ABSTRACT
While Freud is recongized as having established a relationship between delinquent behavior and personality formation, especially the unconscious sense of guilt developed during childhood, it was the work of August Aichorn (1935) that is regarded as most responsible for applying psychoanalytic principles to criminality. In his study of juvenile delinquents, Aichorn postulated a psychological predisposition to committing criminal and delinquent acts. He referred to this as latent delinquency, present in youths whose personalities compelled them to act on impulse, instincts, and, for self-satisfaction, absent of guilt feelings.
