Labeled behavior Essay

After his release from Wiltwyck, Butch lived with his dad in a run-down tenement in the Bronx. Butch admired his father for his criminal exploits and his time imprison. Butch’s dad got drunk a lot and beat on Butch. Life degenerated into a nightmare and a series of tragedies for Butch. Rather than continue to live being beaten, Butch robbed a taxi driver at knife point and turned himself in to the police. The robbery was also part of his dream to become a real criminal. It was as if going to prison was the only future he could envision. Butch imploded from all the terrible forces within him, including his shattered home life and the terror of living by the code of the street. He became violently angry without provocation and acted as if he were mentally retarded. He claimed to hear voices and tried to choke another boy. Butch was sent to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation. The psychiatrist evaluating him found him seething with anger and ready to explode at any moment. Butch was also lonely and needed someone to love. Nevertheless, he was capable of explosive, homicidal behavior. He was labeled as having childhood schizophrenia, which psychiatrists at the time assigned to anyone hallucinating or claiming to hear voices. At age 14, Butch was sent to Rockland State Hospital. Butch became calmer there when he was removed from his parents’ troubles. A social worker discovered that his mother Marie was a prostitute and his father James, an alcoholic, was in the advanced stages of syphilis. The author speculates that congenital syphilis may have contributed to the family’s troubles. The psychiatrists at Rockland State Hospital diagnosed Butch as having childhood antisocial behavior marked by irritability, inattentiveness, and impulsivity. In adults, the syndrome is known as psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder. Discussion: (1) Heredity Study — For the first time a family history of congenital syphilis is noticed. The disease attacks the brain. Personality changes are another symptom. There is no way to know whether or not Butch was suffering from congenital or contracted syphilis and its effects without blood tests on him and the other family members. From the family history, this is a distinct possibility even back to slavery days. (2) Differential Opportunity Theory — People deprived of their basic needs such as food, water, shelter, safety, love, and self esteem will seek them any way they can get them. They may give up on their educational goals or not know about them. They fight because they know no other means of resolving conflict. After being beaten by his alcoholic father, Butch turned to crime to return to prison, a place where he would be safe, because he did not know how to escape legally. This theory fails to explain why other people in the same situation escape to live with other family members or turn to friends or some other source of safety other than commit a crime in order to return to prison. (3) Crime and Labeling Theory – Butch’s grandmother Frances has repeatedly told him he has the devil in him, like his father did. She really believed this. He is labeled at the Children’s Center when he begins to hear voices and hallucinate. He is sent to Wiltwyck, which is a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed boys, and he is given that label. He is labeled as paranoid, aggressive, and prone to violence. Once these labels are attached by professional diagnosticians, it is difficult to remove them. The labels themselves cannot explain Butch’s actions or why he hears voices and hallucinates. The labels describe what Butch says is happening. Example of Behavior #3: Butch tries to sell 150 pornographic pictures and their negatives to Dave Hurwitz in his pawnshop, called â€Å"Dave’s Tailor Shop†, in Milwaukee. Butch stole the pictures from his employer, the Evans Color Lab, which saw no reason to report the crime. Hurwitz told Butch to come back tomorrow, and he would pay him $50 for the pictures. The next morning, Butch confronts Dave, who denies all knowledge of the pictures. Butch sees his photos behind the case register and reaches around to reclaim them. Hurwitz starts pushing him out of the shop. Everything in Butch’s life comes together. Here is a man calling him a liar, trying to hustle HIM, and insulting him. Since he was a boy, he had learned that disrespect was the worst thing a man could do to you. He had been taught to use physical violence to meat that threat. The thought running through Butch’s mind was, â€Å"He is disrespecting me. † Butch goes wild with rage and grabs the long hunting knife from the sheath on his back. He stabs Hurwitz six times and a customer, William Locke, six times before he leaves, almost running over a witness at the door. Butch turns himself in, confesses to the police, never requests a lawyer, and receives life in prison, returning to the only safe place he knows. Discussion: (1) Heredity Study – We do not know if Butch’s genetics predisposed him to crime. There are no blood studies confirming the hereditary syphilis. There are many people with genetic abnormalities who do not become criminal. It is obvious that Butch has now learned he is safe in prison, and that the security there fits his needs. If genetics were involved, Butch’s male ancestors should exhibit the same behavior. The theory is not testable here. There is no way to ask Butch why he feels this way. It also does not explain his uncontrollable rage when the pawnbroker tries to avoid paying him. (2) Differential Opportunity Theory – Butch has access both to a job and to illegal means of making a living. He stole from his employer and continued his life of crime despite the better example and the trade he learned. Not all people with a trade and a job take advantage of their employers, even if their family male role models are criminals. (3) Crime and Labeling Theory – By now, Butch has been labeled by professionals as a young sociopath. This describes behavior but cannot stop it or predict it. This is a circular path. A person who is labeled as a sociopath will behave as one and the label will be confirmed. Sometimes no other reasons are sought for criminal behavior. The adult Butch has received no therapy or other treatment for any of his labeled behavior.