Strengthening of Labeling and Passing on the Label

There are many types of problematic behavior among children such as bullying, truancy, and withdrawal. Among these problems, the study focuses on deviant behavior such as criminal offending, which gives a child the label of "delinquent." If such offending happens, discussion has been so far centered on the children's side. However, in a school situation, teachers are the ones to deal with and provide guidance to the child, and as such, an investigation on the teachers' side is deemed necessary. The study examined cases in which schools had to deal with children who committed criminal offences (group shoplifting and extortion), based on interviews of the teachers. To focus on "labeling" by teachers, i.e., how the teachers interpreted the background and past behavior of the child and his or her parent(s) to deal with the case, identified two points. The first one is "strengthening of labeling," in which teachers' labeling of the family formed through past contact with them extends to the child him or herself when such incidents happen, which in turn strengthens the conviction of the teacher. The second point is "passing on the label information." A label created was found to be passed down to other teachers through hand-over of personal student information, a common practice in schools at the end of a school year