ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with boys who are or were members of a Settlement Club. The great majority of boys interviewed admitted committing delinquent acts at some time or another during childhood and adolescence. Delinquency in most cases is seen to be a product of group life. Discussion with young people suggests that there are two factors contributing to a maturing ethical awareness which interweave and reinforce each other. They are the ability to appreciate possibly unpleasant consequences of delinquency and a deepening of sympathy for those injured by it. The excerpts from case records may help to illuminate some of 'those aspects of community life which provide the appropriate setting for delinquency careers and which give to these careers the sanction and approbation on which all social behaviour depends'. Preventive measures could very well be directed towards altering the content of the group's activities and providing substitutes which could offer equivalent satisfaction.
