NCJ Number
147232
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 68 Issue: 2 Dated: (1977) Pages: 262-273
Date Published
1977
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The authors explore the premise that delinquency is a group phenomenon, and suggest that it should be revived in the study of delinquency.
Abstract
Questionnaires were administered to 1,700 small-town and 1,273 urban high school students in southern Arizona. Group violation rates (GVR's) among this sample and a smaller one in a prior Utah study were determined. The data are broken down by geography, gender of offender, and type of violation. The company of peers was shown to be an important factor in delinquency. Drug offenses tended to have the highest GVR, while status offenses other than drinking and smoking had the lowest. Group influence was stronger in female than male delinquency, and about equal in rural and urban settings. There were no significant data differences between the two studies although they were conducted in different States and more than 10 years apart. 5 tables, 33 footnotes