Moral panic theory and child sexual abuse: relevance, applications, utility

Francis Maxwell

Chapter 2 in Research Handbook on Youth Criminology, 2025, pp 31-45 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter analyses the scholarly debate concerning moral panic and its relevance to child sexual abuse. Since its famous formulation by Stanley Cohen, some commentators have suggested that concern for child sexual abuse is a moral panic exaggerating its extent, while others have argued that child sexual abuse is a ‘moral silence’ for failing to attract sufficient concern. There are those who have doubted the usefulness of the frame with respect to child sexual abuse. Others, including Cohen, consider it an important means of generating appropriate public concern for a serious issue or of identifying policymaking that stokes emotive and irrational social responses. These apparently contradictory conclusions largely derive from disagreements about empirical and conceptual components of a moral panic. In comparing and explaining these differences, this chapter aims to contribute to a more transparent and systematic discussion about moral panic and its utility for child sexual abuse.

Keywords: Child protection; Child pornography; Child sexual abuse; Folk devil; Moral panic; States of denial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035300747
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