A BATTERY OF STANDARD ACADEMIC APTITUDE, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, AND INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ) TESTS WERE USED IN THE EVALUATION. IN ADDITION, THOROUGH EYE EXAMINATIONS WERE CONDUCTED. THE BOYS RANGED IN AGE FROM 13 TO 17.5 YEARS WHILE THEIR MENTAL AGES RANGED FROM 7 YEARS 4 MONTHS TO 17 YEARS 1 MONTH. THE IQ RANGE WAS 56 TO 103 WITH A MEAN OF 95, A LOW NORMAL RANGE. ALL SHOWED AN ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE BELOW THEIR MENTAL AGE WITH 70-80 PERCENT SCORING BELOW NORMAL IN EACH OF THE SPECIFIC READING AND MATHEMATICS SKILL AREAS. THIS IS FAR BELOW THE AVERAGE FOR THE GENERAL SCHOOL POPULATION. READING LEVELS AVERAGED 45 MONTHS BEHIND CURRENT MENTAL AGE; SPELLING, 48 MONTHS BEHIND; MATH, 37 MONTHS BEHIND. BY STATE DEFINITION, THESE CHILDREN FALL WITHIN THE LEARNING-DISABLED RANGE. IN ADDITION, HALF OF THE CHILDREN HAD ASTIGMATIC EYES, HALF HAD OTHER REFRACTIVE PROBLEMS, AND FIVE SHOWED SEVERE VISION-RELATED DEFICIENCIES IN GROSS MOTOR COORDINATION, FINE MOTOR COORDINATION, OR LATERAL AND BODY AWARENESS PERCEPTION. THIS INCIDENCE OF VISUAL PROBLEMS (66.6 PERCENT) IS NEARLY 2.5 TIMES GREATER THAN THE USUAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN RECEIVING EYE CARE AT THIS AGE. PROPERLY FITTED GLASSES OR OTHER PRESCRIBED EYE CARE AND INTENSIVE REMEDIAL EDUCATION ARE RECOMMENDED. SUCH SIMPLE STEPS WILL NOT SOLVE ALL OF THE DELINQUENT OFFENDER'S PROBLEMS, BUT UNLESS THESE PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED, THE YOUNG PERSON HAS LITTLE CHANCE TO SUCCEED IN OTHER AREAS. THE CONSISTENT RELATIONSHIP FOUND BETWEEN LEARNING DISABILITIES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INDICATES THAT EARLY DETECTION OF LEARNING PROBLEMS MAY BE THE BEST METHOD OF CRIME PREVENTION. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (GLR)