ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a perspective on juvenile delinquency as it has developed in this country and shows how our present knowledge bears on the question of its prevention and control. Many variant or conflicting explanations are put forward to account for the continuing increase in the amount of delinquency as measured by statistical indices, and more than a few divergent proposals are made as an answer to the problem. Public concern has been aroused particularly by the headlines reporting gang "rumbles", stabbings, shootings, and vandalism. Most youngsters at some time commit acts that can legally be designated delinquent. It is essential therefore to distinguish between the sporadic mischievousness of the young and the growing habit of delinquent behavior. Judges have the responsibility of making this distinction before they designate a youth as delinquent. Skill in diagnosis is important at every stage in dealing with delinquency, which is by no means a simple or uniform malady.
