1. PREDICTING JUVENILE DELINQUENCY: COMMENT ON THE PAPER BY DR. WEEKS.
- Author
-
Kuhlen, Raymond G.
- Subjects
JUVENILE delinquency ,CONDUCT disorders in children ,PROGNOSIS ,EVALUATION ,CRIMINAL behavior ,ADOLESCENT psychology - Abstract
In this article, the author has commented on juvenile delinquency. The purpose of this note is to call attention to a serious oversight in this study, an oversight which has undoubtedly arisen because equal sized groups of delinquents and non-delinquents were studied and comparisons made between percentages of these groups. Non-delinquents are considerably more frequent in the general population than are delinquents. These actual frequencies must be taken into account in evaluating the predictive efficiency of the scoring plan reported. The preparation of prognostic tables for indicating the probability of a child's becoming delinquent, although highly desirable, lies much farther in the future.
- Published
- 1943