Publisher Summary This chapter discusses juvenile delinquency. Delinquent behavior refers to any act of a juvenile that would be a chargeable offense according to the juvenile-justice laws. Official delinquency refers only to those acts involving adolescents actually apprehended for delinquent behavior. The legal code includes some acts, such as truancy and incorrigibility that apply only to juveniles; these acts are called status offenses. Each state has a somewhat different set of laws for regulating juvenile behavior. Research has focused on factors that tend to be associated with delinquent behavior. Among these factors are family relationships. Officially-delinquent adolescents are more likely to come from broken homes than other adolescents. Officially-delinquent adolescents also have more negative attitudes toward their parents. A consistent finding in research on delinquent behavior is the greater rate of delinquency among males.