ABSTRACT
The development of formal agencies of social control has been one major aspect of the growth of modern, urban, complex societies. The small New England town of the nineteenth century could rely heavily on informal mechanisms of social control such as public ridicule, shunning, ostracism, and so on, supplemented with a limited set of formal mechanisms, such as laws or other forms of rule. The mass media tend to provide information concerning rising juvenile crime rates and the more sensational juvenile offenses, but usually offers little information of a positive nature with respect to the court. Community leaders quite probably experience more interaction with court officials, they probably are in contact with more mass-media sources of information about juvenile policies, and in other ways, and they are more informed than other citizens. Members of the general public voice harsher sentiments about dispositions of juvenile offenders than they believe are implemented in the court.
