1.5
Moral panic - Moral panic is the title given to when issues/minor issues are magnified and the threat or
problem level is exaggerated, this can be caused by news & media outlets reporting on an issue. Panic is
caused when society perceives the issue as a more significant threat than it truly is. An instance of this
occurring would be the “toilet paper shortage” during the covid-19 quarantine back in 2020. During the
first quarantine which had occurred in 2020, stores and media urged people to stock up on household
essentials including toilet paper and storable food. The media reporting on this had made people
worried about the shortages and began piling up on items such as tissue when in reality, tissue and
other items were not in a shortage but because of people mass piling them up, they had been put in an
actual shortage, another example of moral panic would be the “mods and rockers” situation where the
media had reported the issue had then created a panic within Uk societies who thought that they would
have been a victim of these “gang” activities. Stanley Cohen states that moral panic occurs when a group
is formed and perceived as a threat by the general public.
Deviancy amplification is when authorities or media escalate minor issues or problems by their
involvement in it. The amplification part occurs when the issue gets larger and larger until it is out of the
control of authorities. An occurrence of this happening would be the 2011 riots. During the beginning of
the riots – it was quite small, and the police could have managed it, but once the media had reported on
the issue, the problem had become a large-scale issue nationwide and the police could not have done
much to further prevent the issue, the riots had spread to other cities within the country such as
Birmingham. The issue had then begun to settle down within 24 hours. The property damage that this
caused was £200 million.
Changing public concerns & attitudes – Change in public concerns and attitudes occurs when concerns
shift within public views, an example of this happening would be the rise of terrorism within Europe,
especially within the UK. The most notable was the Ariana Grande concert bombing in 2017. This shift in
concern and attitudes had increased the levels of Islamophobic hate crimes in the UK as there had been
a stigma of terrorists only being Muslim, this harmful stereotype had been caused by the media. This
could also be an example of moral panic.
Perceptions of crimes and trends – 72% of crimes are committed nationally while 43% are committed
locally. These statistics show how crimes locally are not as reported as those nationally. This does not
necessarily mean that less crime occurs locally. This could mean that more crimes nationally are being
reported/ have more media coverage. This could link to dark figures.
Unreported crime, typically rape crimes from female victims don’t get reported as they may feel shame
or fear, this adds to the public perception that rape crimes are a rare occurrence.
Stereotyping of criminals – Stereotyping of criminals occurs when media or a group of people take
certain characteristics (facial features, beliefs or body language) and links it to criminals, stereotyping
also occurs as an oversimplification and generalization of a group. Stereotypes often have negative
connotations when targeted at certain groups of people and can be used as self-fulfilling prophecies.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are often used by police and are targeted towards ethnic minorities as they use
their stereotypical typification's to justify brutality or abuse towards a certain group. An example of this
occurring would be Cesare Lombroso's theory where people inherit criminal mindsets due to their
Moral panic - Moral panic is the title given to when issues/minor issues are magnified and the threat or
problem level is exaggerated, this can be caused by news & media outlets reporting on an issue. Panic is
caused when society perceives the issue as a more significant threat than it truly is. An instance of this
occurring would be the “toilet paper shortage” during the covid-19 quarantine back in 2020. During the
first quarantine which had occurred in 2020, stores and media urged people to stock up on household
essentials including toilet paper and storable food. The media reporting on this had made people
worried about the shortages and began piling up on items such as tissue when in reality, tissue and
other items were not in a shortage but because of people mass piling them up, they had been put in an
actual shortage, another example of moral panic would be the “mods and rockers” situation where the
media had reported the issue had then created a panic within Uk societies who thought that they would
have been a victim of these “gang” activities. Stanley Cohen states that moral panic occurs when a group
is formed and perceived as a threat by the general public.
Deviancy amplification is when authorities or media escalate minor issues or problems by their
involvement in it. The amplification part occurs when the issue gets larger and larger until it is out of the
control of authorities. An occurrence of this happening would be the 2011 riots. During the beginning of
the riots – it was quite small, and the police could have managed it, but once the media had reported on
the issue, the problem had become a large-scale issue nationwide and the police could not have done
much to further prevent the issue, the riots had spread to other cities within the country such as
Birmingham. The issue had then begun to settle down within 24 hours. The property damage that this
caused was £200 million.
Changing public concerns & attitudes – Change in public concerns and attitudes occurs when concerns
shift within public views, an example of this happening would be the rise of terrorism within Europe,
especially within the UK. The most notable was the Ariana Grande concert bombing in 2017. This shift in
concern and attitudes had increased the levels of Islamophobic hate crimes in the UK as there had been
a stigma of terrorists only being Muslim, this harmful stereotype had been caused by the media. This
could also be an example of moral panic.
Perceptions of crimes and trends – 72% of crimes are committed nationally while 43% are committed
locally. These statistics show how crimes locally are not as reported as those nationally. This does not
necessarily mean that less crime occurs locally. This could mean that more crimes nationally are being
reported/ have more media coverage. This could link to dark figures.
Unreported crime, typically rape crimes from female victims don’t get reported as they may feel shame
or fear, this adds to the public perception that rape crimes are a rare occurrence.
Stereotyping of criminals – Stereotyping of criminals occurs when media or a group of people take
certain characteristics (facial features, beliefs or body language) and links it to criminals, stereotyping
also occurs as an oversimplification and generalization of a group. Stereotypes often have negative
connotations when targeted at certain groups of people and can be used as self-fulfilling prophecies.
Self-fulfilling prophecies are often used by police and are targeted towards ethnic minorities as they use
their stereotypical typification's to justify brutality or abuse towards a certain group. An example of this
occurring would be Cesare Lombroso's theory where people inherit criminal mindsets due to their
