), resulting in another moral panic. Authors behind ''AIDS: Rights, Risk, and Reason'' argued that "British TV and press coverage is locked into an agenda which blocks out any approach to the subject which does not conform in advance to the values and language of a profoundly homophobic culture—a culture that does not regard gay men as fully or properly human. No distinction obtains for the agenda between 'quality' and 'tabloid' newspapers, or between 'popular' and 'serious' television."<ref>Aggleton, P., Davies, P., & Hart, G. (1992). ''AIDS: Rights, Risk, and Reason''. London: Falmer Press. {{ISBN|978-0750700405}}{{page needed|date=November 2016}}</ref>

Similarly, reports of a group of AIDS cases amongst gay men in [[Southern California]] which suggested that a [[Sexually transmitted disease|sexually transmitted]] [[Infectious disease|infectious agent]] might be the [[Etiology|etiological]] agent<ref name="MMWR Weekly, 1982">{{Cite journal | title = A cluster of Kaposi's sarcoma and ''Pneumocystis carinii'' pneumonia among homosexual male residents of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California | journal = MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. | volume = 31 | issue = 23 | pages = 305–307 | date = June 1982 | pmid = 6811844 | url = https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001114.htm | author1 = Centers for Disease Control (CDC). }}</ref> led to several terms relating to homosexuality being coined for the disease, including ''gay plague''.<ref name="AIDS-Encyclopedia">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Raymond A. |title=Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic |publisher=Routledge |date= 1998 |page=347 |isbn=978-1-135-45754-9 }}</ref>

==== Dangerous dogs (late 1980s – early 1990s) ====
{{Main|Dangerous Dogs Act 1991}}

After a series of high-profile dog attacks on children in the United Kingdom, the British press began to engage in a campaign against so-called dangerous dog breeds, especially [[pit bull]]s and [[Rottweiler]]s, which bore all the hallmarks of a moral panic.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=S. |title=Criminology |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=93}}</ref><ref name="Kaspersson-2008">{{Cite conference |last1=Kaspersson |first1=Maria |title=On treating the symptoms and not the cause: reflections on the Dangerous Dogs Act |conference=British Criminology Conference |date=July 2008 |volume=8 |pages=205–225 |url=https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/1452/ }}</ref>

This media pressure led the government to hastily introduce the [[Dangerous Dogs Act 1991|''Dangerous Dogs Act'' 1991]] which has been criticised as "among the worst pieces of legislation ever seen, a poorly thought-out knee-jerk reaction to tabloid headlines that was rushed through Parliament without proper scrutiny."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Parkinson |first1=Justin |title=Pledge: Watch Dangerous Dogs |date=4 December 2009 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8391175.stm |access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref> The act specifically focused on pit bulls, which were associated with the lower social strata of British society, rather than the Rottweilers and [[Dobermann|Dobermann Pinschers]] generally owned by richer social groups. Critics have identified the presence of social class as a factor in the dangerous dogs moral panic, with establishment anxieties about the "[[Subproletariat|sub-proletarian]]" sector of British society displaced onto the [[folk devil]] of the "Dangerous dog".<ref name="Kaspersson-2008" />

=== Ongoing historic examples ===
==== Increase in crime (1970s–present) ====
{{see also|Crime drop}}
Fear of increasing crime rates is often the cause of moral panics.{{sfn|Cohen|2011|p={{page needed|date=August 2022}}}}<ref name="Hall-2013" />{{sfn|Goode|Ben-Yehuda|2009|p=217}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Byron |first1=Reginald A. |last2=Molidor |first2=William S. |last3=Cantu |first3=Andrew |title=US Newspapers' Portrayals of Home Invasion Crime |journal=The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice |date=June 2018 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=250–277 |doi=10.1111/hojo.12257 |s2cid=158706064 }}</ref> In fact, the rates of many types of crime have [[Crime drop|declined by 50% or more]] beginning in the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref name=cj>{{cite journal|last1=Farrell|first1=Graham|last2=Tilley|first2=Nick|last3=Tseloni|first3=Andromachi|title=Why the Crime Drop?|journal=Crime and Justice|date=September 2014|volume=43|issue=1|pages=421–490|doi=10.1086/678081|s2cid=145719976|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/97466/1/Farrell%20Tilley%20Tseloni%202014%20Why%20the%20Crime%20Drop%20%28C%26J%20vol43%29.pdf}}</ref> In Europe, [[crime statistics]] show this is part of a broader pattern of crime decline since the late [[Middle Ages]], with a reversal from the 1960s to the 1980s and 1990s, before the decline continued.<ref name=tonry-1-2>{{Cite journal |url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/faculty_articles/511 |last=Tonry |first= Michael |title=Why Crime Rates Are Falling Throughout the Western World, 43 Crime & Just. 1 (2014) |journal=Crime & Just |date=January 2014 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

This phenomenon, which often taps into a population's [[herd mentality]], continues to occur in various cultures. In some cases, the perception of increased crime can be caused by increased reporting of crimes or by better record-keeping. Japanese jurist [[:ja:浜井浩一|Koichi Hamai]] explains how the changes in crime recording in Japan since the 1990s caused people to believe that the crime rate was rising and that crimes were getting increasingly severe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=浜井 |first1=浩一 |title=日本の治安悪化神話はいかに作られたか(I 課題研究 日本の治安と犯罪対策-犯罪学からの提言) |trans-title=How 'the myth of collapsing safe society' has been created in Japan: beyond the moral panic and victim industry |language=ja |journal=Japanese Journal of Sociological Criminology |volume=29 |issue=29 |date=2004 |pages=4–93 |id={{NAID|110006153656}} |doi=10.20621/jjscrim.29.0_10 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==== Violence and video games (1970s–present) ====
{{Main|Violence and video games}}
{{See also|Columbine effect}}

There have been calls to regulate violence in [[video game]]s for nearly as long as the video game industry has existed, with ''[[Death Race (1976 video game)|Death Race]]'' being a notable early example.<ref name="byrd">{{Cite journal |last1=Byrd |first1=Patrick R. |title=It's All Fun and Games until Someone Gets Hurt: The Effectiveness of Proposed Video-Game Legislation on Reducing Violence in Children |journal=Houston Law Review |volume=44 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2007 |pages=401–432 |url=https://houstonlawreview.org/article/4842.pdf }}</ref><ref name="kocurek">{{Cite journal|last=Koucurek|first=Carly|date=September 2012|title=The Agony and the Exidy: A History of Video Game Violence and the Legacy of Death Race|url=http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek|journal=Game Studies|volume=12|issue=1}}</ref> In the 1990s, improvements in video game technology allowed for more lifelike depictions of violence in games such as ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' and ''[[Doom (franchise)|Doom]]''. The industry attracted controversy over violent content and concerns about [[influence of mass media|effects]] they might have on players, generating frequent media stories that attempted to associate video games with violent behavior, in addition to a number of academic studies that reported conflicting findings about the strength of correlations.<ref name="byrd" /> According to Christopher Ferguson, sensationalist media reports and the scientific community unintentionally worked together in "promoting an unreasonable fear of violent video games".<ref name="scotus">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|year=2013|title=Violent video games and the Supreme Court: Lessons for the scientific community in the wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association|journal=American Psychologist|volume=68|issue=2|pages=57–74|doi=10.1037/a0030597|pmid=23421606}}</ref> Concerns from parts of the public about violent games led to cautionary, often exaggerated news stories, warnings from politicians and other public figures, and calls for research to prove the connection, which in turn led to studies "speaking beyond the available data and allowing the promulgation of extreme claims without the usual scientific caution and skepticism".<ref name="scotus" />

Since the 1990s, there have been attempts to regulate violent video games in the United States through congressional bills as well as within the industry.<ref name="byrd" /> Public concern and media coverage of violent video games reached a high point following the [[Columbine High School massacre]] in 1999, after which videos were found of the perpetrators, [[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold]], talking about violent games like ''Doom'' and making comparisons between the acts they intended to carry out and aspects of games.<ref name="byrd" /><ref name="scotus" />

Ferguson and others have explained the video game moral panic as part of a cycle that all new media go through.<ref name="scotus" /><ref name="fergusonapa">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|year=2010|title=Blazing angels or resident evil? Can violent video games be a force for good?|journal=Review of General Psychology|volume=14|issue=2|pages=68–81|citeseerx=10.1.1.360.3176|doi=10.1037/a0018941|s2cid=3053432}}</ref><ref name="jpr">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|last2=Coulson|first2=Mark|last3=Barnett|first3=Jane|year=2011|title=A meta-analysis of pathological gaming prevalence and comorbidity with mental health, academic and social problems|journal=Journal of Psychiatric Research|volume=45|issue=12|pages=1573–1578|doi=10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.09.005|pmid=21925683}}</ref> In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association]]'' that legally restricting sales of video games to minors would be unconstitutional and deemed the research presented in favour of regulation as "unpersuasive".<ref name="scotus" />

==== War on drugs (1970s–present) ====
{{Main|War on Drugs|Urban legends about drugs}}

Some critics have pointed to moral panic as an explanation for the War on Drugs. For example, a [[Royal Society of Arts]] commission concluded that "the [[Misuse of Drugs Act 1971]]&nbsp;... is driven more by 'moral panic' than by a practical desire to reduce harm".<ref name="DR">{{Cite web|date=March 2007|title=Drugs Report|url=http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/current-projects/drugs-commission/drugs-report|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140909140009/http://www.thersa.org/action-research-centre/current-projects/drugs-commission/drugs-report|archive-date=9 September 2014|access-date=24 November 2014|publisher=[[Royal Society of Arts]] Action and Research Centre}} [http://www.rsadrugscommission.org.uk/pdf/RSA_Drugs_Report.pdf Pdf.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420011816/http://www.rsadrugscommission.org.uk/pdf/RSA_Drugs_Report.pdf|date=20 April 2014}}</ref>

Some have written that one of the many rungs supporting the moral panic behind the War on Drugs was a separate but related moral panic, which peaked in the late 1990s, involving media's gross exaggeration of the [[Date rape drug#Media coverage|frequency of the surreptitious use of date rape drugs]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Philip|url=https://archive.org/details/syntheticpanicss0000jenk|title=Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer Drugs|publisher=New York University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0814742440|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/syntheticpanicss0000jenk/page/20 20] and 161–182|author-link=Philip Jenkins|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{sfn|Goode|Ben-Yehuda|2009|p=217}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Webber|first=Craig|url=https://archive.org/details/psychol_web_2010_00_6514/page/67|title=Psychology & Crime|publisher=Sage|year=2010|isbn=978-1412919425|location=Los Angeles & London|page=[https://archive.org/details/psychol_web_2010_00_6514/page/67 67]}}</ref> News media have been criticized for advocating "grossly excessive protective measures for women, particularly in coverage between 1996 and 1998", for overstating the threat and for excessively dwelling on the topic.{{sfn|Goode|Ben-Yehuda|2009|p=217}} For example, a 2009 Australian study found that drug panel tests were unable to detect any drug in any of the 97 instances of patients admitted to the hospital believing their drinks might have been spiked.<ref name="Quigley 2009">{{Cite journal|last1=Quigley|first1=Paul|last2=Lynch|first2=Dania M.|last3=Little|first3=Mark|last4=Murray|first4=Lindsay|last5=Lynch|first5=Ann-Maree|last6=O'Halloran|first6=Sean J.|year=2009|title=Prospective study of 101 patients with suspected drink spiking|journal=Emergency Medicine Australasia|volume=21|issue=3|pages=222–228|doi=10.1111/j.1742-6723.2009.01185.x|pmid=19527282|s2cid=11404683|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==== Sex offenders, child sexual abuse, and pedophilia (1970s–present) ====
The media narrative of a [[sex offender]], highlighting egregious offenses as typical behaviour of any sex offender, and media distorting the facts of some cases,<ref name="Fox">{{Cite journal|last1=Fox|first1=Kathryn J.|year=2012|title=Incurable Sex Offenders, Lousy Judges & the Media: Moral Panic Sustenance in the Age of New Media|journal=American Journal of Criminal Justice|volume=38|pages=160–181|doi=10.1007/s12103-012-9154-6|s2cid=143562435}}</ref> has led legislators to attack [[judicial discretion]],<ref name="Fox" /> making sex offender registration mandatory based on certain listed offenses rather than individual risk or the actual severity of the crime, thus practically catching less serious offenders under the domain of harsh sex offender laws. In the 1990s and 2000s, there have been instances of moral panics in the United Kingdom and the United States, related to colloquial uses of the term ''[[pedophilia]]'' to refer to such unusual crimes as high-profile cases of [[child abduction]].<ref name="Jenkins" />

The moral panic over pedophilia began in the 1970s after the [[sexual revolution]]. While [[homosexuality]] was becoming more socially accepted after the sexual revolution, pro-contact pedophiles believed that the sexual revolution never helped them.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wolmar|first=Christian|date=February 27, 2014|title=Looking back to the great British paedophile infiltration campaign of the 1970s|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/looking-back-to-the-great-british-paedophile-infiltration-campaign-of-the-1970s-9155610.html|access-date=September 19, 2019|work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> In the 1970s, pro-contact pedophile activist organizations such as [[Paedophile Information Exchange]] (PIE) and [[North American Man/Boy Love Association]] (NAMBLA) were formed in October 1974 and December 1978, respectively. Despite receiving some support, PIE received much backlash when they advocated for abolishing or lowering [[age of consent]] laws. As a result, people protested against PIE.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=de Castella|first1=Tom|last2=Heyden|first2=Tom|date=February 27, 2014|title=How did the pro-paedophile group PIE exist openly for 10 years?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26352378|access-date=September 16, 2019|work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

Until the first half of the 1970s, sex was not yet part of the concept of domestic [[child abuse]], which used to be limited to physical abuse and neglect.<ref name="AllAgainstPedophilia">{{Cite journal|last=Lowenkron|first=Laura|year=2014|title=All Against Pedophilia|url=https://journals.openedition.org/vibrant/1528|journal=Vibrant. Virtual Brazilian Anthropology|issue=v10n2}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50x50px]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]].</ref> The sexual part of child abuse became prominent in the [[Ages of consent in the United States|United States]] due to the encounter of two political agendas: the fight against [[battered child syndrome]] by pediatricians during the 1960s and the feminist [[anti-rape movement]], in particular the denunciation of domestic [[Sexual violence in the United States|sexual violence]].<ref name="AllAgainstPedophilia" /> These two movements overlapped in 1975, creating a new political agenda about child sexual abuse. Laura Lowenkron wrote: "The strong political and emotional appeal of the theme of 'child sexual abuse' strengthened the feminist criticism of the [[Patriarchal family|patriarchal family structure]], according to which domestic violence is linked to the unequal power between men and women and between adults and children."<ref name="AllAgainstPedophilia" /> Although the concern over child sexual abuse was caused by feminists, the concern over child sexual abuse also attracted traditional groups and conservative groups. Lowenkron added: "Concerned about the increasing expansion and acceptance of so-called 'sexual deviations' during what was called the libertarian age from the 1960s to the early 1970s", conservative groups and traditional groups "saw in the fight against 'child sexual abuse' the chance" to "revive fears about crime and sexual dangers".<ref name="AllAgainstPedophilia" />

In the 1980s, the media began to report more frequently on cases of children being raped, kidnapped, or murdered, leading to the moral panic over sex offenders and pedophiles becoming very intense in the early 1980s. In 1981, for instance, a six-year-old boy named [[Murder of Adam Walsh|Adam Walsh]] was abducted, murdered, and beheaded. Investigators believe the murderer was serial killer [[Ottis Toole]]. The murder of Adam Walsh took over nationwide news and led to a moral panic over [[child abduction]], followed by the creation of new laws for [[missing children]].<ref name="Time">{{Cite magazine|last=Waxman|first=Olivia B.|date=August 10, 2016|title=Adam Walsh Murder: The Missing Child Who Changed America|url=https://time.com/4437205/adam-walsh-murder/|access-date=September 16, 2019|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> According to criminologist [[Richard Moran (philosopher)|Richard Moran]], the Walsh case "created a nation of petrified kids and paranoid parents&nbsp;... Kids used to be able to go out and organize a stickball game, and now all playdates and the social lives of children are arranged and controlled by the parents."<ref name="Time" />

Also during the 1980s, inaccurate and heavily flawed data about sex offenders and their [[recidivism]] rates was published. This data led to the public believing sex offenders to have a particularly high recidivism rate; this in turn led to the creation of [[sex offender registry|sex offender registries]].<ref name="DJWOOD">Wood, Daniel J., "Sex offender registry acts: Deterrence or moral panic?" (2017). ''Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations''. [http://commons.emich.edu/theses/766 766].</ref> Later information revealed that sex offenders, including child sex offenders, have a low recidivism rate.<ref name="DJWOOD" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Borneman|first=John|date=June 29, 2018|title=Can Child Sex Offenders Be Rehabilitated?|url=https://www.sapiens.org/culture/can-child-sex-offenders-be-rehabilitated/|access-date=September 16, 2019|publisher=Sapiens}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=August 2000|title=Myths and Facts About Sex Offenders|url=https://www.csom.org/pubs/mythsfacts.pdf|access-date=September 16, 2019|publisher=Center for Sex Offender Management|archive-date=12 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112181652/http://www.csom.org/pubs/mythsfacts.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Jeglic|first=Elizabeth|date=February 13, 2019|title=Five Myths About Child Sexual Abuse|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/protecting-children-sexual-abuse/201902/five-myths-about-child-sexual-abuse|access-date=September 16, 2019|work=[[Psychology Today]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kolata|first=Gina|date=September 1, 1996|title=The Many Myths About Sex Offenders|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/01/weekinreview/the-many-myths-about-sex-offenders.html|access-date=September 16, 2019|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Other highly publicized cases, similar to the murder of Adam Walsh, that contributed to the creation of sex offender registries and sex offender laws include the abduction and murder of 11-year-old boy [[Jacob Wetterling]] in 1989; the rape and murder of 7-year-old girl [[Megan Kanka]] in 1994; and the rape and murder of 9-year-old girl [[Jessica Lunsford]] in 2005.<ref name="DJWOOD" />

Another contributing factor in the moral panic over pedophiles and sex offenders was the [[day-care sex-abuse hysteria]] in the 1980s and early 1990s, including the [[McMartin preschool trial]]. This led to a panic where parents became [[Hypervigilance|hypervigilant]] with concerns of predatory child sex offenders seeking to abduct children in public spaces, such as playgrounds.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Casey |first1=Maura |title=How not to investigate child abuse |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-modern-witch-hunt/2015/07/31/057effd8-2f1a-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=31 July 2015 }}</ref>

=== Contemporary examples ===

==== Satanic panic (1980s–present) ====
{{Main|Satanic panic}}

The "satanic panic" was a series of moral panics regarding satanic ritual abuse that originated in the United States and spread to other English-speaking countries in the 1980s and 1990s, which led to a string of wrongful convictions.{{sfn|Goode|Ben-Yehuda|2009|pp=57–65}}<ref name="Jenkins">{{Cite book |title=Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0300109634 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |pages=[https://archive.org/details/moralpanicchangi0000jenk/page/207 207–231] |author-link=Philip Jenkins |url=https://archive.org/details/moralpanicchangi0000jenk/page/207 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend |last=Victor |first=Jeffrey S. |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0812691917 |location=Chicago |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic |last=Young |first=Mary |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |isbn=978-0786418305 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |author-link=Mary de Young}}</ref> The [[West Memphis Three]] were three teenagers falsely accused of murdering children in a satanic ritual.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Two were sentenced to life in prison and one was sentenced to death, before all being released after 18 years in prison.

==== Human trafficking (2000–present) ====
Many critics of contemporary anti-prostitution activism argue that much of the current concern about [[human trafficking]] and its more general conflation with [[prostitution]] and other forms of [[sex work]] have hallmarks of moral panic. They further argue that this moral panic shares much in common with the '[[white slavery]]' panic of a century earlier, which in the US prompted passage of the 1910 ''[[Mann Act]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1007/s12147-999-0021-9 |pmid=12296110 |title=Loose women or lost women? The re-emergence of the myth of white slavery in contemporary discourses of trafficking in women |journal=Gender Issues |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=23–50 |year=1999 |last1=Doezema |first1=Jo |s2cid=39806701 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Weitzer |first1=Ronald |title=The Social Construction of Sex Trafficking: Ideology and Institutionalization of a Moral Crusade |journal=Politics & Society |date=September 2007 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=447–475 |doi=10.1177/0032329207304319 |s2cid=154583133 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1333994 |chapter=Women's bodies, moral panic and the world game: Sex trafficking, the 2006 Football World Cup and beyond |title=Proceedings of the Second Australia and New Zealand Critical Criminology Conference |year=2009 |last1=Cunneen |first1=Chris |last2=Salter |first2=Michael |isbn=978-0-646-50737-8 |pages=222–242 |s2cid=146691694 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.2298/TEM0802021M |title=Football and sex: The 2006 FIFA World Cup and sex trafficking |journal=Temida |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=21–47 |year=2008 |last1=Milivojevic |first1=Sanja |last2=Pickering |first2=Sharon |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Nick Davies]] argues that the following major factors contributed towards this effect. Since the [[collapse of Communism]], Western Europe was flooded with sex workers from [[Eastern Europe]], and the term ''sex trafficking'' came to mean any organized movement of sex workers, losing the connotation of force and coercion. This change of the definition entered, e.g., into the UK's [[Sexual Offences Act 2003]]. Second, academic researchers on sex trade provided a range of estimates of the trafficked persons, including estimates based on various assumptions, up to the very pessimistic ones. The media picked the most alarmist numbers, which were uncritically used by politicians, who in their turn were quoted for further misleading information.<ref>{{Cite news | last1 = Davies | first1 = Nick | author-link = Nick Davies | title=Prostitution and trafficking – the anatomy of a moral panic| work=[[The Guardian]]| access-date=29 November 2009 | date=20 October 2009 | url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/oct/20/trafficking-numbers-women-exaggerated }}</ref>

==== Terrorism and Islamic extremism (2001–present) ====
{{Main|War on Terror}}

After the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, some scholars identified a rising [[Islamophobia|fear of Muslims]] in the western world, which they described as a moral panic.<ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-71776-0_8 |chapter='Ta-Ta Qatada': Islamophobic Moral Panic and the British Tabloid Press |title=Media, Crime and Racism |year=2018 |last1=Meyer |first1=Anneke |last2=Poynting |first2=Scott |pages=139–160 |isbn=978-3-319-71775-3 }}</ref><ref name="MoralPanicToPermanentWar" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=George |title=Global Islamophobia: Muslims and Moral Panic in the West |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-12772-7 }}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}</ref> This exaggeration of the threat posed by Islam served a political purpose, contributing to the concept of a global [[war on terror]], including the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]] and a [[Iraq War|war in Iraq]].<ref name="MoralPanicToPermanentWar" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bonn |first1=Scott A. |title=[[Mass Deception|Mass Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq]] |date=2010 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4996-5}}{{page needed|date=August 2022}}</ref>

Following the September 11 attacks, there was a dramatic increase in hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in the United States, with rates peaking in 2001 and later surpassed in 2016.<ref name="MoralPanicToPermanentWar" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/15/assaults-against-muslims-in-u-s-surpass-2001-level/ |title=Assaults against Muslims in U.S. surpass 2001 level |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]] |last=Kishi |first=Katayoun |date=November 15, 2017 |access-date=September 16, 2019}}</ref>

==== African gangs (2007–2018) ====
{{main|African gangs moral panic}}
A moral panic occurred in Australia between 2007 and 2018, centred on the supposed presence of [[Sudanese-Australian]] criminal gangs.<ref name="Benier,Blaustein,Johns,Maher">{{cite web |last1=Benier |first1=Kathryn |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |last3=Johns |first3=Diana |last4=Maher |first4=Sarah |title='Don't drag me into this' Growing up South Sudanese in Victoria after the 2016 Moomba 'riot' |url=https://cmy.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Dont-Drag-Me-Into-This-Research-Report-Oct-2018-FINAL.pdf |website=Centre for Multicultural Youth |publisher=Monash University |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref> The height of the panic coincided with the [[2018 Victorian state election|Victorian State election of 2018]], and was strongly linked to members of the [[Australian Liberal Party]] and right-wing newspapers.<ref name="Kounmoris&Blaustein">{{cite journal |last1=Kounmouris |first1=Gregory |last2=Blaustein |first2=Jarrett |title=Reporting 'African gangs': Theorising journalistic practice during a multi-mediated moral panic |journal=Crime, Media, Culture |date=2021 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=105–125 |doi=10.1177/1741659021991205 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1741659021991205 |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref> The racialised nature of the panic showed great similarities to the "Black muggers" panic studied by Hall, but met with greater resistance from local "experts" such as senior police and politicians, limiting its effectiveness to a degree.<ref name="Kounmoris&Blaustein" />

==== QAnon conspiracies (2020s) ====
[[QAnon]], a late-2010s to early 2020s far-right conspiracy theory that began on [[4chan]] and which alleged that a secret [[cabal]] of [[Judaism|Jewish]], [[Satan Worshipping|Satan-worshipping]], [[Human cannibalism|cannibalistic]] pedophiles is running a global [[Child sex trafficking|child sex-trafficking]] ring, has been described as a moral panic and compared to the 1980s panic over satanic ritual abuse.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vrzal |first1=Miroslav |title=QAnon as a variation of a Satanic conspiracy theory : an overview |journal=Theory and Practice in English Studies |date=2020 |volume=9 |issue=1–2 |pages=45–66 |hdl=11222.digilib/143485 }}</ref>

==== LGBT "grooming" conspiracy theory (2020s) ====
{{main|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory}}
Since the early 2020s, members of the [[far-right]] and a growing number of mainstream [[Conservatism in the United States|conservatives]], mostly in the United States, have falsely accused [[LGBT people]], drag performers, and educators of [[Child grooming|grooming children]] for including [[LGBT sex education|LGBT-positive material]]. These accusations include several elements of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracies characterized by scholars as [[homophobic]] and [[transphobic]], and sometimes related to a broader moral panic about transgender people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Allyn |date=November 2023 |title=Transphobic discourse and moral panic convergence: A content analysis of my hate mail |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12355 |journal=Criminology |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=994–1021 |doi=10.1111/1745-9125.12355 |issn=0011-1384}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Phippen |first=Andy |title=Online Harms Moral Panics, the Last Five Years |date=2025 |work=Policy and Rights Challenges in Children’s Online Behaviour and Safety, 2017–2023 |pages=47–70 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-80286-7_3 |access-date=2025-03-19 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-80286-7_3 |isbn=978-3-031-80285-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marwick |first=Alice |last2=Smith |first2=Jacob |last3=Basnight |first3=Belle |last4=Boyles |first4=Dahlia |last5=Donnelly |first5=Margaret |last6=Kaczynski |first6=Stephanie |last7=Ringel |first7=Evan |last8=Whitmarsh |first8=Sarah |last9=Yabase |first9=Carolina |date=October 2024 |title=Child-Sacrificing Drag Queens: Historical Antecedents in Disinformative Narratives Supporting the Drag Queen Story Hour Moral Panic |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07491409.2024.2396288 |journal=Women's Studies in Communication |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=459–479 |doi=10.1080/07491409.2024.2396288 |issn=0749-1409}}</ref>