Three theft offenses -- shoplifting, break and enter, and motor vehicle theft -- were selected for study, because they compose a large proportion of the offenses known to be committed by juveniles. Data for the study were obtained from interviews with 247 juveniles (238 males and 9 females) who were serving a control order or appealing against a control-order sentence in a New South Wales juvenile detention center between September 1993 and March 1994. Data were collected through a structured interview schedule that contained both closed and open-ended questions. Factors chosen for analysis were in five categories: developmental factors, lifestyle factors, attitude and perceptual factors, risk and punishment factors, and criminal history factors. Findings show that developmental factors (for example, parental behavior) that are important in determining whether a juvenile becomes involved in crime do not apparently influence the frequency with which a young person offends. Instead, factors more immediately related to the lifestyle of the young offender are apparently the most important influence. The precise combination of lifestyle factors relevant to an understanding of offending frequency, however, varied from offense to offense. Some factors did influence the frequency of more than one offense. The need to obtain money to buy drugs was one such factor. The results call for a new appraisal of strategies for addressing juvenile offending. Study instrument, 24 tables, and 70 references