A moral panic is an important social issue because it affects the public’s perception of potential threats. Generally, this term is defined as a widespread sense of fear that may not be directly linked to a real-life threat (Mallicoat, 2017). In a moral panic, the public is afraid of something that may threaten the community’s well-being. For example, a current moral panic is mass shootings fear. Although there have been examples of these unfortunate events in the past, the communities do not face the threat of mass shootings on a daily basis, considering the current situation in the state. Moreover, Schildkraut et al. (2021) state that “given that most members of the public never will directly be impacted by either of these types of tragedies, news media play a critical role in shaping perceptions about these events as social problems” (p. 10). Still, there have been many debates and discussions among politicians and citizens regarding ways of eliminating the possibility of another public shooting in the future.
Moral panics influence public policy because they draw policymakers’ attention to the issues the community is concerned about. However, it is important to understand that mass media plays an important role in shaping the public’s perception of these issues, and therefore, not all moral panics are justified and require the attention of policymakers. However, the legislators create policies and executive orders to address the issues in question and ensure the public’s concerns are heard. For example, with the mass shootings moral panic, the legislators have considered implementing federal laws that would ban the sale and use of weapons. However, in this case, the moral panic is two-sided because the other party in this debate is afraid that their freedoms, as one of the core values, will be taken away.
References
Howard, C. C., Kelchner, V. P., Hilaire, B., Campbell, L. O., & Laguardia, E. D. (2022). Districts implementation of active shooter drill policies. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 10-25. Web.
Mallicoat, S. (2017). Crime and criminal justice: Concepts and controversies. SAGE.
Schildkraut, J., Gruenewald, J., Gilliam, M., & Novak, M. (2021). Framing mass shootings as a social problem: A comparison of ideologically and non-ideologically motivated attacks. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 60, 10-29. Web.