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Labelling Theory: Deviant And Criminal Behavior

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Labelling theory is the most important approaches to understanding deviant and criminal behaviour. The labelling theory is rooted in the idea of social construction and how people view one another and is one of the most focused field in sociology thanks to Howard Becker. The labelling theory begins with the assumptions that no act is initially criminal. The definition of criminality is established by the those who are in power which is done through the formation of law. To be able to understand the work of H. Becker one must understand that deviance is not a set of characteristic or a group of people, but it is the process of interaction of the deviant and the non-deviant and how the law may interpret this interaction. People often tend to get labelled by various words that others may not, such as drug addict, the weird kid in the class etc. These labels can have detrimental effects in exposed in a childhood when the personality is not fully developed yet. Such labels also tend to become memories and start creating the child’s personality by shaping it how people view them as. Psychologically we tend to conform to these labels and try to act upon them this is also common with criminals as most criminals. In 1992 Jamie Bulger a 2-year-old was abducted by two 10-year olds John Thompson and Robert Venables in a shopping centre in Liverpool. The baby boy was murdered and body …show more content…

Such process may include differences of social class, opportunities, and economical structure. The second, critique is that the labelling theory still cannot fully say that the relabelling and reforming process works effectively, taken the case from above one boy was successful in relabelling himself and the other was not. The labelling theory should hence, focus on other underline issues and then start the relabelling process

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Developmental characteristics are usually noticeable in early age. “It describes experiences that are common factors in the background of offenders, such as school failure, abuse of alcohol, or childhood victimization”. They are also introduced to some risk factors; some might be exposed to less and some more than others. They could have gone through anti – social behavior. Major factors that played a huge role in offender’s life were social risk factors.

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Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.

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The labeling effect is very important because it is determines people’s way to deal and understand things. The people who live outside of the so-called “poor/crime zoon” are hard to understand the people who live inside of these zoon, that is because the other function of the labeling effect, to create gaps between people from different social groups. When people who labelled by the same environment live together, they can create their own rules which are suitable for the corresponding environment. Most of people will qualitative some behaviors as criminal behaviors however, for the people who come from the “crime zoon” these

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How do the various psychological and psychiatric approaches presented in this chapter differ from one another? Psychological theories of criminal behavior differ from other theories like social structure theories of crime in the sense that psychological theories of crime place the emphasis on the individual and their cognitive abilities as opposed to social institutions and larger groups. Nearly all psychological theories of crime focus entirely on an individual and their cognition as the explanation of crime as opposed to social processes and social life. Psychological and psychiatric approaches to deviant, criminal, and antisocial behaviors differ in the sense that psychiatric approaches tend to focus on treating the symptoms of antisocial behavior through varying means. Psychological approaches on the other hand tend to focus on determining the causes of crime from within and individual.

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Crime and Deviance is an important part of our daily lives. Deviances are described as the recognized violation of cultural norms. Crime is known as the violation of a society formally enacted laws. Both crimes are subjective to a society and things that are considered crime or deviance in one society may not be considered crime or deviance in a different culture. Sociologist have theorized why people will do deviant or criminal acts, three theories that explain why people chose deviance are Becker's labeling theory.

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It does not consider other factors such as criminal associations, individual traits, and inner strains, which plays a significant role in determining punishment for the individuals in committing crimes. It is observed that this theory endeavours to know that whether the activities of crime as well as the victim’s choice, criminals commit the activities on start from rational decisions. The theory also determines that criminals consider different elements before committing crime. They engage in the exchange of ideas before reaching on any final decision. These elements consist of consequences of their crimes, which include revealing their families to problems or death, chances of being arrested, and others elements, which comprises of placement of surveillance systems (Walsh & Hemmens, 2010; Lichbach,

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Introduction In Canada, there is a positive relationship between labelling theory within the criminal justice system and recidivism rates. Becker explains labeling theory as “deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label” (1963). This means that those who have been labeled as criminals by society are likely to face additional problems due to this label. This theory is backed by data as youths who have been taken to court have been found to have a higher chance of obtaining a criminal record as an adult as compared to those who were not taken to court (Petitclerc et al., 2013).

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Marz Keane 115318456 SC2021 Sociology of Crime and Deviance Professor Colin Sumner 4th January 2018 2. What does Policing the Crisis teach us about images of deviance? 2. What does Policing the Crisis teach us about images of deviance?

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When beginning the discussion of labeling theory, it is imperative to identify the precise definition of this broad theory. In the context of this paper, labeling theory will be viewed as a popular criminological theory that attempts to explain the criminal offending habits of juveniles by focusing on the language applied in a criminal justice system (Bessemer et al). Labeling theory asserts that interventions by the criminal justice system create a heightened level of continued offending behavior (Bessemer et al). If the ideas of labeling theory hold true, this creates a paradox in which punishment via the criminal justice system creates an increase in recidivism, instead of discouraging it. Most succinctly, the concept of labeling theory

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Deviance and crime is a common characteristic of Canadian society. Deviance is defined as: “recognized violation of cultural norms” (2013, pg.465). While crime is defined as: “recognized violation of society’s formally enacted criminal law” (2013, pg.464). There are some universal similarities about what we as humans consider morally deviant, still, what is regarded as deviant or criminal behavior in Canada may not resonate with other societies. Some behavior “can fall right in between deviant and criminal” (Healy, 2012).

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It explains criminal careers in terms of destructive social interaction and stigma-producing encounters (Brown, Esbensen, & Geis, 2010). Social reaction theory explains why people choose criminal careers because of labeling. Negative labels have enduring effects in a person’s social interactions and self-image. Social reaction is concerned with how self-identity and behavior of people can be determined or influenced by the terms that are used to describe or classify them and is associated with the idea of a self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotyping (Brown, Esbensen, & Geis, 2010). It distinguishes between primary deviance and secondary deviance.

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responsibility of the individual committing or partaking in the crime. Though this is a common thought it is simply untrue because it eliminates many of the social and environmental factors that encourage deviant behavior. The truth is, society plays a significant role in whether or not deviant behavior stops or continues for a specific individual who has already committed a crime. Ideas and concepts under the Labeling theories emphasis society’s roles and states that, “efforts [of] social control (…) ultimately trigger processes that trap individuals in criminal careers” (Cullen, Agnew & Wilcox 2014). Essentially, society forces invasive labels and social reactions that then cause many Individuals with criminal past to create self-fulfilling

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A theory that explains juvenile delinquency is the Psychological theory. This theory focuses on the personality of the offenders rather than biological or social situations. This theory easily explains juvenile delinquency when looking at the three interrelated parts of the personality- id, ego, and superego. The id is the part of the personality that is supposed to destroy aggression which usually controlled as a person grows and learns social norms and rules; however, an over aggressive person may have an under regulated id which could cause them to be violent.

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As far as crime is concerned, it is defined by the law. Deviance is unexpected behaviour, but not exactly considered criminal. Many consider crime as a social problem – a problem as defined by society, such as homelessness, drug abuse, etc. Others would say crime is a sociological problem – something defined as a problem by sociologists and should be dealt with accordingly by sociologists. This essay attempts to discover the boundaries between these two and ultimately come to an appropriate conclusion.

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