Labelling the Youth as Deviant

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Sociology

Document 1

In most cases, negative labels have reportedly caused a permanent harm to the victim. If they are perceived to be socially deviant, it may, in turn, affect how they are treated in social places and even at their homes which stigmatizes them. The labeling theory in most cases is irrespective of the originality of the crime but rather on the on the crime itself creating a distance between the labeler and the labeled. This paper discusses the impacts of labeling the youth as deviant. Effects of labeling of the youth as deviant Deviance itself is an issue for the youth and being a complex issue it's becoming harder day by day to address it. For the instances that one will act in a way deemed to be deviant then this follows negative labeling with which the victims start to view themselves negatively as well.

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Considering the self-fulfilling prophecy, it’s from which they will act in accordance with the labels given. The prophecy proposes that “Realizing and internalizing a behavior based on a label or on expectations, resulting in the person being “socially reconstructed”". Therefore, by labeling the youth of deviant changes their self-perception as they identify that they identify them. They may end up succumbing to these negative labels which may lead to further deviance (Downs, et al. And the social seclusion that follows will lead them to deviant groups and the rest follows suit. For this reasons those responsible have to be reasonable as they label the youths to be deviant as this may have long-life effects on the person being labeled or even the youths generally (Farrington, 222).

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In some cases, the label attached may become a dominant one in which the person may see it more important than all the other aspects of his life. For instance, they will consider being the hooligan of thief that being a son or a daughter. Each label carries its own images which may determine how others treat you depending on how they interpret the behavior one is labeled with (Farrington, 117-119). At some instance, the community may unforgiving to the labeled person which may turn out to protest which the labeled may end up fully stigmatized and in adverse cases is likely to commit suicide as a result of full rejection by the society (Liberman, 378-379). Labeling the youth as deviant may affect the kid’s future knowing that some of the behaviors are as a result of the adolescent stage and the peer pressure involved.

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Some of the labels may be carried over by the kid over their life and even if they may be learned well enough they may be unable to secure job in most public institutions. For that reason, lacking a certificate of good conduct will affect someone’s career knowing that there is a mistake that they made in their adolescent stages that entirely affects their career for life. For this reason, it may sound unfair to label the youths as per their actions in the adolescent stage knowing that at this stage they are influenced by a number of factors. Thereby if its fair that those juvenile crime policies be based on the remedy to the crime with an aim of reintegration of offenders to the community.

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