This document presents the research findings of a study on labeling theory and its impact on juvenile behavior in high schools. The study utilized questionnaires distributed to students across two high schools to collect primary data, along with statistical data from school administrators. Key findings included that lower class boys and middle class girls were more susceptible to deviant acts. Peer pressure was identified as the main motivation for such acts. Over 80% of respondents believed dysfunctional families contributed to the number of deviants in schools. The research aimed to understand the motivations and impacts of labeling on juvenile behavior, in fulfillment of the sociology syllabus requirements.

1. IN PART FULFILMENT
OF
THE SOCIOLOGY
SYLLABUS
FOR
CARIBBEAN ADVANCED
PROFIENCY EXAM (CAPE)
FOR THE YEAR 2012-2013
2012-2013
Name: Alex Stewart
Form: L6
Centre No.:100082
Candidate No.: 1000821177
Territory: Jamaica
School: Munro College

2. Table OfContents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 3
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 4
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES.................................................................................................................................. 5
LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 6
RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................................................................................ 7
SAMPLE SELECTION....................................................................................................................................... 8
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT ................................................................................................................. 9
PRESENTATION OF DATA ............................................................................................................................ 15
ANALYSIS OF DATA...................................................................................................................................... 22
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................... 23
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................ 25

3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The completion of this Internal Assessment would not have been possible without the help of the
Almighty God, who gave me the strength and health to complete the assignment. Also my family
and friends played a major role in assisting me in obtaining the necessary research data for the
project. And last but definitely not the least my wonderful sociology teacher Ms. Sheena
Mowatt, who aided her students‟ with well prepared tutorials and guided us every step of the
way. I am extremely thankful.

4. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/INTRODUCTION
This study is based on the labeling theory which was created and developed by Frank
Tannenbaum and Howard S. Becker;According to Sociology Themes and Perspectives; labeling
is a process of social reaction by the “social audience,” (stereotyping) the people in society,
judging and accordingly defining (labeling) someone‟s behavior as deviant or otherwise.
Labeling theory, consequently, suggests that deviance is caused by the deviant‟s behaviour being
labeled as morally inferior, the deviants internalizing the label and finally the deviant‟s acts in
accordance to that specific label. In other words it can be said that the social audience is
responsible for forming positive sanctions [reward] or negative sanctions [punishment] whereby
creating or diminishing deviants in society.In this research we will look at “the extent to which
labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.

5. AIMSAND OBJECTIVES
As students acquire labels such as „delinquents‟, and „vandals‟, and are
subsequentlyrejected by peers, colleagues, and family, members; they may be under heavy
scrutiny or stigmatized and are often suspended or expelled from schoolsor forced into the
juvenile penal systems resulting in the individuals becoming worst off than they were with more
enthusiasm to commit grave acts of deviance.
The aim of this Internal Assessment is to get a clear understanding of whether or not
labeling promotes deviant acts in schools and how so.
In an effort to thoroughly evaluate the statement of problem, “the extent to which labels
or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”, the Internal
Assessment will be encompassing three majorobjectives. These are (1)To determine what
motivates students to commit acts of deviance in schools (juveniles). (2) To observe if deviant
acts are committed only by persons of a particular, gender, age category, and social class etc. (3)
The extent to which the family unit can be held responsible for producing deviants as they are
the primary unit of socialization. [Dysfunctional families] (4)To establish, that certain deviant
acts are sanctioned as opposed to others.

6. LITERATURE REVIEW
In conducting research for this study, information was extracted from numerous articles, books
and internet sources in an effort to select appropriate coherent data that supports the
study.According to the research data, there is a distinctive link between labeling and deviant
behaviour. From a sociological context deviance is described as actions or behavior that violates
cultural norms including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of
socials norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). It is the purview of sociologists,
psychologists, psychiatrists and criminologist to study how these norms are created, how they
change over time and how they are enforced.To support the aforementioned Howard Becker‟s
book Outsiders, which emerged in the 1960‟s he states that “Social groups create deviance by
making rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular
people and labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the
act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application of rules and sanctions to the
“offender.” The deviant is one to whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant
behavior is behavior that people so label.” In other words, „deviance is in the eye of the beholder,
what would be considered deviance in one instance is not in another.‟ Another theorist noted was
Robert K Merton: hediscussed deviance in terms of goals and means as part of his strain/anomie
theory. Where Durkheim states that anomie is the confounding of social norms, Merton goes
further and states that anomie is the state in which social goals and the legitimate means to
achieve them do not correspond. He postulated that an individual‟s response to societal
expectations and the means by which the individual pursued those goals were useful to
understanding deviance; with that said it can be concluded that deviant behavior is created by the
pressures society places on individual to conforms to accepted norms. Albert Cohen‟s Subcultural Theory, opposed Merton‟s views that the motivation for deviant behavior arises out of
the frustration of failing to achieve success by legitimate means. He notes that deviant/delinquent
acts are not always undertaken as an individual response to frustration but rather as a collective
response. Many delinquent/deviant acts are not always undertaken for financial gain but are nonutilitarian and malicious. He sees the cause of much delinquency as status frustration. Success is
replaced with an alternative to gain prestige in the eyes of their peers. These are the values of the
lower working class, delinquent subculture in which such boys are socialized. “Lower class boy,
middle class measuring rod.”

7. RESEARCH DESIGN
Research is defined as the systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish
facts and reach new conclusions. The use of primary and secondary data was incorporated in this
study;this entailed the use of questionnaires, books sociology websites and articles. In order to
collect information, a data collection instrument and strategies had to be employed; a qualitative
approach was utilized as a large sample was not required. In investigating, “the extent to which
labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.
The data collection instrument utilized for this study was the questionnaire. The
questionnaire contained two types of questions, open-ended questions, which provides no choice
or guidance as to what the answer is, that is left entirely up to the respondent. They are very
useful in getting persons to express complicated ideas and feelings but on the other hand they are
very difficult to code. The other type of questions was close-ended, these are much simpler and
they offer the respondents a limited choice of answers, they are very easy to code but they often
simplify issues too much. They do not allow persons to reply in detail, it guides the respondent to
answer in a particular way, thus possibility exists the response is bias.
A total of 40 forty questionnaireswere distributed to random persons from each of the
High schools in Malvern.This was done so that the respondent‟s responses would vary as they all
are encapsulated in different environments with similar yet varied norms and expectations.
Additional statistical data was also collected from the year supervisors for each year group.
Therefore, the primary source of data collection is the respondents themselves who gave
explicit information relevant to the data collection process and the secondary source would be
the year supervisors who provided the backup information needed to solidify the results of the
primary findings.

8. SAMPLE SELECTION
A sample can be defined as a small part or quantity intended to show what the whole is
like. A sampling frame was utilized to study the desired portion of the population; a sampling
frame is a means of defining the population of interest. Stratified random sampling was
incorporated, a total of forty questionnaires distributed in thetwoHigh Schools in Malvern. To
achieve this, twenty(20) questionnaireswere randomly distributedto students of each of the
schools. In this way the ratio of boys to girls was 1:1.This method was chosen because it allowed
for a broad variety of responses as the respondents would be of varies age groups, ethnicities,
and genders.

9. DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT
COVER LETTER
Watchwell District
Watchwell P.A.,
St. Elizabeth
Dear, whomever it may concern;
I am Alex Stewart, a 6th form student of Munro College conducting a research on “the extent to
which labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High Schools in Malvern”.
This questionnaire will be used to acquire information necessary for my research. Please answer
each question honestly. Everything you write on these sheets will be kept confidential. Thank
you for your time.
Yours Truly,
Alex Stewart

10. QUESTIONNAIRE
You are kindly asked to provide truthful answers to the questions below. All the
information provided will be kept strictly confidential; as such you are not required to
insert your name as a means of protecting your identity.
1. What gender are you?
Male□
Female□
2. To what religious sect do you belong?
3. Please state the name of your school in the line provided.
____________________________________________________
4. Which form are you in?
Form 1□
Form 2□
Form 3□
Form4to 6□
5. What age category do you fall under?
12-14 □
15-17
□
18-20 □
6. What ethnic group do you belong to?
African
□
Chinese
□
West Indian
□
Caucasian
□
Mixed□
Over 20
□

11. 7. To which social class do you belong?
Upper Class□
Middle Class□
Lower Class□ Neutral□
8. What does the word deviant mean to you?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
9. Have you ever committed a deviant act?
Yes□
No□
10. Have you ever seen someone committing a deviant act?
Yes□
No□
11. If your answer was yes for the question above, what action did you take?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
12. What do you think motivates an individual to commit a deviant act?
Status frustration
□
Peer Pressure
□
Immaturity
□
A desire for material possessions
□
To get attention/recognition
□

12. 13. In your view, are any of the reasons listed above justifiable for such actions?
Yes□
No□
14. Do you believe that some deviant acts are at times sanctioned or tolerated by some, which
make it difficult to penalize the problem in schools?
Yes□
No□
15. Do you believe that as a high school student the expectations from society are too high?
Yes □
No □
16. Which group of persons do you believe display the most deviant behavior?
Toddlers
□
Young adults □
Grown adults □
17. Within recent times can you average the percentage of defacement of school property?
18. Do you believe that deviant acts are demonstrated by persons as a means of getting
attention?
Yes □
No □
19. What are some of the penalties for the defacements of school property and are they
regularly enforced?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

13. 20. Would you say that parents who neglect to provide adequately for their children, or pay
attention to them, because they have some form of drug addiction or gambling problem
encourages deviant behavior?
Yes □
No □
21. Do you have any suggestions for remedying the problem of deviant behavior amongst
your peers, if so what are they?
Yes □
No □
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
22. Do you believe that defacement of school property namely graffiti is as sense of artistic
expressions?
Yes □ No □
23. Do you think that by including more curricular activities in the school syllabus will better
channel the attention of persons to more productive use of time?
Yes□
No□
24. Are you of the opinion that the breakdown of family life is the main contributor for the
number of deviants present in today‟s schools/society?
Yes□
No□

14. 25. Do you think that individuals, who come from poor broken homes, are most likely to
become deviants?
Yes□
No □
Thank you very much for your kind cooperation, I am extremely grateful and certain that the
information given will be of great use to me.

15. PRESENTATION OF DATA
Figure 1: Bar chart displaying the percentage of respondents who belong to the different social
classes across the two schools. From the chart we can conclude that Lower Class boys are more
susceptible to deviant acts while Middle Class Girls are more liable to commit acts of deviance.

16. Figure 2: Displays a pie chart of the responses to question eighteen (18) which asked if deviant‟s
acts are demonstrated by persons as a means of getting attention. Thirty one (31) persons said
yes which totaled 77% and nine persons (9) said no which accounted for 23%.

17. Varying Age Groups Of Deviants
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
12-14 YRS
15-17 YRS
18-20 YRS
OVER 20
Figure 3: Cluster cone diagram portrays the age group percentage of respondents who have been
involved in deviant acts, ages 18-20 having the largest percentage.

18. Figure 4: Exhibits a column graph of the number of recorded deviant acts committed, for the
month of April over a period of four years in one of the selected schools. This graph clearly
shows a gradual increase between the years 2007 and 2011. However 2012 proved a 150%
increase in deviant acts from the year before.

19. Figure 5: Demonstrates some of the major motivations for committing acts of deviants,
according to the responses of respondents, with Peer Pressure being the most dominant, followed
closely by Immaturity.

20. 90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Percentage
YES
87%
NO
13%
Figure 6: Shows the percentage of respondent who believe that the breakdown of family life
(dysfunctional families) is responsible for the number of deviants present in today‟s school
society.

21. SCHOOL PENALTIES
SUGGESTED PENALTIES BY
RESPONDENTS.
Detention
Obligation to situations of utter discomfort as
to discourage future occurrences.
Suspension
Specific period of time spend out of the
classroom environment whether on campus or
at home.
Seek alternative education. Educate others who
have not yet committed acts of deviance, of the
consequences of deviant behavior.
Expulsion
Banned Boarding Privileges
Loss of theprivilege of living on campus.
Figure 7: Displays a table, showing the penalties for the defacement of school property and other
acts of deviance.

22. ANALYSIS OF DATA
From the data collected during the research both primary and secondary information were
referenced, in an attempt to achieve the desired outcome of this study which aim it is to
determine “the extent to which labels or stigmas negatively impacts on juvenile behavior in High
Schools in Malvern” key questions were extracted from the data collection instrument and was
analyzed using line graphs, pie charts, tables, bar charts and other visual presentation
instruments.This provided the necessary statistics and facts to assist with the accomplishment of
the set objectives which were all efficiently met. Figure 1‟s presentation looked at the percentage
of males to females who committed deviant acts in the two sample schools.The percentage total
of all schools showed that 67% of boys are responsible for deviant‟s acts while 33% of girls
committed deviant acts; coming out of this analysis it can be said that the male gender is more
susceptible to deviant behavior.Figure 2 compared the responses to the closed-ended question
eighteen (18) of the questionnaire which asked “Do you believe that deviant acts are
demonstrated by persons as a means of getting attention?”

23. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
From objective 1 which sets out to determine what motives persons (juveniles) have for
committing acts of deviance in schools, it was discovered that, persons are motivated to commit
acts of deviance in school, mainly as a result of peer pressure, status frustration and simply to
defile and show disrespect and disregard for the school environment, because it gives them a
slight feeling of superiority over their peers.
Objective 2 was set to observe if deviant acts are committed only by persons of a
particular, gender, age category, or social class. It is evidenced that vast majority of persons who
have committed acts of deviance were males with the age group of 18-20 years, but were of
various ethnic groups, religions and social classes. The number/percentage of males who
responded to the questionnaire was an alarming 67%. The reason for that being that they claimed
to be under peer pressure, and come from broken homes.
Thirdly, the objective which states the extent to which the family unit is responsible for
producing deviants as they are the primary unit of socialization. [Dysfunctional families] 87% of
respondents agree with the fact that when children are poorly socialized and live in an
environment not conducive to productive learning where fine examples are set, they tend to take
all their suppressed attitudes and feelings of negativity into the school environment plaguing
others with their disease.
Research have shown that deviant behaviour have long been a problem plaguing the
school populations; what is interesting is that the acts can be seen as a means of expressing one‟s
frustration about societal norms which tend to put too much pressure on adolescents. Responders
were not afraid to voice their dissatisfaction with the penal system which they view as a cover
for the real issues plaguing society.

24. CONCLUSION
Pen ultimately, it can be said that deviant behaviour is heavily influenced by labeling,
individuals tends to live up to the labels that are given to them, and this leads persons to self
fulfillment of their label and they turn to a life of deviance which further leads to a life of crime.
Hence, the Howard Becker‟s labeling theory strongly supports the statement. All of the aims and
objectives of this study was achieved and gave the researcher great insight into the topic of
research.

25. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Sociology Themes and Perspectives; Michael Haralambos, Martin Holborn and Robin
Heald; 2004.
 Caribbean Sociology Introductory Readings; Christine Barrow and Rhonda Reddock;
2001.
 Sociology for Caribbean Students; Nasser Mustapha; 2010
 Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance; Howard S. Becker; March 1st 1997
 Crime and deviance with theory and method: As/A-level Sociology; Steve Chapman;
April 15th, 2010.
 CAPE Sociology.org
 JSTOR Journals.com
 Siegel, Larry J. Delinquency. Belmont: Wadsworth Group, 2002.
 Adams, Mike S. ET. Al.” Labeling and Delinquency.” Adolescence. Academic Search
Premier. Vol. 38 p171. San Diego, 2003.