While delinquency has multiple causes, deviant peer affiliation is one of the strongest. In fact, a high proportion of violence, drug use, and other deviant behaviors are committed in groups, rather than in isolation. This article explores how practices within educational, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programs can lead to deviant…

The problem is well known to every parent of a teenager, every high school teacher, every clinical practitioner, and every social policy maker: vulnerable adolescents risk becoming more deviant through association with deviant peers and peer groups. Deviant peer influences are among the most potent factors in the development of antisocial…