Shelter Care for Girls With Problems: A Study of an Open and Closed Shelter for Pre-Delinquent and Delinquent Girls Conducted by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, New York City, 1947-1954

Delinquency is a process, not an isolated act. Its causes and cures have baffled man down through the ages. There are many and varied causes for maladjustment, but one fact is undisputed: delinquency is never the result of one immediate causation. Heredity, environment, moral and mental endowment, education and the lack of it, all or some of these combine in influencing the individual\u27s mind towards offense. However, despite heredity and environmental background, girl can, if she will, rise above all these driving forces. Because of her freedom of will, her power to choose between alternatives, the power to perform an act or refrain from it, she can either stay on the right path or deviate from it. When she does deviate against the interests of society, she is classed as a delinquent