Labeling Theory
When an individual become labeled as a criminal it becomes their "master status." "Â…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 an 'offender.' The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied; deviant behavior is behavior that people so label" Howard S. Becker, (1963) Outsiders, (p.9). If you are labeled as a criminal, people do not consider all the good things you have done; they just see that you committed some type of a felony and are now a criminal. Once a person is labeled and judged by society it is very hard to get back to what they once had and people often have an identity change. This is a social problem because labeling these people basically ruins their lives to the point where they have no choice but to for fill that label they were given.
The labeling theory poses the question if those who have previously been labeled as criminal are......
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