David M. Downes - The Delinquent Solution: A Study in Subcultural Theory

Routledge Revivals

The Delinquent Solution

First published in 1966, The Delinquent Solution presents a study of crime associated with the nature of subcultures. The book discusses issues such as the concept and theory of subcultures, the life of delinquent gangs, and the English experience of delinquent subcultures. It also takes an in-depth look at the Stepney and Poplar survey on crime from 1960, analysing both statistical data and more informal observations. Although the book was written over forty years ago, the issues discussed remain relevant and strong areas of interest.

The Delinquent Solution

A Study in Subcultural Theory

David M. Downes

First published in 1966

by Routledge & Kegan Paul

This edition first published in 2013 by Routledge

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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge

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1966 David M. Downes

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 66072480

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-84202-0 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-203-76333-9 (ebk)

THE DELINQUENT SOLUTION

A Study in Subcultural Theory

by
DAVID M. DOWNES

First published 1966
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Broadway House, 6874 Carter Lane
London, E.C.4

Printed in Great Britain
by Blackie and Son Ltd
Bishopbriggs, Glasgow

David M. Downes 1966

No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without permission from
the publisher, except for the quotation
of brief passages in criticism

for Lester

CONTENTS

TABLES

. Distribution of Offences by Borough: 1960

. Offenders residing in Stepney and Poplar by Number and Proportion within each borough committing Types of Offence: 1960

. Distribution of Stepney and Poplar offenders by Age and Sex: 1960

. Distribution of Group (c) offenders by Areas of residence, Age and Sex

. Distribution of Offences by Age-Group and Residence: 812

. Distribution of Offences by Age-Group and Residence: 1316

. Distribution of Offences by Age-Group and Residence: 1721

. Distribution of Offences by Age-Group and Residence: 2225

. Delinquent Residence: Natural Areas: 812

. Delinquent Residence: Natural Areas: 1316

. Delinquent Residence: Natural Areas: 1721

. Delinquent Residence: Natural Areas: 2225

. Delinquent Residence: Natural Areas: 825

. Location of Offences: (a) Stepney Residents, (b) Poplar Residents

. Multiple Offenders: Both Boroughs

. Accomplice Rate by Borough and Age-Group

. Accomplice Distribution by Age-Group: Both Boroughs

. Accomplices: Selected Offences: Rates by Borough and Age-Groups

. Previous Convictions: All Offenders: Both Boroughs

. Prostitution

: Stepney and Poplar: Natural Areas

Delinquency is a field in which the scenery changes too rapidly for any writer to be up to date. Both events and other publications crowd in too quickly for any claims to be made to all-inclusiveness. One set of events in particular intervened between the main bulk of the writing, and eventually going to press: the Mods and Rockers cult and the seaside riots of this year and last. No mention is made of these occurrences in what follows, largely becausein the absence of evidence to the contraryI take them to corroborate, rather than negate, the main sociological argument of the book.

In the field of publications, one important work came too late to be incorporated into discussion of subcultural theorisation: David Matzas Delinquency and Drift (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1964). All that can be said here is that Matza, in his attack on the notion of oppositional values in delinquent subcultures, and in his re-definition of a subculture of delinquency, states one of the main themes of this book more forcibly and concisely than I could manage. His book contains a wealth of original and critical theorisation as to how and why boys drift into delinquency.

Finally, one technical omission must be pointed out in advance. In , where authors are referred to parenthetically and without footnotes, in practically all cases their work is referred to in full by the main authors under discussion.

D. M. D

September, 1965

However belatedly, I would like to thank the following people for help and advice given at various stages of the research on which this book is based. Alex Jacobs, Ralph Samuel and Edith Ramsey each contributed their own view on the nature of the problems of the East End. In New Scotland Yard, Mr. Ronald Orr-Ewing, formerly of S2 Dept., gave very valuable advice on the use of records, and many other insights besides. At the London School of Economics, Dr. Hermann Mannheim and Mr. Eryl Hall Williams were of great help at the outset of the project. Peter Willmott, of the Institute of Community Studies, and Peter Stone, have both made very useful criticisms of the final draft. Naturally, the opinions and views of the above are not necessarily those expressed in this book.

Both supervising the work, and giving invaluable advice at every stage and on all aspects, Dr. Terence Morris contributed far more to the research than any graduate student or colleague has the right to expect.

Finally, while the research was initially aided by the award of a State Studentship, its continuation depended on a generous grant of $2,500 from the Ford Foundation, made possible by Jackson Toby, formerly Consultant for the Foundations Youth Development Program.

THE CONCEPT OF THE DELINQUENT SUBCULTURE

SINCE 1955, when Albert Cohen first employed the concept of the subculture in relation to certain forms of juvenile delinquency, the term delinquent subculture has become embedded in criminological vocabulary. To Cohen, the concept applied to a way of life that has somehow become traditional among the boys gangs that flourish most conspicuously in the delinquency neighbourhoods of our larger American cities. This way of life can be called a subculture, and can therefore be analysed as such, because it possesses knowledge, beliefs, values, codes, tastes and prejudices which are peculiarly its own. Subcultures are cultures within cultures, for the concept of culture should not be reserved for the distinctive ways of life of large-scale national and tribal societies. Moreover, there are subcultures within subcultures; for example, the subculture of a neighbourhood and of a family, clique or gang within the neighbourhood. All these subcultures have this in common: they are acquired only by interaction with those who already share and embody, in their belief and action, the culture (i.e. the subculture) pattern.