NCJ Number
148488
Date Published
1964
Length
160 pages
Annotation
This study of delinquent behavior, its causes, prevention, and therapy, is based on an investigation of youth gangs in nine major U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington.
Abstract
These cities were selected because they had substantial numbers of hostile youth groups and there were personnel with long experience in working with such youths. A pretested questionnaire was used to interview streetworkers and their supervisors. Less structured interviews were conducted with judges, police officials, probation officers, psychiatrists, school officials, researchers, and others. Central in the study were discussions with youth groups and with a few of their parents. Studies, reports, proposals, and the general literature were also consulted. The first chapter reviews the theories and conditions of delinquency. Theories of sublower-class and minority-group delinquency examined include opportunity-blockage, cultural conditioning, poverty, a breakdown in behavioral and attitudinal values, and psychodynamic factors. A chapter on "Groups, Behavior, Problems, and Values" discusses trends in groupings among adolescents, leadership, kinds of delinquent behavior, "rumbles" and other kinds of fighting, and special problems. "Special" problems include drug use, alcohol abuse, and unmarried mothers. A review of current agencies and programs that deal with alienated youth focuses on patterns of organization and funding, the selection of groups for services, contacts, and strategies. Achievements to date and methods of working with individual youth are described, followed by a chapter on streetworkers and their careers. Remaining chapters address research needs and the problem of educational and career opportunities for sublower-class and minority youth. The concluding chapter advises that structural conditions that contribute to lack of significant employment for such youth and that perpetuate hopelessness and criminal survival behaviors must be eliminated if any significant progress is to be made. 73 references