Delinquency Areas in the Puget Sound Region

Abstract

Wide variations were found in the rates for juvenile delinquency between specific areas in large cities, small cities, and counties. Concentration of the homes of delinquents near the central business districts and near basic industries was characteristic. High rates of delinquency have persisted over an eighteen-year period in the central areas of Seattle. Low delinquency rates were found, however, among Japanese boys in a centrally located school district fo the same city. Spokane and Bellingham showed high rates in outlying areas, but in both cases these districts were in close proximity to basic industries. In Tacoma and less clearly in Seattle rates tended to vary inversely with the distance from the city center. A positive correlation was found between rates for family dependency and rates for juvenile delinquency. In small neighborhoods a single personality may be an important factor in the prevention of delinquency. As the number involved in a series becomes smaller, the rates are increasingly subject to marked variation, owing to single escapades involving several boys.