Tough-on-crime conservatism targeted street crime while ignoring domestic violence.

Evidence

Reagan specialized in playing the role of the stern, authoritarian father. Only a month before the Kent State shootings in the spring of 1970, his response to student unrest was blunt: “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with. No more appeasement.” He ran as a tough-on-crime candidate, and for conservatives, “tough on crime” generally connoted only certain types of crime: “street crime,” or the threat of black men. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse didn’t register. Domestic tranquility could be established through the imposition of law and order. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 242

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ADDENDUM article on moral panics — law-and-order framing selects which harms count as moral problems.