Applying Criminology to Juvenile Justice
27 Nov 2013

Applying Criminology to Juvenile Justice The area of law and policy concerned with young people and the criminal system is often referred to as juvenile justice. The reasons behind any young person becoming involved in crime are varied and complex. For example, possible factors such as poor parental supervision, drug and alcohol abuse, neglect and abuse, homelessness, negative peer associations, poor personal and social skills or difficulties in school and employment. There are several sociological theories that back these factors, such as Social Learning, Differential Association, Containment, Social Control, and Labeling. The Labeling theory is defined as, “A social process perspective that sees continued crime as a consequence of the limited opportunities for acceptable behavior that follow from the negative responses of society to those defined as offenders.” ( Schmalleger). In 1938, Frank Tannenbaum first introduced the Labeling Theory. Tannenbaum stated, "The process of making the criminal is therefore the process of tagging, defining, identifying, segregating, describing, and emphasizing any individual out for special treatment becomes a way of stimulating, suggesting, and evoking the very traits that are complained of. A person becomes the thing they are described as being." The Labeling theory is a sociological approach to explaining how criminal behavior is perpetuated by the police and others. This theory looks at how labels applied to individuals influence their behavior; particular negative labels (such as "criminal" or "felon") promote deviant behavior. When an individual become labeled as a criminal it becomes their "master status." "Deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to