Organized Evil and the Atlantic Alliance: Moral Panics and the Rhetoric of Organized Crime Policing in America and Britain

• NCJ Number: 227038
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2009 Pages: 106-128
• Author(s): Michael Woodiwiss; Dick Hobbs
• Date Published: January 2009
• Length: 23 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: University of the West of England
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This article examines the origins of the organized crime moral panic in the United States and Britain and the rhetoric of organized crime policing in both countries.

Abstract

Moral panics are conventionally associated with the interpretations of youthful action imposed by powerful state and media forces. However, the moral panic concept is also useful in understanding more generally how social problems are constructed and presented. The purpose of this paper was to consider how a vague term such as organized crime has emerged as a vehicle for exclusionary rhetoric in both the United States and Britain. In the United States the origins of the organized crime moral panic can be located among moral entrepreneurs, while in Britain, organized crime is marked by the outpourings of a right-wing media, and the influence of American foreign policy. References