ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the life stories of Jerry, Denni, and Alan. All three boys are "nonviolent" because they had not admitted committing nor had been formally charged with committing a violent offense or they had admitted engaging in violence for a brief period early in their life and thereafter adopted an exclusively nonviolent pattern of behavior. Jerry was a tall, slightly overweight seventeen-year-old who displayed considerable maturity and self-reliance. Dennis was a tall and remarkably slim seventeen-year-old who grew up with his biological mother and father in the center of a working-class town. The family owned a small ranch house in a neighborhood with "lots of kids." Alan was eighteen years old, of average height, solid, and muscular. The nonviolent life histories show that each boy's relationship to his parents differed. Jerry experienced a nonviolent and affectionate relationship with his mother and father but since the sixth grade had lived with only one parent.
