It is argued that examination of the validity of the stigmatization theory is of vital interest because of the reevaluation of the criminal phenomenon involved. Not the deviant act or the offender is the central focus but the social process according to which certain individuals are labeled deviants. The causal relationship between social control and deviance is reversed: social control contributes to deviance, not the other way around. Stigmatization theory requires radical transformation of the object and methodology of criminological research. The object of research becomes the social reaction to offenses or the social audiences of criminal acts. Methodologically, analysis of process is substituted for traditional analysis of structure, and emphasis is shifted from quantitative to qualitative research. Moreover, the stigmatization theory theme is current because of the need to define the relationships between labeling theory and radical criminology. Furthermore, the new spirit infused in criminological research by labeling theory dominates a large portion of criminological research. Questions vital to the relationship of stigmatization theory to present criminological reality are the definition of deviance and delinquency, the nature and application of rules defining deviance and delinquency, the elaboration of criminal law, and the application of criminal law by the police and by justice agencies. Also relevant are reactions of the immediate environment of the delinquent to delinquent acts, the psychosocial phenomena involved in the stigmatization process, and the reactions of individuals stigmatized as delinquents. One note is supplied.