Juvenile Delinquency—Always a Hopeless Prognosis?

Abstract

We still lump together many types of antisocial behavior under the label “juvenile delinquency.” Prognosis is not necessarily hopeless for all types. In one form of delinquent behavior characterized by sudden, episodic outbursts of destructive activity, success in therapy was achieved by forbidding any acting-out behavior, the restraint being effected by holding the child. Six weeks of therapy in a day-care unit was followed by outpatient therapy.