Abstract: This article introduces the concept of the relational construction of responsibility as a theoretical framework through which to understand the reconfiguration of social control in the late modern era. Contemporary criminology has undergone a profound shift from offender-centred approaches to relational and victim-centred paradigms of justice. Against this backdrop, the article investigates whether the growing importance of victims and the spread of restorative justice signifies the replacement of the social construction processes described by labelling theory, or whether these processes are being reconfigured within new forms of social control.