Editing Moral panic (section)

==== 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" />