ABSTRACT
The application of "deviant labels" is a salient issue in the process of social control, crucial for understanding the development of deviant roles and for assessing the relative merits of generalizations based on control-agency data. Offenders and audiences act out a complementary interactive relationship. The actions taken by audiences may have significance for the offender's future behavior since audiences may accord deviant statuses, restrict the offender's choice of alternative roles, isolate and stigmatize the offender as a deviant, and take actions which lead to the offender's conception of himself as a deviant. Basic data included information obtained from records on file in the police Juvenile Bureau, with respect to the nature of the offense; the offender's prior record; personal, behavioral, and situational characteristics; and disposition by the police. Probation-department records were utilized to ascertain the dispositions accorded by both the probation department and the juvenile court.
