Rating Delinquent Behavior
This study questions the utility of classifying all juvenile offenders under the single rubric of “delinquent.” It presents two systems for classifying offenders according to the delinquent act. The first is a rating scale for severity. Correlations among the ratings of 13 judges ranged from .56 to 93, with a mean of .77. 10 judges rated direction of aggression—against people, against property, general asocial. The percentages of items on which each judge agreed with each of the other judges ranged from 70 to 97. 34 offenses were rated, and a 9- and a 5-point scale of severity are presented.