Abandonment of Delinquent Behavior

This unprecedented study of delinquent behavior reversal challenges the widely held view that early delinquency becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By identifying the variables involved in the turnaround process, the contributors provide an examination of issues such as: favorable effects of juvenile court adjudication; following up previously adjudicated delinquents; the post-intervention experience; delinquency and attachment; and evolution, devolution, and disruption of treatment in an antisocial child. The book is a significant and welcome addition to the literature that should stimulate more and better research on the juvenile justice system that will have a positive and constructive thrust. Criminal Justice Review

Adolescent delinquents can often experience a complete behavioral turnaround--even if their delinquent behaviors have become a pattern. This unprecedented study of delinquent behavior reversal challenges the widely held view that early delinquency becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. By identifying the variables involved in the turnaround process, the contributors hope to provide an understanding of this phenomenon--and to encourage its occurrence. They examine, from both personal and research perspectives, issues such as: favorable effects of juvenile court adjudication; following up previously adjudicated delinquents; the post-intervention experience; delinquency and attachment; and evolution, devolution, and disruption of treatment in an antisocial child.

RICHARD L. JENKINS is Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. He is the principal author of No Single Cause: Juvenile Delinquency and the Search for Effective Treatment (1985).

WALN K. BROWN is Director of the William Gladden Foundation, which publishes materials on a variety of social and family issues affecting children, and author of The Side of Delinquency (1983).