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The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability with which youngsters' contacts with law enforcement agencies could be predicted over an eight year period, to determine the significant predictors, and to develop a practical system for early prediction of delinquency and early identification of its causes. A special nomination instrument was prepared and submitted to all the teachers of Grades three, six, and nine throughout an entire county in Wisconsin. This instrument was used to select a representative sample according to classroom behavior, grade level, home location, and sex. Some results are as follows: persistent aggressive-disruptive classroom behavior clearly heralds the onset of delinquent behavior, sex and home location (urban or rural) are both significant predictors of delinquency, and IQ was also found to be a predictor of delinquency, delinquents being significantly lower than other youngsters in intelligence. It was suggested that the results of this research be used to predict future contacts of individual youngsters with law-enforcement agencies. (BW/Author)

Between 1961 and 1971 a systematic series of investigations aimed at developing social-learning-based home intervention procedures for the treatment of hyper-aggressive children was carried out. As a result of this series of studies, a set of social learning techniques were developed, articulated, and cross-validated. The data from these experiments indicated that highly aggressive, pre-adolescent boys could be treated effectively in their homes by training their parents to use social learning child management procedures at an average cost of 25 to 28 professional hours per family. This paper; (1) describes some differences observed among stealers, non-stealers, and a control sample; (2) compares parents of these stealers, non stealers, and controls; and (3) describes the initial impressions of a new treatment sample of children whose primary referral problem was stealing rather than social aggression. (Author)

Cross-cultural surveys of 6th grade children in 12 countries presented them with six hypothetical situations in which friends had committed minor violations of adult norms (stealing, cheating on a test, breaking a window, and mischievous pranks). They were asked if they would inform in response to an adult who asks for the names of those involved. Summarizing 22 surveys revealed that within cultures the disposition to inform was stronger in rural than in urban children and in girls than boys. Analysis of two surveys in Israel and West Germany showed: (1) informing generally more likely when demanded by school authorities after school-related mischief than when demanded by an unspecified adult who was the victim of the mischief; (2) German children more disposed to inform than the Israelis (although both samples were very unlikely to inform and were the two least likely of the 12 countries studied); (3) the relation of informing to family authority structure was similar for the same sex across culture, especially for girls, but unrelated across sex within culture; and (4) combining cultures, informing in boys was more likely for those who described their family as intermediate in the degree of parental decision-making differentiation than for those from either undifferentiated or highly differentiated families, but was unrelated to whether father or mother made most of the decisions. (Author)

Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory was posited to explain all types of criminal or delinquent behavior. While research efforts have generally been confined to a focus on general criminal or delinquent behavior of the individual, it appears that the theory may also be applied to specific criminal or delinquent acts such as marijuana use by the individual. A causal path model based upon Sutherland's theory was developed and operationalized with this emphasis. Two distinct processes of differential association (differential action association and differential attitude association) were suggested to explain the genesis of marijuana use for the individual. The data tended to lend support to the causal path model based upon Sutherland's theory of differential association. References and tables are included. (Author)

This paper describes a community-based approach to delinquency prevention utilizing indigenous nonprofessionals as behavior change agents. Adult residents in two Model Cities communities served as "buddies" of youth referred for behavior and academic problems. The principles and techniques of behavior modification were used in the training of nonprofessionals as change agents and in the treatment of youth in the project. The program evaluation includes an analysis of the various treatment techniques employed. The results indicate that school attendance increased with application of social and material rewards, while other problem behavior was reduced. The findings suggest that reinforcement is a crucial ingredient in the behavior change process. (Author/SES)

A multiphase program (Delinquency Intervention Program in the Carbondale Community High School), aimed at developing and defining means of identifying and reorienting delinquent-prone youths in a high school-community setting, has used university graduate students as "Big Brother" type counselors to work with delinquent prone youths and to effect appropriate behavior changes in them. Concurrent research relevant to the practice itself has provided promising implications for the construction of a curriculum of training for professional careers in correction, rehabilitation, and education, and has demonstrated that this kind of activity provides a valuable learning experience for students preparing for careers in these and related areas. The basic principles used are those of differential reinforcement to bring about behavior modification, with the aim of making delinquent-prone high school students more competent to deal with their environment by correcting behavioral deficits. Results obtained by this program suggest that stating students' problems in behavioral terms and defining events in terms of their function could result in benefits both to the educational system as a whole and to individual students by allowing those involved to become more attuned to the realities of the situation. (SA)

The research reported is predicated on the establishment of an empirically derived psychological typology of male delinquents. The schema for the classification of delinquents is based on those ego and super ego functions which have been shown most frequently to be of importance in understanding the dynamics of various delinquent types. This schema led to a differentiation of delinquents based on: 1) their attitudes toward conventional moral prohibitions; 2) the extent to which they are capable of controlling their impulses and of acting in accordance with their moral standards; and 3) their affective response to their delinquent behavior. The classification includes: 1) situational delinquents; 2) neurotic delinquents; 3) pseudo-socialized delinquents; and 4) psychopathic delinquents. The assessment procedures for determining type are based on three tests which are briefly discussed. This report concludes with short sections on the treatment for each type of delinquent. (KJ)

THIS SPEECH STATES THAT STUDIES INDICATE THAT DELINQUENCY IN RURAL AREAS TENDS TO BE LESS SERIOUS IN TERMS OF THE ACTS COMMITTED AND IS TREATED MORE LENIENTLY THAN IN METROPOLITAN AREAS. THE DELINQUENCY THAT DOES EXIST IS A MALE PROBLEM, OCCURS PREDOMINATELY AMONG YOUTH FROM LOWER-ECONOMIC-STATUS BACKGROUNDS, REFLECTS ALIENATION FROM COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL, AND SEEMS TO HAVE A SUBCULTURAL COMPONENT. ADULTS SEEM WILLING TO SUPPORT PROGRAMS TO HELP TROUBLE-PRONE YOUTH. TABLES PRESENT PERCENTAGES OF IN- AND OUT-OF-SCHOOL DELINQUENT AND NONDELINQUENT YOUTH IN THE SMALL CITY AREA BY ECONOMIC, CULTURAL, AND FAMILY VARIABLES. THIS PAPER WAS PREPARED FOR PRESENTATION AT THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROBLEMS OF RURAL YOUTH IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT (SEPTEMBER 1963). (SF)

This brief discussion of differences between misdemeanor and control groups has noted them primarily in terms of one theoretical viewpoint. I have presented a very rough first draft of a partial model for typical students arrested for disorderly conduct, intoxication, or underage consumption of alcohol. It is one of a number of such possible models and consists mainly of hypotheses that need to be tested. Some of these hypotheses are findings that need to be replicated and others are explanatory hypotheses that need to be researched. One thing is apparent: social fraternities are suspect of having a central role in many cases of disorderly conduct, intoxication, and underage consumption of alcohol. Hodinko's (1964) study of student mores also supports such a contention. The present study needs to be replicated with the control and misdemeanor groups matched on "social fraternity participation" to see if the differences for the other variables are still present. (Author)

In a recent paper Gary F. Jensen reports the results of an empirical test of the extent to which delinquent attitude mediates the impact of delinquent associations on delinquent involvement. This article consists of comments on Mr. Jensen's results as well as Mr. Jensen's reply to these comments. (Author/RM)

This paper described the delinquent way of life in Honolulu, the procedures the author used to learn about that way of life, and the historical context in which this experience was set. (Author/RK)

Papers included are marriage as the cornerstone of the family system, developmental difficulties and the family system, mental health implications of family structure, delinquency and the family system, sexual delinquency among middle class girls, developing standards of sexual conduct among deprived girls, families out of wedlock, and a community project for unwed pregnant adolescents. Further discussions concern a psychodynamic view of sexual promiscuity, three typical constellations in female delinquency, an overview of the family and the female delinquent, the runaway girl, variations of incest, a case history of sexual promiscuity, the family constellation from the standpoint of various siblings, family structure, family language and the puzzled therapist, therapy for underprivileged delinquent families, and observations in therapy of the sexually delinquent female. References follow chapters. (LE)