by Richard A. Mendel

About the author: Richard A. Mendel is a freelance writer and researcher who specializes in poverty-related issues.

Over the past several decades, and especially since the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act passed in 1974, extensive research has identified the common characteristics of chronic offenders, the conditions— personal, familial, societal, or educational—that seem to contribute to delinquent behavior, and the factors that seem to prevent repeat offenders from “growing out of it” and returning to the straight-and-narrow, like the majority of other youths who get into trouble.

Perhaps most striking is the finding that the pathways toward crime are well- marked. Across subcultures, over time, the behavior patterns leading to chronic criminal behavior are distinct—and they almost always involve serious behavior problems in early childhood.

“In...