Predicting Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

T HIS IS A report of an attempt to predict juvenile delinquency. It examines the feasibility of setting up prognostic tables to indicate the probabilities of juveniles' becoming delinquent when certain social factors are present in their backgrounds; and suggests uses to which such tables might be put. If it is possible to construct tables which indicate the probabilities of success or failure on parole, or of success or failure in marriage, there seems to be no logical reason why the same procedure cannot be used to indicate the probabilities of delinquency. As the term is used in this study, a delinquent is any male between the ages of seven and eighteen years who has appeared before a juvenile court. A non-delinquent, on the other hand, is any male who has not appeared before a juvenile court.' Source of Data. This study, except for the retest by the second sample, is based on information concerning the 420 males who appeared before the Spokane County Juvenile Court during 1937, and on a comparable group of male non-delinquents picked at random from the public secondary schools of the city of Spokane.