NCJ Number
108753
Journal
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Volume: 27 Dated: (March 1986) Pages: 90-105
Date Published
1986
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The present study challenges the view that societal reaction has little etiological impact on future deviance/crime and suggests that an accurate assessment of the perspective awaits the systematic investigation of the various contingencies involved in the labeling process.
Abstract
Using a random sample of Manhattan youths, a longitudinal analysis of the impact of formal intervention on juvenile delinquency/deviance was undertaken in which the relevance of two such contingencies was examined: types of reaction and types of deviance. The data revealed: (1) that police and mental health intervention had both independent and interactive effects in increasing juvenile deviance and (2) that the impact of these various modes of reaction differed according to the form of juvenile deviance (delinquency, anxiety, general psychological impairment) being examined. It was thus concluded that it would be premature to discard the labeling perspective as an etiological theory of deviant/criminal behavior. (Author abstract)