The distribution of delinquent activity among various socio-economic levels of American society is of central importance in the evaluation of both current theoretical interpretations and major action strategies. The theoretical writings of Cohen,' Cloward and Ohlin? and Mill& are, in part, attempts to explain the assumed concentration of certain w e s of delinquency in low socio-economic neighborhoods. Most of the recent delinquency prevention programs which were sponsored by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime concentrated their action efforts on selected low socio-economic areas in large urban communities.Almost all analyses of official police and court statistics have revealed a marked socio-economic gradient in delinquency rates. However, it is quite unclear as to how accurately such official data reflect a differential distribution of delinquent behavior among youth from various social strata. Cohen cites this "ghost of unrepresentativeness" as one of the foremost limitations facing delinquency researchers who rely solely on official statistics.'Indeed, several recent studies have documented that the social class level of a youngster tends to be a selective factor influencing:1. whether a youngster with n police contact is booked5 2. whether a youngster who is booked is referred to 3. whether a youngster referred to court receives an 4. the type of disposition recommended for adjudicated juvenile court6 official or unofficial hearing?
delinquents in presentence investigations8Other investigators have made a more direct attack on the problem by use of self-report approaches, i.e., questionnaires or interviews requesting the youngster to admit the extent of his delinquent behavior. At the present time, the findings from these studies do not provide a clear or consistent picture in regard to the socio-economic distribution of such behavior.In large scale questionnaire studies conducted among American jun-37
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