ASSESSING A MORAL PANIC RELATING TO CRIME AND DRUGS POLICY IN THE NETHERLANDS - TOWARDS A TESTABLE THEORY

Using criteria from recent work by Goode and Ben Yehuda, this article tests the hypothesis that a moral panic relating to (youth) crime has been going on in the Netherlands since 1990. Most of the criteria are met. There is concern about the problem of crime and a consensus on so lutions. There are also indications that public disquiet grew out of p roportion compared to trends in crime and victimization, and that the panic erupted fairly suddenly. It is not possible to identify a cleare r scapegoat than a diffuse image of ''the'' criminal. It is unclear wh at caused this panic. It seems unlikely that the panic started as a re action to public problems, but nor is it possible to state that elites started it or that it was caused by bureaucratic processes at an inte rmediate level. Several methodological problems connected with the tes ting of the criteria are discussed. It is recommended that one criteri on be added: that of misdirection of reactions to a social problem. It is also recommended that future research should be comparative, eithe r comparing several minor local panics, or comparing panics or non-pan ics related to equivalent social problems.