STRUCTURED CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND SUBJECTS, COMBINED WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, INCLUDING ROHRSCHACH INK BLOT AND INTELLIGNECE TESTS, REVEALED THAT ALL RESPONDENTS CAME FROM DEPRIVED SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS. THE MAJORITY OF THE SUBJECTS WERE YOUNG ADULTS, AT THE PEAK OF THEIR PHYSICAL POWERS. THEY WERE INTERMEDIATE CHILDREN (ARRIVING BETWEEN THE FIRST- AND LAST-BORN CHILD) OF PARENTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SOCIOECONOMIC LADDER. THEIR MOTHERS WERE ILLITERATE OR SEMILITERATE AND THEIR FATHERS HIGH-SCHOOL DROPOUTS AT BEST. THEY CAME FROM LARGE FAMILIES (WITH AN AVERAGE NUMBER OF 6.5 MEMBERS) WITH HOME ENVIRONMENTS RIDDEN WITH INTERPERSONAL CONFLICTS. THE INTELLIGENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS REVEALED THAT THE SUBJECTS WERE MOSTLY OF AVERAGE INTELLIGENCE, AND NONE WERE MENTALLY RETARDED OR INCAPABLE OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG. HOWEVER, THEY ALL SHARED AN ATTITUDE OF DISRESPECT AND DEFIANCE TOWARD ALL FORMS OF AUTHORITY. THEIR CRIMINAL AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR HAD STARTED IN CHILDHOOD AND EARLY ADOLESCENCE. THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF DEVIANT LABELING AND SOCIETAL REJECTION, AND THEIR ESPOUSAL OF PRISONIZATION VALUES HAD LED THEM INTO BECOMING MEMBERS OF DEVIANT AND CRIMINAL SUBCULTURES, WHERE THEY FOUND THE ACCEPTANCE AND SUPPORT WHICH SOCIETY DENIED THEM. THE CORRELATION BETWEEN RECIDIVISM AND SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUND OF THE ADMITTEDLY LIMITED NUMBER OF SUBJECTS SURVEYED WAS FOUND TO BE CONSTANT. A LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES IS APPENDED. (LGR)