THE INVESTIGATIONS COVERED THE 103 PRISONERS AND 51 STUDENTS OF THE THIRD GRADE OF A PRIMARY TECHNICAL SCHOOL WHO WERE NOT CONVICTED BY THE COURTS. TWO PARALLEL METHODS FOR EXAMINING THE LEVEL OF SOCIALIZATION WERE APPLIED: GOUGH'S 'SO' SCALE OF SOCIALIZATION AND THE AUTHOR'S OWN SCALE FOR ESTIMATING THE LEVEL OF SOCIALIZATION AND SOME SPHERES OF DISTURBANCES. THE RESULTS OF THE TEST WITH THE HELP OF THE 'SO' SCALE SHOWED THAT THE DELINQUENTS' LEVEL OF SOCIALIZATION WAS LOWER THAN THAT OF NONDELINQUENTS. THE TEST 'T' SHOWED THE DIFFERENCE TO BE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. RECIDIVISTS SHOWED THE LOWEST LEVEL OF SOCIALIZATION. CORRELATION BETWEEN RESULTS OF THE 'SO' TEST AND MANIFESTATIONS OF SUCH DISTURBANCES AS ALCOHOLISM, LATE SCHOOL START (FOR NO APPARENT REASON), AND RECIDIVISM WHICH WERE KNOWN FROM OTHER SOURCES (INTERVIEWS, ETC.) WAS FOUND. ALCOHOLICS SHOWED MUCH HIGHER RESULTS IN THIS SCALE THAN THE NONALCOHOLICS. THE REASON FOR USING THE SECOND METHOD WAS TO VERIFY THE RESULTS OF THE 'SO' SCALE AND TO FIND SPECIFIC SPHERES OF SOCIAL LIFE, OTHER THAN LEGAL, IN WHICH DISTURBANCES IN FUNCTIONING OCCUR. NINE INDICATORS OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR DERIVED FROM EXPECTATIONS AND DUTIES OF YOUTHS 17 TO 20 YEARS OLD WERE USED IN THIS SCALE. THEY WERE TRUANCY, ENTERING SCHOOL AT LEAST 2 YEARS LATE, PROLONGED UNEMPLOYMENT WITHOUT REASON, STEALING (OR ONE COURT CASE IN JUVENILE COURT), TWO OR MORE CASES IN JUVENILE COURT, TWO OR MORE CASES IN ORDINARY COURT, ALCOHOLISM, AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN AND AFTER SCHOOL. CORRELATION COEFFICIENT BETWEEN THE RESULTS OF THE 'SO' TEST AND THE RESULTS OF THE PARALLEL METHOD SHOWED STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE. FIVE OF THE FIRST TIME OFFENDERS (19%) DID NOT EXHIBIT ANY OTHER DISTURBANCES. THIS MEANS THAT THE CRIME WAS ACCIDENTAL. THIS GROUP OF THE DELINQUENTS HAD THE BEST PROGNOSIS FOR THE FUTURE. THE MEAN OF THE RESULTS FOR THE FIRST TIME OFFENDERS WAS 2.0--LOWER THAN THE MEAN FOR THE RECIDIVISTS, WHICH WAS 3.8. THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH SHOWED THAT THE DELINQUENTS EXHIBITED CONSIDERABLY LOWER RESULTS OF SOCIALIZATION THAN NONDELINQUENTS. THE DISTURBANCES IN THE SOCIALIZATION OF DELINQUENTS CONCERNED MAINLY SCHOOL MALADJUSTMENT, ALCOHOL ABUSE, AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR AND MULTIPLE DELINQUENCY. MULTIDIRECTIONAL RESOCIALIZING ACTION CONCERNING THAT CATEGORY OF DELINQUENTS WAS ADVISED. TABLES AND GRAPHS ILLUSTRATING THE STUDY ARE PROVIDED.