Section H - Deviance

1. Describe an occasion in which you were caught engaged in a primary deviant act and thus was labeled a deviant.
When I was about 13 I got caught shoplifting.

2. What were the effects of this label:

a) How did it affect your self identity? I thought I was a loser. I was embarrassed & ashamed to stoop so low to have to steal something so stupid, as well as have it reported to police! I thought of myself as a great disappointment. I had to go upstairs in a room & wait for the police - feeling alienated in a corner.

b) How did it affect how you were treated by others? It was terrible! My mother was at the store when I did this. I told her I would meet her in the car & left first - got caught outside. Therefore, I was forced to tell her instantly. What a nightmare! I felt I also betrayed my mother with my upbringing - all the things I was taught growing up. She was very disappointed & upset. It was so long ago I can hardly remember if I told anyone else at the time - it was very humiliating. But the people & workers at the store looked down on me - I felt everyone in the store was focused on me as I walked with security through the store for some stupid doing - feeling like a major criminal. The police weren't too bad, besides I was young. I was banned from the store for 1 year & had to pay the low cost of what I stole as well as an additional $100. Something I would definitely have to work for to pay off to my poor, humiliated Mother.

c) Did this labeling increase, decrease, or have no obvious effect on your deviant behavior? Definitely a decrease. What a let down I was! Social control worked on my part. I never wanted to upset my parents again. I was always a good child. I don't even know why I did it. Maybe because my Mom always said no to buying things like that, music she didn't like of course. She is a very dedicated Catholic. I ended up not going in that store longer than that, but eventually did. I felt awkward there though, like they remembered me from years ago! Crazy, but that's how I felt.

3. Explain how these effects are examples of secondary deviance.
Being labeled a deviant was definitely not for me. My behavior resulted in waking up & knowing this is the real world. If I wasn't a juvenile, what then? These things all crossed my mind. I didn't want a record, be a let down to my family, etc - Be labeled deviant - many can't get away from that label! It only took once for me to straighten up.