Delinquency and the Family

Abstract

A standardized procedure based upon current social work practice was used to assess the family circumstances of a randomly drawn sample of Tower Hamlets families with son/s between 11 and 14 years of age. These families were compared to those of local boys of the same age before the Courts for a first time. Two-thirds of the officially delinquent boys came from ordinary families, intact and without serious problems. However, compared to the officially non-delinquents in the random sample they were significantly more likely to come from broken homes or unbroken (intact) but with serious and persistent problems. The differences are not due to neighbourhood or school factors that appear to a considerable extent to operate independently of family factors. Few first Court appearances in Tower Hamlets are explained by boys reacting to serious family stress. Follow up over two years of the delinquents showed that just under one-quarter of the boys from ordinary families became persistent offenders. Just over one-third of those from difficult family circumstances reappeared. These findings are discussed in the light of other research and current social work practice.