Preview

Moral Panic Research Paper

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4727 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Moral Panic Research Paper
INTRODUCTION
There was once a saying that girls were made from sugar, spice, and everything nice; however, today’s female youth would hardly fit that description in accordance with the views of law enforcement agencies, politicians, community members, and the media. According to these sources, the female youth is made of aggression, violent behaviour, and sexual indecencies that would explain the reason for the increasing conflict the female youth is having with the justice system.
Female youth who come into conflict with the law have recently received a large amount of attention from the media, academics, and policy-makers. While the media portray a stereotype of the "new violent girl", academics argue over how we should study, research,
…show more content…
Moral panic is what follows once the readers have fallen privy to the decontextualized text they have read as presented by the media. A moral panic typically focuses on evildoers – or supposed evil doers how come to be defined as the enemy of society. Therefore, in the eyes of the moral entrepreneurs, these deviants deserve public hostility and punishment. Moral panic occurs when a substantial portion of society feels that particular evildoers pose a threat to the moral order of society. Usually, it is through increased public hostility, more laws, more control, more police, more arrests, and more prison cells as well as other efforts that the “moral order” is to be re-established or held in check (Burns, …show more content…
In Virk’s case, media reports drew attention around the idea that Virk was flirting with one of the girl’s boyfriends and apparently also stole her day planner. However, to trivialize this type of small incident as motive for murder misses the point of the reality in which girls commit violent acts of crime. It also, supports the media’s motives for decontextualizing the actuality and true source behind the emergence of girl’s violent

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Highway of Lost Girls” by Vanessa Veselka, she talks about her past events that took place when she was a runaway teenager and the time she came face to face with a serial killer. She supported her claim by using anecdotes to prove that her story is true. It was first published in The GQ magazine, New York, October 24, 2012. She is a novelist, union organizer, and author, which gives her the authority to write on this subject. She wrote this essay for the general public to read about her life story and to make money for it. She explained the situation she faces throughout her teenage life and the time she hitched a ride from Robert Ben Rhoades, who was later convicted as a serial killer. She uses strong tones to grab her reader’s…

    • 1047 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Firstly, concern is the first element of Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s five elements of moral panic. In the Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s article (2009), the author argued that moral panics is formed when all five elements are present in the meantime, and there must be a high levels of awareness over the behavior of a group or category, and that behavior potentially causes for one or more social sectors. According to ABC news (2014), the writer mentioned that there are nearly 4000 people huddled together at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach, the protestors against the government’s plan that they use baited lines to kill sharks in the beaches. Therefore, the news demonstrates the high level of concern in the public. Moreover, there is a great influence on the local…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Also she writes that the juvenile arrest rate for murder dropped greatly and the juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes also dropped. There are many cases where an adolescent commits a crime and don’t know whether they will be treated as an adult or not. Research suggests that adolescents treated as adults are more likely to turn out as violent career…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This week’s article addresses the uses of harsh Mandatory sentencing on the vulnerable juvenile population. In 2004, 16-year-old Cyntoia Brown was arrested for the murder of a middle-age man. Brown murdered the individual after being solicited for sexual activities. The courts viewed the case as an easy conviction. However, there was more to Cyntoia than her ill-thought actions. Cyntoia came from a background riddled with sexual violence. For instance, her grandmother was a victim of a violent rape which resulted in the birth of Cyntoia’s mother. At a young age, Cyntoia’s mother became a victim of prostitution, drugs, and alcohol use. Additionally, she became pregnant with Cyntoia at 16 years old. After Cyntoia ran away from home, she became…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Soc Week 4 Paper

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In this paper I will be discussing the article “Study of delinquent, diverted, and high-risk adolescent girls: Implications for mental health intervention”. I will start by giving a brief summary of the article I have chosen. Followed by discussing the type of article this is and my conclusion I have drawn form the information found in this article. Lastly I will discuss how this article fits into our sociology class as well as how this article differs from non-scholarly periodicals…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In modern society various people partake in acts of aggression and violence. Regardless of age or gender, expressing aggression and participating in violent actions are frequent obscenities in many cultures today. In the documentary Girlhood, Liz Garbus follows two young women who have encountered numerous misfortunes in the past that led them to implement their violent offences. Both girls work towards their freedom from the rehabilitation center in Baltimore, Maryland and finally become productive members of society. The movie comes to an end with one of the girls, Shanae, after much perseverance, overcoming her appalling behaviours and graduate from high school. Megan, the other young offender continues to practise delinquent behaviours and struggle…

    • 2103 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Either through contact with the juvenile legal system, or suspension from their schools, or problems at home with their parents, the young girls were all behaving inappropriately. Most of the girls adapted their behavior by the end of their stay with San Bernardino County. At least to the extent that they knew when to remain quiet and to not draw negative attention from the officers and inmates. One girl in particular--Ashley--did not change to appropriate behavior, and remained disrespectful and brash. Several of the young women were also portraying disregard for acceptable behavioral norms. The youngest of the group was knowingly allowing herself to be statutorily raped, engaging in sex with much older men at only thirteen years old. The most troublesome of the participants was involved in gang activity. Although, it was a family trend, with her mother and brother’s involved as well, it might have been more a social norm within the context of her immediate…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Moral Panic Definition

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “American Werewolf in Kabul…” Sean Brayton, a Ph.D student researching the specifics of critical race theory and media studies, analyzes the concept of moral panic as being an important cause of the potential threat of national security to the United States of America. He illustrates the three main elements of moral panic: folk devils, ambiguous terms, and moral entrepreneurs using the reality of John Walker Lindh’s journey through multiple identities. Comparing Cameron’s definition of moral panic to Brayton’s discussion of moral panic, which originated from Cohen’s developed description of the context in 1972, there is agreement that media overemphasize concerns beyond practicality. Both Cameron and Brayton use the term “folk devils” to represent a subgroup of individuals that is a leading cause of moral panic, yet with different purposes. Cameron suggests that the term “folk devil” is usually branded to social minorities that bear the burden enmity and blame by the socially ideal majority, whereas Brayton expands Cohen’s…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Moral Panics

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages

    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.…

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    moral panics

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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. As Furedi points out, ‘newspaper headlines continually warn of some new danger which threatens our health and happiness. Furedi suggests that moral panics have a tendency to occur ‘at times when society has not been able to adapt to dramatic changes’ and when such change leads those concerned to express fear over what they see as a loss of control.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Key Facts: Youth in the Justice system.” Campaign for Youth Justice, April 2012, https://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/documents/KeyYouthCrimeFacts.pdf. Accessed 7 March 17.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What Is Moral Panics?

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments pointed at upholding social control, deterring and reduce crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws. Crime occurs all over the world, every minute of each day, whether someone rapes someone, or robs a bank. The suspect is brought in from eyewitnesses, and evidence. An abundance of cases, however, go unreported, or are misreported.…

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Anybody is able to commit a crime or become a victim to a criminal offence. Gender is a significant factors to consider when analysing crime and victimization. In order to critically understand the reasons behind crime and victimization you must be able to recognise and analyse the influencing factors. This essay will focus on a few of the central arguments which include criminal behaviour of men and women, feminist criminology, hegemonic masculinity and gender victimization of sexual abuse.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    This essay will discuss the historic assumptions of the female criminal, theories of gender blindness which look toward the feminist criminologist perspective on gender attempting to show studies where the female criminal has been studied, but to which degree, and finally does this present criminology as more of a sexist social science, gender blinded or possibly even gender biased discipline.…

    • 2255 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juvenile Justice

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Children’s Defense Organization discusses how society portrays stereotypes based on ethnicity and gender. Each year in the United States approximately 250,000 children are prosecuted, incarcerated, and sentenced as adults. The CDO states that teenage girls are disproportionately arrested for status offenses and only status offenses (11), some may argue that this is accurate but others can prove that girls do commit violent crimes. The CDO also states that African…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics