NCJ Number
137549
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 17 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1992) Pages: 161-170
Date Published
1992
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Self-report survey responses resulting from two, long-term follow-up studies of 1,000 randomly selected cases of adjudicated delinquents from two counties in Pennsylvania were used to examine the influence of delinquent or criminal friends on the reformation process.
Abstract
The questionnaire consisted of questions about friends and relatives who committed illegal acts; the survey responses were analyzed according to adult outcome (lack of known adult criminal conviction vs known adult criminal conviction). According to the findings, involvement with delinquent friends before first contact with the Juvenile Probation Department was not related to the likelihood of the respondent's having a criminal conviction in adult life. However, such involvement after first contact with the Probation Department was strongly associated with adult criminality. The involvement of the subject's friends in delinquency while the subject was a juvenile, and the number of friends involved in criminality and the frequency of such involvement were both strongly related to the subject's adult conviction. The involvement of a juvenile's relatives in criminality had a much weaker influence on the likelihood of the juvenile's subsequent criminal conviction. 13 references