Juvenile Delinquency and Class Conflict

We are now witnessing one of our periodic “crises” in social control. Though official statistics show a sharp increase in the crime rate, particularly among adolescents, we will never know the extent to which this crisis is being fabricated. Since police policy is invariably to “crack down” during a “crisis,” official statistics may reflect the public anxiety as well as produce it. Nevertheless, gangs of teen-age marauders roam the streets, occasionally seeking victims for brutal tortures or “rumbles” with rival gangs, and they present a serious social problem.

Everybody wants to “do something” about delinquency today. Policies on this issue are as varied as the ideologie...