The Labelling Perspective and the Criminal Justice System

Abstract

The labelling perspective has already made a number of appearances in this book, since it is impossible to discuss recent criminological developments without acknowledging its influence. The first chapter identified the influence of the perspective on criminal justice policy in Britain in the 1980s, particularly in relation to young people. Chapter 2 argued that it was necessary to incorporate ideas about labelling into cultural deviance theory, and that control theory could benefit from sensitivity to labelling processes; and the previous chapter noted that some empirical support exists for labelling theory’s prediction that a conviction will tend to increase the risk of reoffending. The aims of this chapter are briefly to describe the influence of the labelling perspective on criminology, to explore its impact on criminal justice policy and social work practice, and to suggest that, by shifting the focus of attention from the criminal actor to the agencies of social control, the labelling perspective has the potential to sensitise social workers to the moral and political context of their work, and to the need for a clear value base for practice in the face of ‘moral panics’ and political scares.