Powerful institutions such as the mass media, the police and judiciary label social groups as deviants and/or criminals

Labelling is present in many atomic number 18as of sociology, and crime and deviance is no exception. It involves a label or categorisation beingness apply to close toone or to the amicable group of which they belong, either rightfully or wrongfully, which can have detrimental or positive force outs. Various institutions label social groups, some look at it is done predominantly by the practice of law, mass media and judiciary constitution. By exploring aspects like moral panics, blockages, and laws passed by the judiciary, we will establish to what extent these institutions do label these social groups as degenerate and/or criminals.Labelling theory is a theoretical approach derived from symbolic interactionism, which looks at the consequences of having a particular(a) social typing or label congeald on an act, group or person. What the labelling theory alerts us to is the way in which the whole ara of crime is dependent upon social constructions of truth law creatio n, law enforcement and the identities of law breakers are all questionable. The media composes a key element of creating these social constructions.When considering reports of crime on television for example, they are supposition to help create or inform throngs perceptions of crime, and of which social groups are deviates and/or criminals. on that point is also a problem when defining criminal and deviant because it depends on the individuals own perceptions, there is no universal definition. The relationship between the media and crime when concerning labelling theory is emphasized by a concept known as a moral panic. The theme of a moral panic can be defined as injustice stirred up by the media in reaction to a particular social group or issue.Sociologist Stan Cohen in his study of the mods and rockers first adopted the term. Since the media had a lack of new stories around that time, they caused these two groups to be classified as folk devils, meaning that they were the subjects of the moral panic and seen as trouble have gotrs. Due to the extensive media coverage, raw people were classified or designate as either mods or rockers, and some internalised the label and were actually tempestuous. Consequently, this helped to create the violent stereotype that the mods and rockers were supposedly famous for.This confirmed the medias image that they were troublemakers to the public. Becker examined the possible effects upon the individual of being publicly labelled as deviant. It is a master situation. The youths were stigmatised and given this label by the media as deviant troublemakers, so eventually come to see themselves as being deviant their master status. All other qualities become unimportant, and they person is responded to solely in terms of their master status. If someone is labelled as criminal for example, this largely overrides their status as parent, neighbour, friend etc. nd others only respond in terms of the label. The police may a lso target the youths on once this moral panic occurs, so the may change their behaviour to avert punishment or stigma.Discussion of the area concerning the polices role of applying these deviant labels to social groups is also an elicit one. Since there are significantly higher rates of imprisonment of blacks than their proportion in the population, the issue is important when considering race. The Metropolitan police, for example, reported that 37% of those stopped were from social minorities, where as they form 20% of Londons population. in that location are higher rates of stop and search among black and Asian youth than among white youth. Arrest rates of alleged offenders were also significantly higher for those of Afro-Caribbean origins than whites. A study by Walker suggests that, although there may well be police bias in stops and arrests, statistically the difference in arrest rates is so high that the only way this could explain the discrepancy in the figures would be to arrest black people more or less at random and charge them falsely.Blom-Cooper and Drabble argued that black defendants are likely to be charged with more serious-minded crimes than white defendants when the actual offences committed are similar. For example, black defendants are more likely than other groups to be remanded in custody. Stephen Lawrence is an example, of a black person being treated unjustly by the criminal justice system. Four white people were accused of his hit, but were non found guilty. There was a constituent of controversy surrounding the case, as the Metropolitan police were accused of tampering with the evidence so it was inadmissible in court.The question is, had it of been four black people murdering a white person would the case have had the same outcome? In reviewing this evidence, it seems that the treatment of black people in the criminal justice system is very unsatisfactory. It seems the police are labelling the blacks as deviant, concentrating policing in the inner city areas where the majority are. The judiciary system already has preconceived ideas about blacks, and this affects the amount that are arrested, prosecuted and put on trial in the courts.Some would say that black youths have even developed their own subcultures, as a form of foeman to capitalism and negative labelling. From a Marxist perspective, youth are the social group that are under the least control by the bourgeoisie. They do not pay taxes or have mortgages, like the working-class do. Since the youth then find it hard to legitimately achieve the high societal goals, they develop supernatural solutions via youth subculture. In the same way, blacks have found themselves marginalized from white society, and in response have developed their own subculture resisting capitalism and often turning to crime.They are essentially driven underground by the labels the media and police apply. Another social group that the media and police can be seen to drive und erground is the subculture of drug-takers. This is a good example of how the police label this social group as deviant and a problem to society. In a study by Parker, he found that the drug-takers regarded their activity as being wholly innocent and consisting of just having fun. Another interesting aspect is that the drug-takers come from backgrounds that just do not fit the medias stereotype of a deviant criminal.Parker discovered in his study that drug-takers are mostly middle-class, in full time work or foster or higher education. Furthermore, there is junior-grade if any violence and most clubbers were reported to feel completely safe. It is thought that the media and polices labelling of this social groups is a little extreme, and is resulting in the culture being driven further underground. Another instance of this media labelling surrounds the case of the remainder of Leah Betts, when she died after taking an ecstasy tablet on her 18th birthday.The media claimed she was p oisoned by the drug, called for tougher legislation and their was a lot of outrage stirred up by extensive media coverage. After various tests, it was then revealed that the anovulant she had taken was virtually pure and she had kidney failure from drinking too much(prenominal) water. It seems that sadly, the only person responsible for her death was herself, and the pill was perhaps just there at the wrong time. It was also revealed it was not the first ecstasy pill she had taken.After the moral panic and the way the media amplified the situation, it turns out there is little supporting evidence for their claims. Perhaps this subculture is not as deviant as the media make out, even classifying drug-taking as a subculture is questionable since millions of ecstasy pills are sold each year and their use if widespread. A confidential survey of pupils behaviour in a representative sample of 20 fee-paying schools showed 43 per cent of pupils in the lower sixth form (aged 16-17) reporte d experimenting with drugs and one in eight state they were regular users. Illegal drug taking is no longer limited to a disaffected and rebellious few. It is part of the culture of teenagers. They do not believe it is as dangerous as we say it is.Even where they recognise the dangers, they are not deterred believing that most enjoyable activities involve some risks, the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference (HMC) said. A 19-year-old who left a private sixth form college last summer, and was previously at a fee-paying boarding school in London, talks about drugs and school. He says From the age of 14 upwards, about 50 per cent of us were smoking marijuana at lunchtime.And I cant think of anyone from my sixth form who hasnt tried drugs. There have been many other moral panics as well as drug takers that have le to the stigmatization of various groups by the media and police. One much(prenominal) case that stigmatized young people was the murder of James Bulger. Two 11-year-old boys in Liverpool from a shopping mall abducted James Bulger. He had massive injuries inflicted upon him, which resulted in his death and he was left on a railway line. The deviant act committed by the children dominated newspaper headlines and stirred up public outrage.The murder was portrayed by the media as a horrific act, which symbolized the degeneration of modern British society, despite the fact that statistically such murders were extremely rare and the UK, though not unique. When Mary Bell aged 11 years old murdered two toddlers in 1968 there was no such moral panic, and seemed to be largely ignored by the press. The media used the Bulger case to symbolise all that was wrong with Britain, they focused on the difference between innocence and evil and wherefore we as a society had allowed it happen, it suggested the increase of public indifference, lowering family values and increasing isolation.It generated massive public guilt, and since predicted a breakdown of societal v alues and cohesion. There was a significant focus on child crime, as people searched for answers to this tragedy. The groups stigmatization was further fuelled by polices claims that juvenile crime was on the increase and young people were out of control, breaking the law due to insufficient penalties for their delinquency. This prompted demands for tighter controls, curfews for young people and stricter laws.However, other statistics showed that juvenile crime had indeed dropped, these were dismissed by the regime because claiming the figures a misrepresentation and only appeared so due to a reduction in numbers in the juvenile population. There were also calls for stricter controls on violent films as it was reported by the media that the boys may have been influenced by the film Childs Play III though there is little evidence in place to support this argument.Overall, it seems the police mass media and judiciary do label social groups as deviant and/or criminals. From the above examples, we can see cases where this happens with a resulting effect of alienating or categorizing a social group in a negative light. When the powerful institutions do seem to label, it does however largely depend on ones definition of criminal or deviant, but the powerful institutions can be seen to play a part in creating this definition.