Abstract
This chapter begins with an overview of the wrongful conviction of Dan and Francis Keller, who were swept up in a moral panic and served 21 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. It has two overlapping objectives. First, it introduces readers, who may be unfamiliar with the topic, to the concept of moral panic, by unpacking it from sociological theory in which it is embedded, and by providing both historical and contemporary examples. Second, the chapter sets out for readers a conceptual toolkit that can be used to understand and analyze the influence of moral panics on the rushes to judgment that so often result in miscarriages of justice.
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