Diagnostic classification of 120 delinquent boys.

Delinquency has been defined as youthful behavior that violates the law. 1 Juvenile court statistics indicate that 2.9 percent of American youths age 10-17 appear in Juvenile Court each year (excluding traffic offenses). Considering there are about 36 million youngsters in this age range in the United States,2 that means each year over a million youths are in serious trouble and appearing in court. The FBI reports an increase of 293.4 percent in arrests for juveniles between the ages of 7 and 17 years for violent crimes and an increase of 131. 9 percent for property crimes.:l As Shamsie4 stated, this increase cannot be explained by a growth in population. Therefore, delinquency and crime are a real threat to society and are of increasing and serious concern to each individual, and of particular concern to mental health professionals and law enforcement authorities. The above definition of delinquency is very broad and does not take into account the fact that delinquency is often considered a heterogeneous multicausal phenomenon. Therefore, efforts have been made to identify subgroups within this heterogeneous syndrome. 5 Most of the literature has categorized delinquency on the basis of characterological or neurotic disturbances.6 Other reports indicate that delinquents have a high incidence of psychopathology other than sociopathy. 7 Weiner l classified the delinquents into three types based on their psychological make-up: Sociological delinquency: This type of delinquent usually has few psychological problems and is part of a delinquent subculture that commits antisocial acts in a group rather than individually. This type of delinquency sometimes is considered adaptive rather than maladaptive. Characterological delinquency: These youngsters usually have an asocial personality orientation. The person has little concern for the other people who suffer from his act. He is a loner who doesn't trust anyone and is amoral, aggressive, and impulsive. Neurotic delinquency: This individual is unable to communicate his needs and, therefore, expresses his needs through delinquent behavior. These needs are for recognition, admiration, and help. He forces the environment to pay attention to his needs through his delinquent acts. The most recent classification proposed by DSM IllS categorizes conduct disorder into four types. The DSM III definition of conduct disorder is