﻿III. Certain Associations of Juvenile 

 Delinquency 



A. General Considerations 



1. Pkopoktion by Race or Nationality 1 



As already stated, 12 single race or nationality units are 

 represented in this study of juvenile delinquency covering 102 

 cases and representing 86 families. 2 Of this number, of the race 

 or nationality units, the Americans show the highest absolute 

 proportions followed in order by the Poles and the Slavs. The 

 Servians show the smallest absolute proportions followed in order 

 by the Russians and Irish. Of the groups, the New Immigration 

 shows the highest absolute proportions followed in order by the 

 Americans, the Colored, and the Old Immigration. 



In order, however, to determine the true relation of any one 

 race or nationality to juvenile delinquency, the proportion which 

 that race or nationality furnishes to the total number of juvenile 

 delinquents must be compared with the proportion which that 

 race or nationality furnishes to the general population. 



Figures at hand indicate that in general the Americans bear 

 about their proportional share, the Old Immigration less, and 

 the Colored and New Immigration more than their proportional 

 share in juvenile delinquency in Gary. 



2. Kinds of Offenses 3 



In juvenile delinquency the kind of offense with which the 

 child is charged in the affidavit does not lead to such definite 

 conclusions as in adult crime, for several reasons: first, the 

 shifting of the emphasis in juvenile courts from the delinquent 

 act in itself and the delinquent child in himself to the relation 

 of the child to his environment, whereby the offense charged is 

 no true measure of delinquency; and second, in most cases the 

 offense is really a very complex matter, consisting of not one 

 offense alone, but of several related offenses any one of which 

 is sufficient to bring the child to the attention of the court. The 



lOriginal tables, pp. 1-4. 

 2 See p. 42 of this study. 

 3 Original tables, pp. 4-9. 



See Preface to this study. 

 See Preface to this study. 

 (50) 



See also Appendix, Table I . 

 See also Appendix, Table II. 



