Why is The Outsiders banned?

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton may be banned in areas where parents and guardians believe it contains too much "mature" content and would negatively impact their children. For instance, multiple scenes center around gang violence, a result of the mounting tension between the Greasers and the Socs. Ponyboy's group of friends also swear, curse, smoke, drink, and pursue girls with patently sexual intentions. 

The predominant reason why schools remove this book from the curriculum, however,...

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton may be banned in areas where parents and guardians believe it contains too much "mature" content and would negatively impact their children. For instance, multiple scenes center around gang violence, a result of the mounting tension between the Greasers and the Socs. Ponyboy's group of friends also swear, curse, smoke, drink, and pursue girls with patently sexual intentions. 

The predominant reason why schools remove this book from the curriculum, however, is the depiction of gang violence. However, religion played a rather large role in promoting the idea that this was a "bad" book and exposed children to unseemly content. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, following the 1967 publication of the book, Christian groups mobilized around banning the book in American schools, saying it contained and encouraged "ungodly" themes and behavior not suitable for teenagers.