Can delinquency be measured? / by Sophia Moses Robison.

  • Sophia Moses Robison
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Can delinquency be measured? / by Sophia Moses Robison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/314 (page 4)
    any very useful approach to the problem of understanding or preventing delinquent behavior. It is the thesis of the present study that the customs of the diverse nationality and cultural groups, no matter where they live, greatly affect the proportions of juvenile delinquents in these different groups who will become known to the courts and to institutions for the care of delinquents. A proper measurement technique involves examination of these qualitative factors before the count- ing process is begun. Stated differently, neighborhoods have varying population with regard to race, nationality, and associated customs, which affect the amount of de- linquency officially registered, although the behavior of the children may remain the same. These differences in the amount of delinquency officially registered will reflect chiefly the different customs regarding children and re- sources for their care but not necessarily the differences in the proportions of children who perform the wide variety of acts which, under some circumstances, call public attention to their need of care as delinquents. Dif- fering behavior on the part of parents and authorities con- fronted with a troublesome child may be as much a modifier of neighborhood rates as different proportions of troublesome children. Not only does this study challenge the use of court ap- pearances as a measure of the extent of juvenile delinquent behavior, but it raises an additional challenge to area rates based on socio-physical geography alone as significant in understanding complex social phenomena. Granted that the geographical distribution of known delinquents is comparatively easy to ascertain and often highly desirable for administrative purposes, it does not necessarily follow that small area rates are sociologically meaningful. They may neither be accurately descriptive nor contribute to