Examination of newspaper coverage of Hate Crimes: A moral panic perspective

The role of the media in the construction of social problems is well documented in the social science literature. In some cases, the process of constructing social problems creates a moral panic. In this paper, we contend that a moral panic occurred in the late 1990s regarding hate crimes because of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Colomb, Wendy (Author)
Contributors: Damphousse, Kelly
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2004
In: American journal of criminal justice
Year: 2004, Volume: 28, Issue: 2, Pages: 147-163
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Keywords:
Newspaper Coverage
Uniform Crime Report
Federal Bureau
Moral Panic
Hate Crime
Description
Summary:The role of the media in the construction of social problems is well documented in the social science literature. In some cases, the process of constructing social problems creates a moral panic. In this paper, we contend that a moral panic occurred in the late 1990s regarding hate crimes because of the disproportionate amount of media attention given to the issue. From this panic grew a movement to enact the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999. We quantify Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s (1999) indicators of a moral panic by triangulating sample data, official statistics, and editorials/opinion polls. Results suggest that a moral panic over hate crimes occurred in America during 1998 and 1999.
ISSN:1936-1351
DOI:10.1007/BF02885869