Molloy, C. (2023) The Loughan House controversy. Crime, Histoire & Sociétés, 26 (2). pp. 101-128. ISSN 1422-0857
Abstract
In October 1978, a detention centre known as Loughan House opened near Blacklion, Co. Cavan for young offenders between twelve and sixteen years of age. The history of this episode survives in folk memory as a disproportionate reaction to a perceived social crisis surrounding juvenile crime in 1970s Ireland. In order to assess the accuracy of this existing narrative, this article examines the episode through the lens of moral panic theory [MPT]. It argues that Loughan House, though not necessarily a punitive response in rhetoric or reality, nevertheless represented a failure of political imagination. This episode is particularly useful in highlighting the limitations of MPT, especially surrounding the concepts of disproportionality and punitiveness. Nevertheless, in spite of these limitations, the article contends that MPT remains valuable on both conceptual and affective levels.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Crime, Histoire & Sociétés. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | History, Heritage and Archaeology; Human Society; Historical Studies; Criminology; Sociology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Law (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Dec 2023 15:24 |
Last Modified: | 16 Feb 2024 01:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | OpenEdition |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.4000/chs.3349 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206562 |