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Some Implications for North Carolina of Recent Research in Juvenile Delinquency

Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, Columbia University

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, "youth service bureau" programs were widely implemented as a solution to the delinquency problem. A re cent national study indicates that these programs' clients are predomi nantly juvenile status offenders such as truants and runaways rather than youth who commit criminal acts. The concentration on status of fenders is based on the desire (1) to reduce damaging involvement with the formal justice system; (2) to intervene early, on the theory that status offenses otherwise "escalate" into true criminal behavior; and (3) to avoid the greater risks involved in dealing with more serious juvenile of fenders. This policy needs to be re-examined in light of the Wolfgang- Figlio-Sellin cohort data. Boys in the cohort whose first offense was a sta tus offense were much less likely to recidivate than those whose first of fense was a criminal act. The data show no evidence whatever of "escala tion" and indicate that most boys who committed criminal acts did not be gin by committing status offenses. These findings plus the concentration of criminal offenses in a relatively small group of repeat offenders sug gests that concentrating resources on juveniles who have committed their first criminal offense may be a more effective means of reducing delin quency than concentrating on status offenders.

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