CRIMINAL STEREOTYPING AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES (FROM STIGMATIZATION AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR, P 161-184, 1973, BY ROSA DEL OLMO - SEE NCJ-69037)

• NCJ Number: 69041
• Author(s): D CHAPMAN
• Date Published: 1973
• Length: 24 pages
• Corporate Author: Universidad Del Zulia
• Sale Source: Universidad Del Zulia
• Language: Spanish
• Country: Venezuela
• Note: CRIMINOLOGIA - TEXTOS PARA SU ESTUDIO NO. 2 (CRIMINOLOGY - TEXT FOR STUDY NO. 2)

Annotation

THE PROCESS OF LABELING, OR STIGMATIZING, CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS CRIMINAL OR DEVIANT FORCES THEM INTO THE SYMBOLIC ROLE OF SOCIETY'S SCAPEGOATS FOR ALL ITS PROBLEMS.

Abstract

THE PROCESS OF STIGMATIZATION AND ITS SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES ARE PRODUCTS OF CIRCULAR REASONING IN CRIMINOLOGY. INCARCERATION IS A STEREOTYPING MECHANISM FOR EX-OFFENDERS AS SOCIETY PERCEIVES THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN PUNISHED FOR SOME TYPE OF CRIMININALIZED CONDUCT AS BEING INTRINSICALLY EVIL. INDIVIDUALS STIGMATIZED AS CRIMINAL MAY START OUT BY REBELLING AGAINST THE LABEL IMPOSED UPON THEM, BUT, DURING INCARCERATION, WHEN THE PRISONIZATION PROCESS SETS IN, THEY ACCEPT THE IDEA THAT THEY ARE INDEED DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF SOCIETY WHICH HAS REJECTED THEM. AS A CONSEQUENCE, THEY SEEK ACCEPTANCE IN A GROUP OF THEIR PEERS AND IN THE PRISON SUBCULTURE WITH ITS OWN VALUES AND NORMS. YET EVERY TYPE OF LEGALLY CRIMINALIZED CONDUCT HAS AN IDENTICAL COUNTERPART, SELDOM OR NEVER PROSECUTED AND PUNISHED. THE CRITERION FOR THIS DOUBLE STANDARD OF JUSTICE IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE PERPETRATORS. ALSO, THE FACT THAT THE PERPETRATORS OF CERTAIN TYPES OF CRIME ARE NOT INDIVIDUALS, BUT CORPORATE AND OTHER IMPERSONAL ENTITIES, KEEPS THEM OUT OF PUBLIC AWARENESS, WHICH IS CONDITIONED TO SEEK OUT INDIVIDUAL CRIMINALS. PREVAILING SOCIETAL VALUES ARE QUESTIONABLE FROM A DIALECTICAL AND RELATIVISTIC VIEWPOINT, AND SOCALLED CRIME IS INEXTRICABLY ENTWINED WITH THE PERPETUAL CRISES, INNER CONTRADICTIONS, AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES OF CAPITALIST DEMOCRACIES. CURRENT, MUCH-PRAISED CORRECTIONAL REFORMS ARE PURELY COSMETIC AND ONLY HELP A BASICALLY UNJUST AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE PENAL SYSTEM TO SURVIVE. CRIMINAL CODES ARE THE CREATORS OF THE TYPES OF CONDUCT THEY PROSCRIBE. CRIMIANL RECORDS ARE ONE OF THE MAIN INGREDIENTS IN THE CRIMINAL LABELING PROCESS. CRIMINAL RECORDS OF ALL EX-OFFENDERS SHOULD BE EXPUNGED AT THE MOMENT OF THE OFFENDERS' RELEASE FROM PRISON TO GIVE THEM A REAL CHANCE TOWARD SOCIAL REINTEGRATION. --IN SPANISH.