Delinquent-Prone Communities

This book challenges the conventional view that disadvantage causes crime because it motivates people to offend. It argues that disadvantage causes crime because it disrupts the parenting process. The theory put forward in the book maintains that it takes a long time for disadvantage to increase the level of crime in a neighborhood. However, once the level of economic and social stress in a neighborhood reaches a critical level, it can set off an epidemic of juvenile offending.

New model of delinquent-prone communities showing that disadvantage causes crime through disruption of the parenting process.

Don Waetherburn is Director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Australia.

Bronwyn Lind is Deputy Director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Australia.