ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Throughout the history of juvenile justice, criminologists and others interested in deviant behavior have sought to explain why certain individuals act in certain ways at certain times. The number of theories for deviant behavior has grown considerably over the past 100 years as the fi eld of criminology has progressed and the level of research has improved. A theory can be described as an attempt to answer the question “Why?” Why does an individual violate the norms of society? Why do certain conditions seem to accompany deviant behavior? Why does deviance occur when it does? These and other “why” questions form the basis for the theories that have been proposed for explaining delinquent behavior.
