PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE FOUND LEFT-HANDERS TO BE OVERREPRESENTED AMONG JUVENILE LEGAL OFFENDERS. A HYPOTHESIS UNDERLYING PAST RESEARCH CAN BE TERMED 'ORGANICITY-CAUSED VIOLENCE,' IN WHICH DYSFUNCTION OF THE LEFT HEMISPHERE HAS BEEN CONNECTED TO DELINQUENCY BY FITZHUGH (1973) AND TO PSYCHOPATHY BY FLOR-HENRY (1978). FURTHER, THIS LINE OF REASONING ARGUES THAT ORGANICITY AND LEFT-HANDEDNESS ARE ASSOCIATED TO A GREATER DEGREE THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED WITHOUT A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP. ANOTHER HYPOTHESIS INVOLVES A CONSTRUCT TERMED 'MOTOR EXCITABILITY' (THE READINESS TO RESPOND IN MOTORIC TERMS), INVOLVING THE TAPPING TEST, A TEST OF FINGER OSCILLATION SPEED. THIS CONSTRUCT WAS LINKED WITH LEFT-HANDERS WHEN IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THEY COULD TAP FASTER THAN RIGHT-HANDERS. BOTH THEORIES AGREE IN PREDICTING GREATER VIOLENCE FOR LEFT-HANDED THAN RIGHT-HANDED OFFENDERS. THE SAMPLE FOR THIS STUDY CONSISTED OF ANGLO AND NON-ANGLO MALE AND FEMALE JUVENILE DELINQUENTS FROM BOTH AN INTENSIVE SUPERVISION PROBATION PROGRAM AND A NONINTENSIVE UNIT. THE MEASURE OF VIOLENT CRIME WAS THE VIOLENCE SCALE, A MEASURE OF THE VIOLENCE POTENTIAL OF OFFENSES READ FROM THE LEGAL RECORD. THE UNEXPECTED RESULTS INDICATED THAT LEFT-HANDED OFFENDERS WERE LESS VIOLENT THAN RIGHT-HANDED OFFENDERS, WITH THE DIFFERENCE HOLDING ACROSS THE FOUR SEX-ETHNICITY SUBGROUPINGS. THE VIOLENT SUBGROUP WAS RIGHT-HANDED BOYS, THE LEAST VIOLENT, LEFT-HANDED GIRLS. THE DISCONFIRMATION OF BOTH THEORIES SHOWS THAT MORE RESEARCH IN THE FIELD IS NEEDED. SPECULATIONS ARE OFFERED FOR FUTURE RESEARCH. TABLES AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (WJR)