School, Work, Occupation and Family of Juvenile Delinquents - A Descriptive Amnesis - Part 4

• NCJ Number: 73340
• Journal: Zentralblatt fuer Jugendrecht und Jugendwohlfahrt Volume: 65 Issue: 6 Dated: (1980) Pages: 261-269
• Author(s): H Arndt
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: German
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

Data on 69 juvenile offenders in a West German correctional facility were analyzed to determine the relationship between occupational training and delinquency and to discover other aspects of delinquent behavior.

Abstract

This is the fourth of five articles resulting from a study of the relationship between upbringing and delinquency. The sample included 69 randomly selected offenders between the ages of 14 and 22 in a Schwaebisch Hall facility. While home and school can have a strong influence on the social development of youths, jobs seldom do. A youth's behavior at a job usually reflects the quality of those previous influences. Half of the subjects did not receive occupational training, and the half that did receive some training did not complete it. Of those who received no training, 2.9 percent committed their first offense between the ages of 6 and 10; 17.1 percent between 11 and 13, 62.9 percent between 14 and 17, and 17.1 percent between 18 and 20. Of those who did not complete their training, 14.7 committed their first offenses between the ages of 6 and 10, 20.6 percent between 11 and 13, 50 percent between 14 and 17, and 14.7 percent between 18 and 20. As a result of insufficient job training, 85.5 percent of the subjects found work as laborers, worked irregularly or not at all. None of those youths who were still attending school at the time of their arrests committed violent crimes, robbery, or extortions; these youths committed property crimes. Other findings related to delinquency included the following: 27.5 percent of the sample committed their first offense between the ages of 6 and 14, while 56.5 percent did so between the ages of 14 and 17; delinquents between the ages of 6 and 10 tended to commit property crimes, while those who were older committed both property and violent crimes; no youth under the age of 14 committed a sex crime; 87.5 percent of the robberies, 80 percent of the fraud offenses, and 73.7 percent of the destruction of personal property offenses occurred in cities; and 60 percent of the sex offenses and 66.7 percent of the extortion offenses occurred in rural areas. Data tables, footnotes, and a reference list are included. -- in German. (Related documents: NCJ 73337-39 and NCJ 73341.)