Sex-Crime Panic: A Journey to the Paranoid Heart of the 1950s

by Neil Miller

Following the brutal murders of two children in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1954, police, in an attempt to quell public hysteria, arrested 20 men whom the authorities never claimed had anything to do with the crimes. Labeled as sexual psychopaths under an Iowa law that lumped homosexuals together with child molesters and murderers, the men were sentenced to a mental institution until cured. Their shocking story is brought to light for the first time by award-winning journalist Neil Miller, author of Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. Shedding a harsh light on 1950s attitudes toward homosexuality, Miller's carefully researched account shows how the paranoia of the McCarthy era destroyed the lives of gay men in the American heartland. Interviews with the formerly incarcerated men, law enforcement officials, lawyers, mental hospital staff, and relatives of the murder victims provides a vivid and disturbing glimpse of a town that betrayed its own sons and a mental institution where patients provided cheap labor and shock treatment was the therapy of choice. A gripping story of murder and antigay hysteria, Sex-Crime Panic presents a dark chapter in the history of postwar America.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, History, True Crime, Historical

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Michelle Pick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps I found it most interesting because it's set in the town I live in now, and also I met the author. So for me, this helped fill in more of the framework of the history of Sioux City.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

That the quality of the lasting harassment changed when homosexuality went from being a criminal offense to a mental illness as well as a crime simply never occurred to me. Sex-Crime Panic rediscovers this moment in the heartland, and uncovers the lasting scars of the moral panic that struck Sioux City, Iowa following two child abductions and murders. Lacking any leads that would take them to the murderer, the local police and justice system of the local communities turned to a wholesale program of clearing their community of sexual deviants, a phrase in their minds synonymous with homosexuals. This was an attractive option to the local law enforcement since Iowa had just organized a program of rehabilitating gays by committing them to the Mount Pleasant Mental Asylum. In short order the facility at Mount Pleasant was filled to capacity by men from Sioux City swept up in a series of entrapment operations or on the hearsay evidence of men already caught in the raids.
As there is no cure for being gay, these were essentially lifetime convictions, and the futility of keeping these men at the asylum quickly came clear. After a year or so these men were slowly paroled back into the community. Most of them left Iowa forever soon after. A second round up later in the decade ended up sweeping up fewer men, filled the local jails, and led to a series of legal challenges that tamped down the political appetite for further action of the kind.

On the whole, Miller is a balanced reporter of what he could find out about the chapter of Sioux City's history that almost everyone wanted to forget. Although his purpose in this book is to resurface this episode, he takes care that no one is presented as bigot or cruel. The incidents of the roundups and detentions destroyed the captured men's lives, and made their accusers heroes to the community. It would have been easy to make this a book an accusation and the victims of the 1950s arrests and prosecution martyrs. Instead Miller keeps his eye on recovering the story from the past, and lets the reader find their own opinions. The result is a sad story told without many tears, a murder mystery without resolution, and a community that never apologized for what it did to these men.

[Vanessa Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I live in the city this book centers around it was quite interesting to learn some of the history. Homophobia, racism and prejudice are part of our recent history, and it is always disturbing to hear the way groups of people have been treated not that long ago. It is important to hear these stories, as individuals still face these same situations. As a society we need to understand that and keep striving for equality.

[Alex Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brisk, riveting read. Cinematic and devastating, as good as Helter Skelter with none of that author's navel-gazing.

[Jan Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suggested by an old Sioux City friend. While I would not have pulled this off the bookshelf, I am glad that I read it. A story that I was unfamiliar with having grown up in Sioux City.

[Lindsey Pojar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am from Sioux City and still live here. It was very intense to see a side of my hometown that I had never heard about. Well written.

[Yamo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a look back at the dark days when homosexuals were arrested and committed to psychiatric facilities. My father was a nacent psychologist who worked on the ward these men were committed to and my Mother was a social worker in this hospital during the same period. My Mother was interviewed for this book and two film writers are trying to get it made into a movie. I am proud to say we have evolved from those days but not all they to equality

[Barbpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this at the suggestion of Rick O'Neill. I wasn't impressed with the quality of the writing. It seemed rather amateurish. The story was interesting and well researched. I guess I just wasn't that fascinated with it, although I did force myself to finish the thing.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this is a great one. Starts with the dreadful murders of 2 young children and goes on to explain how those events destroyed the livelihoods and reputations of numerous people who had nothing at all to do with the crimes.

[Zefyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review is posted at Beyond Hanky Code.