An Empirical Test of Deterrence and Labeling Theories

TSUTOMI Hiroshi

doi:10.11218/ojjams.5.2_73

A fundamental issue in the sociology of deviance is whether legal sanctions reduce deviance through specific deterrence or increase deviance through deviance amplification. Using a dataset on high-school aged youths in a Southeastern city, this study examines how the effect of arrest on subsequent delinquency is mediated by deterrence and labeling processes. By explicitly causal modeling the mediation processes, four methodological shortcomings of previous studies are overcome: (1) failure to examine mechanisms that intervene between legal sanctions and criminal behavior; (2) omission of key intervening variables in deterrence and labeling theories; (3) specification of the causal order among variables inconsistent with their temporal order; and (4)failure to examine conditional effects of individual characteristics on the effect of legal sanctions on criminal behavior. The covariance structure model was estimated using Joreskog's LISREL VI which allows us to correct for attenuation due to measurement error, estimate a panel model, and test key hypotheses. The results find that persons who have experienced arrest commit more delinquency because they perceive less parental disapproval for their delinquent acts, and because they associate with delinquent peers. These results support the hypothesis of deviance amplification, but not specific deterrence.

An Empirical Test of Deterrence and Labeling Theories

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