NCJ Number
144157
Date Published
1984
Length
94 pages
Annotation
This study explored two possible causes of juvenile delinquency and juvenile gangs: the individual's propensity to commit crime and the situation leading to the crime, with emphasis on the effects of friends.
Abstract
The research used data from all 575 persons who were born between 1957 and 1968 and suspected by the police of an industrial community in southern Sweden of having committed a crime between 1975 and 1977. The study also gathered information from people born earlier than 1957 but committing a crime with one or more people in the main study population and from persons who committed crime with someone in the main sample during the 1978-80 followup period. Thus, the total sample included 834 persons. Data came from police records, other agencies' records; and interviews with criminal justice, recreation and social service personnel and juvenile gang members. Results indicated that most juvenile delinquency consists of pleasurable acts committed in a group and that most groups in which crimes are committed are temporary. In addition, group members are recruited from a local social youth culture in which criminality represents an important form of relations. Furthermore, the degree of criminality of youth in a particular geographical area is unevenly distributed, and crimes are determined by opportunities, youths' ages, and their involvement in the criminal juvenile environment. Thus, influencing a youth's peer relationships can influence the youth's criminality. Tables, figure, appended instrument, tables, and diagrams depicting peer relationships and offenses