'Children from good homes' - Moral panics about middle-class delinquency

Moral panics occur when the crime situation is regarded as being abnormal. Whilst previous studies have attributed the widespread anxiety to an allegedly marked increase in the amount of crime, the present one focuses on the effects of its having spread to sectors of the population hitherto thought to be unlikely or even 'unable' to break the law. The emphasis on the background of the offenders rather than on the number of offenses influences both the content and the effects of this kind of panic. They revolve around the issue of causal responsibility and, in doing so, lead to a deepening of divisions within society rather than the creation of a unified front against the perpetrators of the crime.