Crime & Delinquency

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A Case Study of a Delinquent

Harvey Treger
Crime Delinquency 1964; 10; 52
DOI: 10.1177/001112876401000108

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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
 A Case Study of a Delinquent
HARVEY TREGER
Probation Officer,U.S. District Court, Chicago; Field Work Instructor,
University of Illinois School of Social Work
Counselor, Chicago Committee on Alcoholism, 1950; Caseworker, Chicago Welfare
Department, 1950-54; Instructor, Indiana University, 1961
B.S. (Psychology), 1948, Roosevelt University; M.A. (Social Work), 1956, University
ofChicago; Certificate (Child Care), 1963, Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis

This is the case of David, a sixteen-year-old boy in a middle-

class suburban community, who was placed on probation for
extortion. The strivings of both parents and their materialistic
outlook were adversely affecting their guidance ofDavid. David
himself was employed part time and conforming to his parents’
demands that he turn over his earnings to them.
In attempting to change David’s delinquent behavior, the
probation officer had to handle the parents’ resistance to proba-
tion supervision and David’s delinquent values, his acting out,
and his lack of respect for authority. The case study shows how
the probation officer dealt with the resistance, established con-
trols, interrupted delinquent patterns of behavior, developed
in David a respect for authority, and taught him socially con-
structive values. In addition, the problems of working with
parents who resist recognizing their own involvement in their
son’s delinquent behavior are described. The author reflects on
what he learned about this youth and his family that was vital
to the decisions he made in the case.

N JANUARY 12, 1960, David new in the community, an expanding

O Meyers, a 161/-year-old first of-

fender, was placed on three years’

middle- and upper middle-class sec-
tion with a low delinquency rate, hav-
probation for the offense of extortion. ing moved in November 1958 from
He was one of five youths involved Old Town to be closer to Mr. Meyers’
in a plot to extort $15,000 by threat- employment. David had two brothers
ening the life of a suburban couple. and a sister. At the time he got into
David, however, was not as heavily difhculty, his parents were trying to
implicated as his accomplices; his role furnish their new $30,000 home. Both
consisted of making one threatening parents were employed full-time and
phone call. their oldest son, Donald, was work-
When I first saw David in Decem- ing sixteen hours a week in addition
ber 1959 he was under considerable to his full-time attendance at Lewis
stress. In addition to attending classes College.
as a high school junior, he was work- Mr. Meyers indicated that at the
ing a forty-hour week. His family were age of ten, David forged a check be-
52
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longing to Meyers, Sr., and tried to
cash it at a bank. Sometime after that,
David was seen in the company of a
lad who was caught trying to break
into a brick factory.
At the time of my investigation,
David had little time for himself and
kept rushing from home to school,
from school to work, and then from
work to homework. In school he was
tired and sleepy, and school authori-
ties reported that he was barely pass-
ing. David said he hated school and
would rather work but stayed on be-
cause of his parents’ wishes. He seem-
ed to be exerting considerable effort
to do acceptable schoolwork and re-
ported that on four occasions that fall
he had stayed up all night to work on
a mechanical - drawing assignment.
School authorities said he had an IQ
of 90. (This was verified by adminis-
tering the Wechsler-Bellevue Intel-
ligence Scale at the probation office.)
The Family Set-up
The Meyers family-especially Mrs.
Mey~ers-was almost totally preoc-
cupied with getting money. In addi-
tion to attending school, the boys were
expected to work. David knew that
bringing home the money pleased his
mother and he wanted to please her,
yet he resented giving her all his
earnings and having almost nothing
for himself. Money also appears to
have been something of a payoff to
Mrs. Meyers so that she would not
get too angry if David got into
ble.
When he did not earn enough, his
mother would become threatening
and angry, and David restless, anx-
ious, and upset. His parents had been
using his earnings for the total fam-
ilyexpenses. David, however, was un-
der the impression they were using
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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
53
his earnings to pay off the mortgage
on the home and couldn’t see how
this payment was his responsibility.
Although David’s parents expected
him to handle money responsibly,
they gave him no opportunity for ex-
periences that would develop this
ability. They doled out an allowance
of $2 a week. Since his expenses for
lunch and carfare amounted to $1.95,
David had no opportunity to decide
how to spend the remainder.
David, his father, and his brothers
did the housekeeping chores while his
mother did practically nothing. Fam-
ily life formed a sort of &dquo;pecking
order&dquo;: Mrs. Meyers, who was the
&dquo;boss,&dquo; kept pushing her husband,
who in turn pushed his oldest son,
Donald, who pushed David. David
would pester his younger brother, who
then teased his sister, the youngest in
the family.
David’s father, a passive person,
felt overburdened but said that &dquo;it
does no good to complain.&dquo; He did
most of the washing and ironing and
was helpful to his wife.
Angry about being exploited by
his parents but fearful of expressing
his anger toward his mother directly,
David expressed it in school and in
the community by extortion and later
by petty thefts, thereby obtaining a
few dollars so that he could get
extra
some things for himself. In this way
he exploited others, as his parents ex-
ploited him. Moreover, in order to
trou- feel liked and useful, he tended to
get himself into situations where
people would use him. When they
did exactly that, he would become
angry and vindictive because he had
been treated unjustly.
Since the time the family had
moved to their new home, David’s
mother feared he would get into
54

trouble if he was not busy working Mr. Meyers had to work late, I saw
all the time. She attempted to keep David’s mother alone. I also had nu-
a very close check on his activities merous telephone conversations with
and associates, and every time he left the parents. Because of his parents’
the house she admonished him to &dquo;be tendency to distort what I would say,
careful you don’t get into trouble,&dquo; I asked David to sit in on a number
thereby reminding him of the op- of interviews with us. When he could
portunity for him to do so. In essence, not be present, I informed him of
she harbored a secret desire that he what was discussed so that he would
would get into trouble, so that she know what I was talking about.
could participate vicariously in his In the beginning of supervision,
crimes. At any rate, David became David attempted to misinform and
involved in the extortion offense his control me, shirk responsibilities, and
first night off from work. &dquo;take the easy way out.&dquo; When he was
With this background in mind, I unable to manipulate me, he became
decided on the following treatment anxious, sullen, and then depressed.
plan: I found it necessary to check upon his
1. To help David by placing neces- statements and activities in order to
sary restraints on his impulses so that let him know that I was the one
he will eventually develop self-re- in control and that I was going to
straint. hold him to task. Today, he is very
2. To help David learn the conse- open and does not conceal his situa-
duences of his behavior. tion or feelings from me. From his
3. To help David become more experience under supervision, he
assertive and inquiring and less prone knows he cannot fool me easily. Since
toward being exploited. he has established a good relation-
4. To help David perform well in ship with me, he now wants my ap-
his work and develop successful and proval.
satisfying relationships with people. In the beginning, David related to
5. To help David’s parents un- me as though I were a person like
derstand the effects of their attitude his mother. Each time he came to the
on him. office the first thing he talked about
was how many hours he had worked
Early Supervision and how much money he earned. I
For two years, I saw David once tried to de-emphasize this topic by
a week in the office, in the community, not showing great concern over it.
or at work. Nevertheless, David did turn to me
Early in the case, I visited
his parents weekly for three months for help in his English assignment at
and afterward saw his father alone for school and later for help in selecting
an additional nine months. his school program. He ventilated his
During
the time I was seeing Mr. Meyers dislike of school, stating that he had
alone, Mrs. Meyers refused to talk to not learned anything since he started
me and was never at home when I
high school and was attending only
visited. When I did manage to see because his parents &dquo;just wanted that
the parents together, Mr. Meyers was diploma.&dquo;
passive and tended to do his wife’s At first the school authorities co-
bidding. On several occasions, when operated with me but seemed to fear

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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.

that David’s behavior would sully the
school’s reputation. They expected
him to change overnight. When the
principal discovered that David was
selling cigarettes in school and steal-
ing other students’ books, he expelled
him summarily. When I was inform-
ed of this, I proceeded to the food
store, where David was employed part
time, to talk to the store manager. By
coincidence, I arrived at the store the
very moment David was being fired.
As I suspected, David was stealing cig-
arettes from the store and selling them
cut-rate at school. There I learned
that the manager had discovered the
thefts some time before but that Mr.
Meyers had been paying back the
money to conceal the thefts from Mrs.
Meyers and keep her from becoming
upset. Although the manager did not
wish to press charges, I admonished
David and his father for trying to
conceal these facts from me and told
them I would not cover up for them
in my conversation with Mrs. Meyers.
In addition, I pointed out to Mr.
Meyers that by hiding David’s delin-
quencies he was encouraging him to
continue them and was preventing
David from facing the consequences
of his offenses. David threatened to
leave home if I told his mother about
the thefts. I told him I would protect
him from his mother, but if he ran
away the police would soon arrest
him. He was so anxious and uncertain
about whether I would tell his mother
that he decided to tell her himself.
In this way, he faced up to the situa-
tion and assumed some responsibility
for his behavior.
Early in the supervision, David, his
parents, and I discussed the problem
of an adequate allowance for him. We
set up a room-and-board arrangement
supplemented by an allowance and
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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
55
enumerated David’s household duties.
I helped David understand that
money was not the only mark of
achievement, that success consisted
also of developing healthy relation-
ships, enjoying oneself, and getting
satisfaction from doing a good job.
David took my advice about such
things as &dquo;looking ahead&dquo; into situa-
tions and not spending a lot of money
on a date.
When Mrs. Meyers saw some of the
controls removed from her hands, she
became very upset. The family order
was shifting; Mr. Meyers was becom-
ing more assertive and aggressive-a
situation that caused both parents a
great deal of distress. To express her
frustration Mrs. Meyers began shout-
ing at other members of the family
that she was no longer &dquo;the boss,&dquo;
that everyone was doing just as he
pleased. Mr. Meyers informed David
that I was David’s boss. Upset by their
mother’s frequent yelling and scream-
ing, David and his older brother enter-
tained plans for leaving the home.
The parents, particularly Mrs. Meyers,
then began to relax all controls on
David because they felt that I was
usurping, or at least questioning,
their authority over David. Instead of
trying to hold onto their end of the
responsibility, they gave up entirely.
I told them, however, that they were
still David’s parents and tried to help
them find a middle ground whereby
they could meet their responsibilities
and feel adequate as parents.
Although the parents attempted to
be cooperative during the first three
months I saw them, Mrs. Meyers was
very domineering and informed me
that I need not supervise David be-
cause she would supervise him. On
another occasion, she tried to control
me by being seductive. She would
56
wink at me and on one occasion mod-
eled a new fur coat for me. When it
became apparent, however, that she
could not &dquo;win me over&dquo; that way,
that I was aware of her exploitation
of the family, both she and her hus-
band became very upset and express-
ed righteous indignation over my
estimation of their behavior. Mrs.
Meyers then began dodging me by
changing her beauty parlor appoint-
ment to the evening of my visit.
Around this time, too, David grad-
ually stopped acting out. The effect
on the family took the form of physi-
cal ailments. Mrs. Meyers, for ex-
ample, had to take tranquilizers; Mr.
Meyers had bursitis and boils; David’s
younger brother broke out in hives
and began stuttering; Donald com-
menced getting weekly traffic tickets
for speeding and was in an automo-
bile accident. Even David’s sister
sprained her arm! These occurrences
may have been mere coincidences, but
it was most unlikely. Rather, it was
as though the family were telling
David that as long as they had him as
an outlet for their aggressions, they
would remain healthy.
Nevertheless, I persisted in visiting
the family, who at first refused to
allow me to enter the home. They
protested first to my superior and
then to their minister, stating that
they wanted another officer to super-
vise David as I was &dquo;shaking the fam-
ily tree and now was getting ready to
shake the branches.&dquo;
After David was expelled from
school, his mother wanted him to re-
turn and his father went along with
her without any concern for David’s
feelings. When David’s estimates of
his abilities in school were interpret-
ed to the parents, they seemed sur-
prised that David should have had
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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
any feelings of his own in the matter.
Their expectations that David would
go to college were unrealistic in view
of his intellectual capacity. Mean-
while, David in conflict about
was
whether he should go to school to
please his parents or go to work and
please himself. I told him that if he
did return to school, I would not
permit him to work because of pre-
vious difficulties he had with his
school work.
At the time he was trying to make
up his mind, David was working at
another food store, where his hours
were reduced because business had
fallen off. He became anxious and
wanted to leave the job and obtain
another. I told him to stay on the
job because he was earning his ex-
penses. He spoke of doing stock work
and setting up displays for a sales-
man from a nationally known cooky
concern, who promised him some
cookies if he set up an attractive dis-
play. He also said he would tell a
salesman from a rival concern that he
was receiving cookies in
payment for
a nice display, and that if he
(the sec-
ond salesman) wanted a display for his
company, he might also want to give
him some cookies. When I suggested
to David that this was blackmail by
cookies, or another form of extortion,
he was embarrassed. I pointed out to
him that if the manager of the food
store learned that he was playing one
salesman against the other, he would
fire him. David said that this had not
occurred to him, whereupon I told
him to stop his extortion schemes im-
mediately. To this he replied, &dquo;But I
don’t know how to get anything for
myself any other way,&dquo; and slumped
in his seat.
David continued to vacillate for
several weeks about whether he should
 57

go back to school. He did not know David then projected his hostility on
what to do. He wanted to please his Jews. To break down this hostility, I
parents, but he disliked school. His pointed out that the messiness, dis-
mother still wanted him to return, honesty, and shrewdness which David
but his father was now noncommittal. associated with being Jewish best fit
David asked me for guidance. We ex- himself. (I told him that he must
plored possible motives for returning have thought he was pretty shrewd
to school, and he indicated that he trying to fool me, and that he was
wanted to be a printer but knew noth- messing up his probation by being
ing about how to go about becoming dishonest.) After a while, as a kind
one. I suggested that he return to of response to this eye-opener, David
school and get additional information started dating a Jewish girl.
from the print shop teacher. David
also told me of an opportunity he had Breaking Away
to be an apprentice butcher. I encour- In spite of the parental sabotage, I
aged him to take it; I felt that the was able to form a very good relation-
job would supply a good salary and ship with David, who respects me,
steady employment in line with his wants to please me, and is influenced
abilities. Eventually, his parents gave by my advice.
him permission to do what he wanted I also developed a better relation-
and he decided that he would like to ship with Mr. Meyers, who began ex-
become a butcher. His father was hap- pressing some understanding of his
py about this; his mother still hoped wife’s behavior. At first, he refused to
he would change his mind and return see me and blamed me for upsetting
to school. his wife, but later recognized that she
While still employed at the food has always been upset by little things,
store David went to the butchers’ that she &dquo;comes from a family of girls
school, but instead of attending and doesn’t seem to understand boys,&dquo;
twenty-four times in the next eight and that she is &dquo;all right as long as
months, as he told me, he had gone everything goes her way.&dquo; I began to
only eight times. He had even brought see him once every two weeks. At first,
in a punched card to support his lie. I talked with him in my car, then I
I decided to check David’s attendance was permitted on the lawn, and final-
at the butchers’ school after he began ly I was invited back into the house.
to change his appointment time. I As David’s mother became more up-
found that three of his friends were set, his father began assuming more
arrested for burglarizing schools in responsibilities and became more as-
the suburban area. This was a crucial sertive. David began talking back and
point for David, for he learned that taking a stand with his mother. For
he could not get away with lying to example, when Mrs. hleyers bought
me. I pointed out the consequences David four pairs of trousers at one
of his behavior in terms of his proba- time and told him he owed her $16
tion and told him our relationship for them, David told her that in the
was going to be different from that future she would have to discuss with
with his parents. Seeing his delin- him ahead of time any purchases she
quent outlets drying up and not planned to make for him. Although
knowing what to do with his anger, this shift in the family balance was
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 58
difficult for the mother, the control-
ling member of the family, it was
good for David as it gave him a chance
to assert himself.
David also began developing a bet-
ter relationship with his father and,
for the first time, gave him a Father’s
Day gift, which cost $10. (Mr. Meyers
thought that this was too much and
returned $5 to him.) Recently, I went
shopping with David for Christmas
presents to teach him to think about
the interests and needs of a particular
person in selecting an appropriate
gift instead of giving money all the
time. He expressed his appreciation
for my help.
I also worked on showing David
how to handle money in a responsible
manner. In an attempt to break up
the mother’s extortion scheme and get
David to be more responsible, I urg-
ed him to have his own checkbook
and pay his own bills. If he wanted
to be his own boss, I would try to
teach him how to take care of him-
self. As a first step, I asked him to
bring me all his bills and to make no
new expenditures without first discuss-
ing them with me. His parents became
very upset when he told them he
was now going to take care of his
own expenses. His mother, counter-
attacking, asserted she had already
paid all his bills, which, she stated,
amounted to over $300. Although she
had neither the bills nor any receipts
for them, she insisted that David
owed her the $300.
In March 1961, David spoke of
leaving home to live with two of his
friends so that &dquo;he could be on his
own and save
money.&dquo; He thought
this over and even figured out his ex-
penses for me. He left home two
months afterward and later called his
parents to tell them of his decision.
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The parents, particularly the moth-
er, were furious about this action.
In an attempt to get his son fired so
he would be forced to return home,
Mr. Meyers informed the manager
of the store where David worked that
he had been in trouble and was on
probation. However, the manager had
been in trouble with the law himself
in his youth and so took a personal
interest in David.
Current State of Affairs
David is now living with two older
youths who hold responsible jobs
and appear to be a good influence
on him. Since he left home his
per-
sonal appearance has improved, he
looks neater, wears a white shirt and
a tie, and has
begun to do many
things for himself. He now seems
much happier but at times is mildly
depressed. He is making progress on
his job, where he has been employed
for eighteen months, and has received
several pay raises. His employer is
pleased with his work. David has
taken a two-week vacation with pay
in Florida, he has a girl friend, and
he is on the store’s bowling team. He
is now better able to express his
anger toward his parents and others
in words instead of in actions. He is
beginning to understand why he gets
angry, why he wants to strike back
and get even.
After David lefthome he discon-
tinued payment on the bills he pre-
sumably owed his parents. When a
check for a refund on David’s income
tax arrived at his parents’ home his
mother opened the envelope, forged
his signature, and cashed the check.
She continues her hold on David to
some extent and is still able to extort
money from him occasionally; recently
she requested, and received, $50 from

David as a contribution toward her
Florida vacation. I am now trying
to help David to &dquo;smarten up and
get wise to himself&dquo; so that he will
not let himself be exploited and can
get a few things for himself. This,
however, is a slow process. At present,
he has no debts and has a savings
account of $25. He wants to buy an
expensive car, but I am helping him
to see that he needs a pair of shoes
first.
I have now discontinued seeing
David’s father, who had allied him-
self with me during the time I was
seeing him. I encouraged him to par-
ticipate in some recreational activities
with his family so that they could
have more enjoyable and satisfying
times together. He has now taken
out a YMCA family membership.
One of the most difficult elements
in this case has been my own feel-
ings about the parents’ resistance to
supervision, which manifested itself
in their overt hostility toward me.
Nevertheless, I persisted in trying to
help the family.
David still tends to get into situa-
tions in which he is liable to be ex-
ploited. I have been trying to point
out the consequences of his behavior
and to help him develop values other
than monetary ones. He is gaining a
better idea of his abilities and limi-
tations, and so far has managed to
stay out of debt and trouble.
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© 1964 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
59
To conclude, David’s delinquencies
were the result of his parents’ atti-
tudes and behavior. To influence
David, I had to establish myself as
&dquo;the boss,&dquo; intervene on his behalf
with his parents, and become an im-
portant person in his life. I learned
that if parents will not change their
detrimental attitude and behavior, it
may be necessary to support the child’s
decision to live apart from them.
Most of all, I learned that to survive
the parents’ hostility, it was necessary
for me to have a great deal of con-
viction about what I was doing in
this case.
Throughout the case the parents
and I struggled for power. Mrs.
Meyers especially did not want to re-
linquish her power over her delin-
quent son. In desperation, she tried
to mobilize the minister, my superior,
and her husband against me. When
she failed to have me removed from
the case, she took flight and was no-
where around when I visited the home.
Later, she became openly delinquent
herself by forging her son’s signature
on a check. David began to make real
progress only after he left home and
was more under my influence and the
influence of his nondelinquent asso-
ciates, including the girl he is now
dating. The most important part of
this case was David’s separation from
his mother, which is still in the proc-
ess of being more fully achieved.