The Night the Raving Died: The Social Construction of a Local Drug Panic

Abstract

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994, 2009). We employ this new framework in an evaluation of Gainesville, Florida's adoption of the anti-rave law. Our findings suggest that both individuals and groups were vital in the construction of an interest group model moral panic that led to the adoption of this law. Although researchers have utilized the moral panic framework in analyzing many social and legal changes over the past 40 years, it has also garnered much criticism. In an effort to further advance the framework, we provide several modifications to Goode and Ben-Yehuda's (2009) most recent reconceptualization and recommendations for future moral panic research.

Notes

¹Numerous control measures have been implemented over centuries; examples include declarations of heresy and legislation such as the Mann Act, changes in sentences for muggings in London, numerous drug laws, and American prohibition of alcohol. In our case study, Gainesville adopted the anti-rave legislation.

²Gainesville City Commission Public Safety Committee, Audio Tape, July 17, 1997.

³Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, August 11, 1997.

⁴Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, September 9, 1997.

⁵Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 26, 1999.

⁶Florida Statute Chapter 119.01 made it policy that all Florida state, county, and municipal agencies make all agency records open for personal inspection and copy by any individual. Each agency has the duty to provide access to public records.

⁷Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 12, 1999; Debbie Martinez to City Commission, City Commission Correspondence Files, July 13, 1999.

⁸Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 26, 1999.

⁹Rave Committee minutes, August, 3, 1999.

¹⁰Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, August 11, 1997.

¹¹Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, August 23, 1999.

¹²Gainesville City Commission Meeting Tape, September 13, 1999.

¹³Gainesville City Commission Meeting Tape, September 13, 1999.

¹⁴Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 26, 1999.

¹⁵Rave Committee Meeting August 17, 1999, Audio Tape.

¹⁶Other states and locales had laws designed to regulate bar promotions and happy hours, but these laws were not discussed in any detail during Gainesville's rave debate.

¹⁷Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 12, 1999.

¹⁸Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, August 23, 1999.

¹⁹Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 12, 1999.

²⁰For example, see Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 12, 1999.

²¹Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 12, 1999.

²²A GPD memo from December 1999 states that the origin of this figure is unknown, but the information can be located in the “RAVE Operation Plan compiled by Colonel Charles C. Hall at the Florida Office of Drug Control Policy.” Memo From: Lt Ray Weaver, To: Chief Norman Botsford, Subject: Crime Data and Downtown December 2, 1999.

²³Rave Committee meeting notes, August 3, 1999.

²⁴Rave Committee meeting notes, August 3, 1999; Rave Committee minutes August 12, 1999.

²⁵Rave Committee meeting notes, August 3, 1999.

²⁶Rave Committee minutes, August 12, 1999.

²⁷Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, September 9, 1997.

²⁸Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, July 26, 1999.

²⁹Gainesville City Commission Meeting, Videotape, August 23, 1999.

³⁰Alachua County School Board Meeting, Videotape, August 24, 1999.

³¹Alachua County School Board Meeting, Videotape, September 1, 1999.

³² Gainesville Sun article “Club Owner Speaks Out to Keep the Music Going.”

³³ Gainesville Sun, August 7, 1999.

³⁴Gainesville City Commission Public Safety Committee, Audio Tape, July 17, 1997.

³⁵Memo from: Larrell Thomas to: Donald Shinnamon, Subject: Rave Bill, July 8, 1997.

³⁶Gainesville City Commission Public Safety Committee, Audio Tape, July 17, 1997.

³⁷Of the 185 letters, 80 were from nonstudent citizens, and 67 were from university students. The remainder either did not fall into one of these categories or the source could not be identified.

³⁸Of the 252 letters, 24 either did not fall into one of these categories or the source could not be identified.

³⁹The two weeks with no coverage coincide with the period after the 4 a.m. compromise was reached and prior to Delaney announcing his intentions to switch his vote.

⁴⁰Printed September 17, 1999.

⁴¹One other article was considered highly one-sided and was printed on August 22. This editorial entitled “Where's the Outrage?” does not appear to have elicited similar reactions in terms of correspondence with city commissioners as the later pieces did.

⁴²Memo: Rod Smith to Gainesville Mayor Paula DeLaney, August 20, 1999, GCC correspondence files.

⁴³Commission correspondence files (1999).

⁴⁴Rumors of harm (invented and believed) was the indicator added in their 2009 work.

⁴⁵According to our framework, some perceived socially just and progressive movements could be classified as moral panics; this is acceptable. Some movements may rely on logic and well-reasoned arguments as well as emotionally charged phrases and the panic they create. The segments that fall within the moral panic concept are those that rely on fear and morality and are devoid of research-grounded information. The purpose of their arguments is to elicit an emotional response from society regardless of what the larger movement is trying to achieve or how other segments of the movement are attempting to advance their cause.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julie Marie Baldwin

JULIE MARIE BALDWIN is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. Her research interests include courts, life-course theory, and drug use, history, and policy. Recent publications have appeared in Journal of Quantitative Criminology and Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Bryan Lee Miller

BRYAN LEE MILLER is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at Georgia Southern University. His research has focused on issues of offender reentry, drug prevalence, drug policy, and sociology of law. Recent publications have appeared in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Punishment & Society, and Law & Social Inquiry.

John Stogner

JOHN STOGNER is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at Georgia Southern University. His research interests include the relationship between health and delinquency, drug use and drug policy, general strain theory, biosocial theories, and quantitative methodology. His works have appeared in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Drug Issues, and Critical Issues in Criminology and the Social Sciences.

Steve Hach

STEVE HACH has a Master of Arts in U.S. History from the University of Akron. He was a Ph.D. candidate in U.S. History at the University of Florida. His research interests include the Cold War at home, the conservative movement, drug policy, and moral panics. He currently works as a financial research analyst in Philadelphia.