Most people have preconceived notions about the relationship between social class and delinquency. A common assumption is that lower-class youth are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than their upper-class peers. Criminologists have conducted a large number of studies examining the socio-demographic characteristics of offenders, which have often produced contradictory results. By analyzing the extent and trend of juvenile delinquency in the United States, conclusions can be drawn from estimates derived from arrest records, self-reports, and victimization data. Arrest estimates, self-reported information, and victimization data provide different estimates of the extent of delinquency in the United States (Maxfield et al., 2000). The relationship between social class and delinquency is measured by examining studies based on arrest and self-report data. -data reported. Early studies based on arrest data found that lower-class communities have much higher arrest rates than upper-class communities. Based on these studies, criminologists concluded that social class was strongly associated with delinquency. Early self-report studies on delinquency found little or no relationship between social class and delinquency. Self-report studies explained arrest data findings by citing their biased nature. It was argued that crimes committed by lower-class juveniles were more likely to come to the attention of the police and were therefore more likely to result in an arrest (Hagan et al., 1985). Studies such as Chambliss's "Saints versus the Roughnecks" explain why lower-class youth are perceived as more delinquent than their upper-class peers, citing reasons such as decreased visibility... focus of paper... ..ugs (Agnew 1985). WORKS CITED Maxfield, Michael G., Barbara Luntz Weiler, and Cathy Spatz Widom. "Comparison between self-reports and official arrest documents". Journal Of Quantitative Criminology 16.1 (2000): 87.Hagan, John, A. R. Gillis, and John Simpson. “The class structure of gender and delinquency: Toward a power-control theory of common delinquent behavior.” American Journal Of Sociology 90.6 (1985): 1151. Siegel, Larry J., Brandon C. Welsh "Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law." Cengage Learning (2011): Wright, Bradley R. Entner, and C. Wesley Younts. “Reconsidering the Relationship Between Race and Crime: Positive and Negative Predictors of Crime Among African Americans.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 46.3 (2009) Agnew, Robert. "A revised theory of delinquency". Social Forces 64.1 (1985): 151-167.