Labeling Youths...and The Consequences Thereof

The labeling theory, an example of constructivist perspective is the theory put forth to define how deviance is experienced and why people continue to be deviant. The labeling theory was developed by a group of sociologists in the 1960’s. It is a version of symbolic interactionism defining deviance as a collective action involving the acts of more than one person, and the

Labeling theory holds that individuals come to identify and act as per their labels. The major tenet of this theory is that the behavior and self-identity of individuals is affected by the way they are described by other people (Vold, Bernard, Snipes, & Gerould, 2016). According to this theory, the act of deviance is not implicit in a particular act, but is hedged on the inclination of the majority to ascribe labels to minorities in society who deviate from standard behavior. Labeling leads to dramatization of a particular act – which propagates the behavioral clash between the individual and the community. Through ascribing labels, the individuals acquire a negative self-image. The individuals accept themselves as labeled by the

Labeling theory and social learning theory are two theories that may be compared and contrasted because the theories are somewhat similar but are still different. Although these theories have their similarities and differences, one theory may prove to be more convincing in terms of giving a better account for crime and having better theory-related policies that would best help to decrease crime rates.

The labeling theory is a very powerful theory. Not only does the community give a juvenile a label, but it segregates them from the rest of society. Having a label as a juvenile as felon, sex offender, drug dealer, or anything for the matter is how society perceives that person. Being labeled as a felon, sex offender along with many other labels, prevents young adults from getting jobs, buying houses, buying cars and much more. According to the text the labeling theory states that the community creates the juvenile delinquent by labeling them as different from other youths. They are different primarily because they have been labeled a deviant youth. According to Becker (1991), the labeling theory stems from society and not from the juvenile delinquents. Society has given young adults this stigma and excludes them from society. The labeling effects associates a loss of status from society.

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

With the labeling theory sociologists focus on the interaction between both the individual involved and the audience who would evaluate the persons in question behavior. It is based on what society deems as inappropriate or deviant behavior. In Becker’s work he believes that “Labeling theory concentrates less on deviant acts themselves and instead focuses on the actor and the audience and their perceptions of each other”

Schur (1980, 1984) who “described labeling as a social construction of culture, which means that it is artificially defined by society. This indicates that proper concepts will be destitute in the face of ever-changing eccentricity of social standards” (Hashem, 2015:121). Society dictates what is and what is not considered “deviant” behavior, and treats the person accordingly (whether positive or negative. Labeling tends to lead to stigmatization. Noelle Vance wrote in her article titled Labeling Theory that “When relationships with parents, teachers, or friends are weakened as a result of formal stigmatization, individuals are more likely to seek affiliation with criminal

Once a person is labelled as a deviant, it is hard to remove that label. The Labeling Theory basically says that no behavior is deeply rooted on its own. It is society’s reaction to the behavior that makes the act deviant or not. Labeling is to give someone or something to a category and is usually given mistakenly. The people who usually doing the labeling have statues, numbers, power and authority. People with low status, power and authority are the ones that are being labeled.

As they come into contact with the juvenile justice system different, delinquent youths are treated differently in this system. Notably, the jurisdiction of this system and its courts also extends to non-delinquent youths like dependent and neglected youths, and status offenders. However, non-delinquents are not only viewed differently but they are also treated separately from delinquents. In most cases, non-delinquents are regarded as children in need of help and supervision while delinquents are held accountable and punished for their actions. Nonetheless, non-delinquents undergo several similar processes and dispositions like delinquents because of the differing reasons for the intervention of the juvenile justice system.

Some people don’t agree with label and try to separate with this label. In my opinion, people who identify with the deviant label will be isolated by this society, because people believe they are very deviant; however, for the people who disagree with this label, they will lost their actual self and follow like sheep. Therefore, it is easy to see that labeling can have a long-lasting effect on the individual who is labeled a deviant.

A comprehension of delinquent behavior expands upon clarifications that have been offered in speculations and discoveries that have been uncovered in research (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2016). The basic role of this paper is to develop a comprehension of juvenile wrongdoing by coordinating hypothesis and research (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2016). Before we go any further, we should characterize what we mean by juvenile wrongdoing, whereas, this definition is significantly more convoluted than you may might suspect (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2016).

Labeling theory is based on the idea that behaviors are deviant only when society labels them as deviant. Conforming members of society, who understand certain behaviors as deviant and then attach this label to individuals. Labeling theory questions who apply what label to whom, why they do this, and what happens as a result of this

The effect of labelling theory on juvenile behaviour is a bit more pronounced and clear. Youths are especially vulnerable to labelling theory. Once they start to believe in their negative labels, self-rejection occurs which plays a major role in the social rejection theory. “This self-rejection attitude leads them to deviate from the norms and values of society” (David J. Bordua).

Deviance among adolescents in our society has many different causes and multiple theories throughout the history of criminal justice have been developed to attempt to explain, prevent and reduce incidents of status offenses and juvenile delinquency. There are theories varying from individual, to social and environmental. All of these theories have their merits and contribute in one way or another to the advancement of the understanding of juvenile delinquency and the treatment and prevention of delinquency within our society. Those that have proven to be successful we have applied in our justice system while those that are proven over time to be ineffective or defective we have discarded. There is no single theory that applies to all delinquent behavior in all situations. It is best to determine what theory may work best in each specific case based on the individual and the specific situation. Dodge’s information processing theory of social problem solving (Crick and Dodge 1994) was developed by Kenneth Dodge in an attempt to explain the interaction between the child’s cognitive development and their social environment. This theory combines elements of both the individual and the social environment and examines how these two variables interact with each other to present a model for juvenile delinquency. During my investigation of this topic I discovered that an adapted model of Dodge’s theory existed that seemed to be more encompassing of the causes of juvenile delinquency,

B. Labeling is a theory that we will put the labels on the some specific groups or individuals. Labeling theory helps understand how our society creates deviance. Being labeled means being interpreted and defined as deviant by the law, which is our so-called social norm. The label is to make the society easily identify and locate the deviant and criminal acts, and hence it will change one’s social status and social association with others if one has a label.