Group Involvement in Delinquent Acts

Abstract

This article focuses on the nature of group delinquency by examining the proportion of delinquency committed in groups and by exploring the size and sexual content of the groups in which delinquency is carried out. The data for the study were collected in the juvenile court in Montgomery County, Maryland. There are 225 cases in the sample. The sample was selected randomly. The notion of delinquency as group behavior is well supported by the finding that 63% of all offenses in this sample showed group involvement rather than individual behavior in the commission of delinquency. The data show that violent offenses are more likely committed by youths acting alone than in groups. Non-violent offenses are more likely committed in groups. Of female delinquencies, 57% were committed in groups, a proportion only slightly less than the proportion of male delinquencies committed in groups. Delinquencies of both males and females are more likely to involve groups of only two or three youths rather than larger group behavior. The main difference found between male and female delinquent group behavior is that females seem less likely than males to participate in groups which include more than two or three youths. It is suggested that additional information concerning the sexual structure of the group and the properties of group dynamics should be accumulated to describe the delinquent group of the 1970s and 1980s.