The Labeling Approach to Delinquency: State of the Theory as a Function of Method

Abstract

In this study, hypotheses regarding selective bias on the part of official decision-makers, and the independent effect of social control upon delinquency recidivism are tested. Contrary to the findings of earlier studies, statistical analysis failed to demonstrate selective bias in offender dispositions. While a statistically significant, direct relationship is observed between official labeling (formal hearing) and recidivism the result is discussed as an example of the type of finding which too often leads to a theoretically unwarranted inferential leap beyond the interpretational limits of the study data. Finally, suggestions for, and examples of, promising lines of methodological inquiry into central but neglected dimensions of labeling theory are presented. Labeling theory in the sociology of delinquency enjoys a wide popularity among practitioners and academicians alike. There is a considerable bibliography expounding the relevance of this processual model of delinquency causation (Schur, 197 1; Stebbins, 197 1 ). Similarly, among those involved in the administration of juvenile justice, labeling is salient in the determination of delinquent careers. This is evidenced by the fact that the present study was commissioned by a County Juvenile Court for the express purpose of identifying types of first offenders who might be spared the degradation of an official hearing. However, in the name of process and redirection labeling theory, along with its structural sister, interest group theory, has allowed itself to become flabby and un-