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This is not a clinical study of delinquent juveniles exposed to psychoanalytic treatment. On the other hand, it is not a sociological essay on "society and the individual" either. It might best de described as an attempt to make an analysis of the group psychological conditions under which delinquent traits are reinforced or counteracted, as the case may be. It is the assumption of the author that such a study, while it assumes its final meaning only after it is connected with specific clinical material, may be of stimulation value for the psychiatrist on his job.
While it is impossible to load this little paper with the task of establishing and defending a categorization of delinquent cases or a definition of delinquency, we should like to clarify the way in which the word is being used here, just so as to avoid major terminological misunderstandings. We think we can distinguish four fundamentally different types of delinquency among juveniles. These are:
Type I: Basically healthy individuals whose delinquent behavior is a natural defense against wrong handling, a wrong setting in which to live, or against traumatic experiences of certain types.
Type II: Basically non-delinquent youngsters who are drifting into delinquent behavior on the basis of some acute adolescent growth confusion.
Type III: Delinquencies which are really "on a neurotic basis", by which we mean that the delinquent behavior in itself is part of a neurosis, or that it is developed in order to disguise one.