CHILDREN & YOUTH

Why Have Children And Youths Been The Subject Of So Many Moral Panics Since 1990?

Why Have Children And Youths Been The Subject Of So Many Moral Panics Since 1990?

One might well ask what it is that these particular examples of newspaper headlines have in common, or perhaps more importantly, what relevance and significance do they encapsulate for us as individuals and as members of the larger society?. The answer, it might be said, is that they are each illustrative of an 'episode, condition, person or group of persons' that have in recent times, been 'defined as a threat to societal values and interests'- what Stanley Cohen has termed 'The Moral Panic' (Cohen 1972: 9). According to Cohen, society is often subject to such instances and periods of moral panic; an occurrence which is characterised by 'stylized and stereotypical' representation by the mass media, and a tendency for those 'in power' (politicians, bishops, editors and so on) to man the 'moral barricades' and pronounce judgement.

At times the object and nature of the panic may be considered 'novel', such as that concerning the 'child killers' of James Bulger in the 1990's, while at others it has been in existence for some time but has suddenly come into (or perhaps re-entered) the limelight (drugs and paedophilia). The path of the panic, however, can take one of two directions. Either it quickly dies out and for all intents and purposes is forgotten, or it has more serious and lasting implications such as incorporation into legislation and social policy, as can be seen by the introduction of the National Sex Offenders Register (Paedophile Register) in the late 1990s, in response to the growing concern and panic over child sex offences (Cohen 1972: 9). It is, therefore, within this context that this essay is set. The concept of the moral panic will be looked at more closely before moving on to examine the role of the media (particularly newspapers) in the orchestration of moral panics. For this purpose two of the more recent moral panics will be discussed in order to provide a more comprehensive illustration of this issue. For all intents and purposes the 'moral panic' is nothing new.

Throughout time there have been a number of panics over a variety of issues, ranging from crime and the activities of youth, to drugs and sexual freedom, each considered a threat to the moral fibre of society at that particular time- today is no exception (Furedi 1994: 1). As Furedi points out, 'newspaper headlines continually warn of some new danger which threatens our health and happiness. Television programmes echo the theme with sensational accounts of crime and illustrations of the breakdown of family life' (Furedi 1994: 1). Whereas in the past it may have been the 'drug culture' of the fifties and sixties, or the disruptive behaviour of the Mods and Rockers, today we face panics over 'children who kill other children', the threat to our health from outbreaks of BSE and ...