Part One, "Defining and Explaining Delinquency," contains four chapters that address current trends in officially reported and self-reported delinquency, as well as the biological, psychological, and sociological theories that have been advanced to explain delinquency. The six chapters of Part Two, "Delinquency and the Social Environment," examine the changing role of children in American society and consider the domains of juvenile interaction where behavioral problems may arise, i.e., the family, the neighborhood peer group, the school, and the larger community. Significant attention is given to physical and sexual abuse, along with neglect, as well as the types of family situations in which abuse is most likely to occur. Justice system handling of abuse cases and methods for protecting abused and neglected child are discussed. The six chapters of Part Three, "Delinquency and the Juvenile Justice Process," focus on key issues in the juvenile justice process, including the propriety of applying to children legal penalties that would not be applied to adults who engage in the same behaviors, as well as the options for managing violent juvenile offenders and chronic juvenile offenders who are not responsive to the management and services of the juvenile justice system. Features of the juvenile justice system discussed are diversion, arrest, referral to the juvenile court, disposition, probation, institutionalization, aftercare, and community-based treatment. The chapters of Part Four, "Preventing, Treating, and Controlling Delinquency," describe traditional and innovative treatment techniques and present the evaluative research conducted to measure their effectiveness. Delinquency prevention programs are also described. Chapter summaries, discussion questions, and notes; and name and subject indexes