Because of several incidents of violent acts in schools, public awareness of serious juvenile crime has increased. In addition, it has been identified that persistent serious delinquency in young males rarely starts without a history of problem behavior in childhood. The steps along the pathway of delinquent behavior can serve as markers for potential further development and be used for instituting prevention efforts. This paper addressed the following questions: (1) At what age does persistent serious offending emerge for the first time; (2) what proportion of persistent serious delinquent boys qualifies for a diagnosis of a disruptive behavior disorder; and (3) what proportion of persistent serious delinquent boys receive help for their behavioral or educational problems from either mental health professionals or personnel at school? The data for this study came from the oldest sample in the Pittsburgh Youth Study, who were males approximately 13 years of age at the beginning of the study. Eight assessments were included in the analyses up to the time the young men reached age 18. Five of the assessments were conducted every 6 months and the last three were conducted yearly. Delinquents were classified in mutually exclusive groups according to the seriousness of the delinquent behavior and the persistence of delinquency over 5 years. This classification yielded four groups: (1) persistent serious violent offenders; (2) persistent serious property offenders; (3) persistent non-serious offenders; and (4) the non-delinquent group. The results of this study strengthened the conclusion that many persistent serious offenders have an early onset of serious delinquency. In addition, two-thirds of the participants coming before juvenile court had shown antisocial behavior for at least 5 years. These results indicate that several years elapse between the onset of problem behavior and the first appearance for delinquency in juvenile court. However, limited help or intervention is accessed for the persistent serious offender. Some of the reasons for this situation to persist are services may not be very accessible to parents and there may be a lack of resources for schools. References