Labeling Theory: Theories of Deviance
In sociology and criminology, labeling theorists were among the first to suggest that crime was not produced by inherent defects within the individual’s biology or character, but rather was a social construction. Labeling theorists suggested that crime was the result of society’s need to label certain individuals as deviant. This labeling became a self-fulfilling prophesy, to the point that the labeled individuals made their deviant label a part of their identity. Labeling is often used against individuals who are racially, ethnically or socio-economically determined to be abnormal or aberrant, and thus has the effect of creating ostracized groups of entire classes of people. It is ultimately an unproductive concept both for society as well as victimizes the individuals who are labeled and creates rather than prevents the existence of a criminal underclass.
Symbolic Interactionalism
The concept of labeling theory first arose in the early 1960s, when Howard Becker published The Outsiders, a work which suggested that crime was not, in and of itself, a concept inherent to a particular act or concept, but rather was an idea symbolically invested with negative meanings. For example, when two low-income juveniles fight, this is viewed as evidence of their inherent delinquency, but in a wealthier area such an act is seen as simply “boys being boys” (“The Labeling Theory of Crime,” 2016). Similarly, today, the war on drugs is an example of class-directed warfare, given that low-income individuals who abuse drugs are seen as having a problem, while affluent individuals are viewed as having a mental disorder. The power to label results in profoundly different views of what are, effectively, the same act, and results in different labels being affixed to individuals. Labels are affixed based upon class status rather than the severity of the crime the individual commits.
Avoiding Labeling in Criminal Justice
Although the media is often accused of unfairly labeling certain groups as inherently criminal, the justice system itself engages in labeling. “It is sometimes claimed, but more often an underlying assumption…public labelling in response to proven criminal guilt – e.g. of criminal convictions – is permitted, at least in part, because people who commit crimes deserve to be labelled publicly as criminals” (Hadjimatheou, 2016, p.568). Public shame, whether formal (having to state that one has...
References
Disproportionate minority contact and juvenile justice. (2014). Coalition for Juvenile Justice
Retrieved from: https://csgjusticecenter.org/youth/publications/disproportionate- minority-contact-and-status-offenses/
Hadjimatheou, K. (2016). Criminal labelling, publicity, and punishment. Law and Philosophy,
35: 567–593.
The labeling theory of crime. (2016). Revise Sociology. Retrieved from:
https://revisesociology.com/2016/08/20/labelling-theory-crime-deviance/
What is restorative justice? (2018). The Center for Restorative Justice. Retrieved from:
http://restorativejustice.org/#sthash.vipBPSuK.dpbs
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