STUDIES OF causal factors in criminal behavior have multiplied rapidly in the last half century. We cannot review the major or the more recent of these studies. Suffice it to say that many of them have suffered from a too heterogeneous selection of cases. The endless complexities entering into the behavior patterns of varied age groups, of varied nationalities, of varied cultures, of different stages of criminal behavior, almost preclude scientific findings. A second serious limitation is that the different determinants of criminal behavior almost invariably have been studied as unitary, e.g., such factors as lack of home restraint, or urban conditions of life, or the thwarting of the social wishes, or emotional imbalance, have been listed with little or no reference to the cultural world nor to the changes in the role of personality which influence the behavior pattern. This situation does not mean that students of criminology do not fully appreciate the intricate complexities of criminal behavior. There is considerable intellectual appreciation and much profound academic discussion, but there has been little actual collection and use of facts on a large scale under controlled conditions. The obstacles encountered in studies of closely interrelated multiple factors, viewed as a Gestalt, even of a more or less homogeneous group of offenders, are numerous and complex. The writer, therefore, offers the following preliminary study in a series of other studies of adult offenders, with considerable hesitancy. Two thousand consecutive probation records of men who had applied for probation at the Los Angeles County Probation Department during I933 were taken for study.' These records revealed the following facts: 57 percent were under 30 years of age; 75 percent were native-born; 86 percent were non-transients; 59 percent were reared by both parents and 83 percent were reared at home by one or both parents; 45 percent had completed at least grammar school and 63 percent had more than eighth but less than twelfth grade education; 65 percent were Protestants; go percent were of normal intelligence; 95 percent were in good health at the time of arrest; 56 percent had committed crimes against property, that is, they were charged with burglary, robbery, grand larceny, auto theft, forgery, and embezzlement. Ninety percent admitted the use of intoxicants, and 30 percent admitted the use of alcohol to excess; only 2 percent admitted the use of drugs.