Official Labeling, Criminal Embeddedness, and Subsequent Delinquency: A Longitudinal Test of Labeling Theory

• NCJ Number: 212813
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 67-88
• Author(s): Jon Gunnar Bernburg; Marvin D. Krohn; Craig J. Rivera
• Date Published: February 2006
• Length: 22 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the short-term impact of formal criminal labeling (formal processing by the juvenile justice system) on involvement in deviant social networks and the increased likelihood of subsequent delinquency.

Abstract

The study found that teens processed by the juvenile justice system were significantly more likely than teens who had not been so processed to become members of a gang in a subsequent period or to be part of a delinquent network with high levels of delinquency. Such official labeling as a delinquent had a significant role in the maintenance and stability of delinquency and crime in early and middle adolescence. The study concludes that juvenile justice intervention may in some cases increase associations with deviant peers by placing youth in the company of other delinquent youth. These findings came from an analysis of data obtained by the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), a multiwave panel study of the development of drug use and delinquent behavior among adolescents and young adults. The panel was based on an initial sample of 1,000 students selected from the seventh and eighth grades of the public schools in Rochester, NY, during the 1987 to 1988 academic year. Interviews with each adolescent and his/her parent or caretaker were conducted at 6-month intervals. The current study compared the prevalence of delinquency in the sample that remained in the panel at wave 4 (n=928) and that remained in the study after the deletion of missing cases (n=870). The RYDS contains self-reported data on involvement with the juvenile justice system for 13 offenses. Self-reported delinquent behavior was measured over the past 6 months; and subjects were asked about gang membership and peer delinquency over the past 6 months. Control variables were race/ethnicity, gender, and parents' income. 4 tables, 8 notes, and 76 references