Deviance
The association between society's
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The association between society's explanations for the causes of crime and delinquency and society's responses to crime and delinquency are not always obvious to the public, but clearly such an association must exist. We address issues based on the way we view issues. However, the perception the public has of crime is not always clear, and the public does not necessarily consider the question of cause in a direct and specific fashion. Put another way, the public demands a response to crime based on the perception it has of crime at a given moment, and this perception changes over time. The public perception of the cause of crime is not necessarily rational. It is instead often based on emotional responses--when people are more afraid of crime, for instance, they demand a harsher response toward the criminal in terms of punishment. The general societal response to crime, however, is very much based on the prevailing view of the causes of crime. Those who transgress the norms of society are labeled as deviant, and the very act of so labeling them may cause the sort of behavior that defines deviance. Juvenile delinquents who become enmeshed in the justice system often find themselves saddled with a deviant label and are treated by the system as a deviant. The result of this is that the individual comes to fit the label placed on him or her, living up to the low opinion others have of them. This does not explain the onset of delinquent behavior, however
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irical research has not been favorable to the labeling perspective. The theory has been applied in various situations, and one that has been researched says that a drinker may become an alcoholic because he or she is so labeled. Combs-Orme, Helzer, and Miller tested the labeling theory of deviance, which contends that being labeled by others as an alcoholic results in the acceptance of self labels and a self fulfilling prophecy of alcoholic behavior. They studied 349 alcoholics, who varied in the numbers of alcoholic labels they acknowledged from family members and others. Subjects were interviewed 5 8 years after admission to a treatment facility to determine if they were now drinking moderately vs. abstaining or drinking heavily. The strongest predictor of all alcoholic labels was the total number of lifetime problems with alcohol. Follow up drinking status was related to gender and lifetime alcohol problems, with women and those acknowledging fewer problems more likely to be drinking moderately. Results thus did not support the hypothesis that being labeled an alcoholic results in poor drinking outcomes.
THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY
A number of theories have been advanced to explain delinquency. Biological theories of
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Some common words found in the essay are:
THEORIES DELINQUENCY, James Short, Puritans Erikson, , ASSOCIATION THEORY, Indeed Erikson, Helzer Miller, DEVIANCE Deviance, Delinquency Urban, Thompson Hickey, criminal behavior, deviant behavior, differential association, social class, behavior learned, delinquent behavior, differential association theory, association theory, labeling theory, crime delinquency, juvenile delinquency, criminal behavior learned, juvenile delinquency urban, labeled alcoholic results, response crime based,
Approximate Word count = 2484
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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