EXAM need within 24 hours

The Saints and the Roughnecks WLLIAIII J. CHAi'BLISS

Eight promising young men-childrcn ofgood, stable, white upper-middle-class families, active in school affairs, good pre+ollcgc sludcots* were sorne of the most delinquetrt boys at Ha.ibal High School. While community reEi- dents and parents knew that these boys occa- sionally sowsd a few wild oats. th€y were totally unaware that sowing witd oats completely oc- cupied the daily routine ofthese young men. The Saints were constantly occupied with truancy, drinking, wild drivirg, petty theft and vatrdal- i$m. Yet not on9 was officially arrested for any misdeed during the two years I observed them.

This record was particulady surprising in light ofmy observations durilg the same two yeaIs of another gang ofHaoibal High School students, six lower-class white boys koown as the Rough- necks. The Roughneaks were colstantly in trou- ble with police and community even though their rate ofdelinqueocy was about equal with that of the Sairts. What was the cause ofthis disparity? The result? The following consideration ofthe activities, social class and community percep tions ofboth gangs may provide some aoswers.

The Saints from Monday to Friday

The Saints' principal daily concem vr'as with getting out of school as early as possible. The boys managed to get out of school with minimum danger that they would be accused of playing hookey through an elaborate procedure for obt3ining "legitimate" rclease ftom class. The most commoD procedure was for one boy to oblain rhe release of another by labricating a meeting of some committee, prognrm or recog- nized club. Charles might raise his hand in his 9:00 chemistry class and ask to be excused-a euphemism for going to the bathroom. Charles would go to Ed's math class and inform the teacher that Ed was needed for a 9:30 rehearsal ofthe drama club play. The math teacher would recognize Ed and Charles as "good students" involved in numerous school activities and would permit Ed to leave at 9:30. Charles would rcturn to his class, and Ed would go to Tom's EDglish class to obtain his release. Tom would

engin€er Charles escape. The st.ategy would continue until as many ofthe Saints as possible were freed. After a stealthy trip to the car (which bad been parked in a srategic spor), the boys were offfor a day offun.

Over the two years I observed the Saints, this pattem was rcpeated nearly every day. There w€re variatioN on the theme, but in one form or another, the boys used this procedure for getting out of class and then off the school grounds. Rarcly did all eight ofthe Saints manage to leave school at the sarne time. The average number avoiding school on the days I observed them was five.

Having escaped from the concrete corridors the boys usually wellt either to a pool hall on the other (lower-class) side of to\ryn or to a cafe in the suburbs, Both places we.e out ofthe way of peopte the boys were likely to know (family or school officials), and both provided a source of eotcrtajDment. The pool hall entertainment was the generally rough atmosphere, the occasional hustler, the sometimes drunk proprieaor and, of course. the game ofpool. The cal'e's entertain- ment was provided by the owner. The boys would "accideDtally" knock a glass on the floor or spill cola on the counter-norall the time. but edough to be sporting. They would also bend spoons, put salt in sugar bowls and generally tease whoevq was working in the cafe. The owner had opened the cafe recently and was de- pendent on the boys' business which was, in fact, substantial since between the horsiog around aod the tea$ing they bought food and &inks.

The Saints on Weekends

On weckends, the automobile was €ven mor€ critical thatr during th6 week, for ou weekends the SaiDts went to Big Town-alarge city with a populatio! of over a million, 25 miles from Hanibal. Every Friday and Saturday night most ofthe Saints would meet between 8:00 and 8:30 aud would go into Big Town. Big Town activities included drinking heavily in tavems or night- clubs. driviog drunkeDly through the streets, atrd committing acts ofvandalism and playing pranks.

Repriated by permission ofTransaction, Irc., ftoE Soc,ery, vol. I l, No. I (NoveDbe./December 1973), pp. 24. 31. Coplright @ lr3 by Transactior! Inc.

186

By nidnight on Fridays and Satudays the Saints were usually thoroughly high, arrd one or two of tlem were oftetr so druflk &ey lnd to b€ caded to the can. Then the boys drovr: around town, calling obscelities to women and girlsi oc- casionally trying (unsuccessfully so far as I could tell) to pick girls up; and drivitrg rccklessly through red lights and at high speeds with their lights out. Occasionalty they played "chlcken." One boy would climb out the back window of th€ car and acruss the roofto the driver's side of the car while the car was moving at high speed (between 40 and 50 miles an hour): lhen the driver would move over and the boy who had just crawled acrcss the car roof would lake the driveds seat.

Searching for "fair game" for a prank was the boys' principal activity after they left the tavem. The boys would drive alongside a foot patrolman and ask directions lo some street. lf the police- rnal leaned on the car iB the couBe ofaruiwering lhe question, the &iver would speed away, causing him to lose his balance. The Sai[ts were careful to play this prark only in an area wherr they were not going to spend much time and where they could quickly disappear arround a coraer to avold having their license plate num- ber taken.

Construction sltes atrd mad rcpair ar€a6 were the special pro!'ince ofthe Sahts' mischtel A sootr-to-be-repaircd hole in the mad inesitably invited the Saints to remove lalrterru and wooden baricades and put them in the ca:, Ieav- ing the hole unprotecled. The boys would find a safe valtage point alrd wait for an unsuspectitrg motorist to d ve into the hole. Often, though not always, the boys would go up to the motorist and commiserate with him about the dreadful way the city prctected ils citlzenry.

Leaving the sceDe of the open hole and the motorist, the boys would then go searching for an appropdale place to ercct the stolel bar- ricade. An "appropriate place" was often a spot on a hlghway near a curve ill the road wherc the barricade would not be seen by an oncoming motorist. The boys would wait to watch iur un- suspecting motodst atlempt to stop and (usually) crash irto the wooden banicade. With saindy bearing the boys might offer help and under, slanding.

A stolen lantem might well fiIld its way onto the back of a police car or hang from a rtreet lamp. Once a laatern served as a prop for a reenactment of the "midnight ride of Paul Re-

The Saints rnd the Roughtreck 187

vere" unt,l the play." which was taking place at 2:00 A.M. in the cenler ofa main street of Big Tonn, was interrupted by a police car several block away. The boys ran, leavlng the lancrns oll the streel, and maDaged to avoid being ap- prehended.

Abandoned houses, especially if they were located in out-of-the-way places, were fair game for destruction and spoltaneous vandalism. The boys would break windows, remove fumiturc to the yard and tear it apafl, urhate on the walls and scrawl obscenities inside.

Through all the pmnks, drinldng and reckless driving the boys managed miraculously to avoid beilg stopped by police. Only twice in two years was I aware that they had been stopped by a Big City policeman. Once was for speedilg (which tLey did every time they drove whether they were drunk or sober). and the driver managed to convince the policeman that it was simply an error. The second time they werc stopped they had just left a nightclub and were walking through an alley. Aaron stopped to urilate alld &e boys began makilg obscene remark. A foot paholma.u came into the alley, lectured the boys and sent them home. Before the bop got to the car one began talling in a loud yoice again. The pollceman, who had followed them down the al ley, anested this boy for disturbing the peace and took him to the police stallon whete the other Sairts ga&ered. After paying a 55.00 fine, ard with the assurarce that there would be oo permallellt record ofthe arest, the boy was re- leased.

The boys had a spirit offrivolity ard fun about thelr escapades. They did not yiew what they were engaged in as "delinquency," though it suely was by any reasonable definition of that word. They simply viewed themselves as having a little fun and who, they would ask, was really hurt by it? The answer had to be no one, al- though this fact remains one ofthe most difficult things to explain about the gang's behavior. Un- likely though it seems, in two years ofdrinking, drivirg, carousing and vandalism tro one was seriously injured as a I€strlt of the Saints' activi- ties.

The Saints in School

The Saints were highly successful in school. The avenge grade for the goup was "8." with two of the boys having close to a straight "A"

l8t Tlrc Effects of Contact with Contml Agents

avenge. Almost all of the boys were popular ard many ofthem held oflices in the school. One of lhe boys was vice-prcsid€ni of the student body one year. Six ofthe boys played on athledc teams.

At the end of their senior year, the student body seleaed ten seniors for special recognidon as the "school wheels": four of the tetr werc Saints. Teachers and school officials saw no pmblem with any of lhese boys ad andcipated that they would all "make something of them- selves."

How the bo;rs managed to maintain this im- Fessiotr is surprising tn view of their actual be- havior while in school. Their technique for cov- ering truancy was so successful that teacters dld nol even ralize that the boys were absen( from school much of the time. Occaslotrally, of course, the system would backfire and then the boy was on his own. A boy who was caught would be most contite, would plead guilty and ask for mercy. He inevitably got the mercy he sought.

Cheating on examinations was ra pant, evetr to the point oforally communicating answe$ to exarns as well as looking at orc another's pa- pers. Since none ofthe gmup studied, and since they were primarily d€pendent on one another for help, it ls surprising that grades were so high. Teaches contdbuted to the deception in their admitted inclination to give &ese boys (and pre- sunubly others like them) the belelit of the doubt. When asked how the boys did in school, and when pressed on specific examinations, teacheE mighl admit that they were disap pointed in John's performance, bnt would quickty add that they "knew he was capable of dolng better," so John was gven a higher grade lhan he had actually earned. How often this hap- pened ls imposslble to know. During the dme that I observed the group, I never saw any ofthe bo;rs take homework home. Teachers may have been "understandlng" very regularly.

One exceptlon to the gang's generally good performance was Jerry, who had a "c" av€rage in hisJunior year, experienced disasler the next year and failed to grnduate. Jerry had always been a little more nonchalant than the others about the liberties he took ln school. Rather than wait for someone to come get him from class, he would offer hls own excuse and leave . Although he pmbably did not rniss imy more classes than most of the others in the goup, he tlid not take the requisile pains to cover his absences. Jeny

was the only Saint whom I ever heard talk back to a teacher. Although teachex often ca.lled hirn a "cut up" or a "ffian kid," they never referred to him as a lroublemaker or as a kid headed for houble. It seems likely, then, that Jerry's failure his senior year and his mediocre performance his junior year werc consequerces of his not play'ng the game the pmper way (possibly be- cause he was disturted by his parents' divorce). His teaches mgarded him as "immature" and not quile ready to get out of high school.

The Police and the Saints

The local police saw the Saints as good boys who werc among the leaden ofthe youth ln the community. Rarely, the boys might be stopped in town for speeding or for running a stop sign. When this happened the boys were always po- llte, contdte and pled for mercy. As in school, they received the mercy they asked for. None ever received a ticket or was taken into the pre- cinct by the local police.

Tho sltuation in Big City, where the boys en- gaged in mosl of lheir delinquency, was only slighdy different. The police there did not know the boys at a , although occasionally the boys were stopped by a patrolman. Once lhey were caught taking a lantern from a construction sile. Another time they werr stopped for running a stop sign, and on sevenl occasions they were stopped for speeding. Their behavior was as bc- fore; contsite, polite and penilent. The ulban pollce, like the local police, accepted their de- meanor as sincerc. Morc important, the u all police were convinced that these were good boysjust out for a lark.

The Roughnecks

Haribal towrpeople never perceived the Saints' high level of delinquency. The Saints were good boys who Just went in for an occa- sional prank. After all, they were well dressed, well mannered and had nice cars. The Rough- necks were a different story. Although the two gangs of boys were the same age, and both gmups engaged in an equal amount of wild- oat sowing, everyone agreed that the not-so- well-drcssed, not-so-well-ma lered, not-so-rlch boys were heading for houble. Townspeople would say, "You can see the gang membe$ at

the &ugstor€ nlght after night, leadry againq the storefront (sometimes drunk) or slouching around inside buying cokes, reading magazines, and probably stealing old Mr. Wa[ bhrd. When they are outside and gifu walk by, eyen respect- able girls, these boys mate suggestive remarks. Sometimes their remarks arc dowmight lewd. '

From the community's viewpoint, ttre real in- dication that these kids were in for tmuble was that they were constatrtly involved with the police. Some of then had been picked up for stealhg, mosdy small stuff, of course, "but still it's stealing small stuff that leads to big time cdmes." "Too bad," people saitl. "Too bad that these boys couldn't behave like tle olher kids in town; stay out of houble, be poute to adulh. and look to thelr future. '

The community's impression ofthe degree to which this group ofsix boys (ranging in age from 16 to 19) eryaged in delinquency was somewhal disto ed. In some ways the gang was more de- linquent thaD the community thought; in other ways they wele less.

The fighting activities ofthe gmup were fairly readily and accuntely perceived by almost ev- eryore. At least ollce a month, the boys would get into some so offfght, although most fights werc scraps between memben of the group or involved only one member of the $oup and some peripheral hanger-on. Only three {imes in t.he period of observatiotr did lhe goup tight to- gelher; once agaifft a gallg from across town, once againsl two blacks and once against a group ofboys ftom anolher school. For the first two flghts the $oup wed out "lookirs lbr trcu- ble"-and they found it both times. The third {ight followed a football game and began spon- taneously wilh an argument on the football field between otle of the Roughneck and a r,nember of the oppositiol's football team.

Jack had a pafiicular prcpensity for ;fighting and was involved in most ofthe brawls. He was a prime mover of lhe escalation of arguments itrto {ights.

More serious than fighting, had the commu- nity been aware ofit, was theft. Although almost everyone was aware that the boys occasionally stole things, they did not Ealize the extent ofthe actlvity. Petty stealing was a frequenl evert for the Roughnects. Sometimes they slole u a group and coordinated their efforts; olher times lhey stole in pairs. Rarely did they steal alone.

The thefts nrged from very small thinlgs like paperback book, comics and ballpoiDt pem to

The Saints and the Roughnecls 189

exp€nsive items llke watches. The naturc of the thefts vaded fiom time to time. The gang would go through a period of systematically lifting Items from automobiles or school lockers. Tlaes of thievery varied with the whim of the gang. Some forms of thievery were more profflable than others. but all thefts were forprcfit, notjust thrills.

Roughneck siphoned gasoline from cars as often as they had access to an automobile, which was not very oflen. Unlile the Saints, who owned their own cars, the Roughnec}s would have to borrow their parents' cars, an eved which occuned only eight or nine times a year. The boys claimed to have stoleE cars forjoy rldes from time to time.

Rotr committed the most serious of the group's offeoscs. With an unidentified associate the boy attempted to burglarize a gasoline sta- tion. Although thjs station had been mbbed twice previously in the same month, Ron denied any hvolvement in either of the other thells. l4hen Ron atrd his accompuce appmached the statio[ the owner was hiding in the bushes be- side the station. He ffred both barrels of a dou- ble-barreled shotgun at the boys. Ron was se- verely injured; the other boy ran away and was never caught. Though he remained in critical condition for several months, Ron finally rr- covered and s€wed six months of the following year ln reform school, Upon release from reform school, Ron was put back a grade i.n school, and began running around with a different gang of boys. The Roughneck considered the new gang less delinquenl than themselves, and during lhe following year Ron had no more tmuble with the police.

The Roughnecks, then, engaged mainly in three t)?es of delinquency: theft, drtuking and fightiag. Although community rnembers per- ceived that this gang of kids was delinquent, they mistakenly belleved that their illegal activl ties were primarlly drinking, fighting and bekga nuisance to passersby. Drinking was limited amorg the gang membe$, although it did occur, and theft was much more prevalent than anyone realized.

Drinking would doubtless have been more prevalent had the boys had ready access to li- quor. Since they rarely had automobiles at their disposal, they could not travel very far, and the bars in town would not serve them. Most ofthe boys had little money, and this, too, inhibited their purchase ofalcohol. Their major source of

190 The Effects of Contact with Control Agents

liquor was a local drunk who would buy them a fifth ifthey would give him enough extra to buy himselfa pint of whiskey or a botde of *'ine.

The community's perceplion of drinkiug as prevalent stemmed frcm the fact that it was the most obvious delirquency the boys engaged in. When one ofthe boys had been drinking, even a casual observer seeing him on the corner would suspect that he was high.

There was a high level ofmuiual distrust and dislike between lhe Roughnecks and the police. The boys felt very strollgly that the police were unfair and coflupt. Some evidence existed Uut the boys were correct in lheir perception.

The main source of the boys' dislike for the police undoubtedly stemmed from the fact that the police would sporadlcally harass the $oup. Frcm lhe standpoint ofthe boys, these acts of occasional enforcement ofthe law were whimsi- cal and uncalled for. It mad€ no sense io them, for example, that the police would come to the comer occasionally ard threatel them with ar- rest for loitedng when the night beforc the boys had been out siphoning gasoline fiom cars and the police had been nowhere itl sighr. To the boys. the police were stupid on the one hand, for not beitrg wherc they should have been and catching the boys i[ a sedous offense, and unfair on the other hand, for trumping up "loitedng" charges agaifft theD.

From the viewpoint ofthe polic€, the situation was quite differc[t. They knew, with a the confidence trecessary to be a policeman, that these boys werr engaged in crimilal activities. They knew this partly from occasionally catch- ing them, mostly from circumstantial evidence ("the boys were amund when those Ores were slashed"), and partly because the police shared the view of the community in general that this was a bad bunch of boys. T'he best lhe police could hope to do was to be sensitive to the fact that these boys were engaged in illegal acts and a[tst them whenever there was some evidence that they had been involved. Whether or not the boys had in fact committed a particular act in a particular way was not especially important. The police had a broader view: theirjob was io staDp out these kirls' crimes; the tactics werc not as important as the end result.

Over the p€dod that the gmup was utrder ob- servation, each member was arested at least once. Several of the bo;rs were arrested a num- ber of times and spert at least one night injail. While most werc never taken to coufl, two of

the boys were sellenced to six months'hcar- ceratlon ln boys' schools.

The Roughnecks in School

the Roughnecks' behavlor irr school was not particularly disruptive. During school hours they did ool a.ll hang around together, but tended inslead to spend most oftheir time with one or two other membeE of tle gang who were their speclal buddies. Although every member of lhe

8atrg attempted to avoid school as much as pos- sible, they were mt pafiiculady successful and most of them attended school with surpdslng rcguladty, They considercd school a burdcn- someihi[g to b€ gotten through wlth a minimum of conflict. If they were "bugged" by a particu- lar teachet it could lead to trouble. One offie boys, ,{1. once threatened to b€at up a teacher aod, according to the other boys. the teacher hid under a desk to escape him,

Teachex saw the boys the way the general community did, as heading for trouble, as being uninterested in making somethitrg of them- selves, Some werr also seen as being incapable ofmeeting the academic standards ofthe school. Most of the teachers expressed concem for this group ofboys and were willing to pass &em de- spile poor performance, i[ the beliefthat failing them would only aggravate the pmblem.

The group of boys had a grade point average just slightly above "C. ' No one in the gmup failed either grade, and no one had better than a "C" average. They were very consistent in their achlevement or, at least, the teache$ were cotrsistent in their perceptiol of the boys' achlevement.

Two of the boys were good football players. Herb was achrowledged to b€ the best player in the school and Jack was alnost as good. Both bols werc criticized for their failure to abide by tralnlng rules, for refusing to come to practice as often as they should, and for not playl[g their best duing practice. What they lacked in sportsmanship they made up for in slill, appar- ently, and played every game no matter how poody they had perfonned ir practice or how many pracuce sessions they had mlssed.

Two Ouestions

Why did the commudty, the school and the pollce rcact to the Satnts as though they werc

good, upstandirg, nordelinquent youths with bdght futures but to the Roughrccks as though they werc tough, young criminals who were headed for trouble? Why did the Roughneck and the Saints in fact have quite differelt careers after higlt school-carcers which, by ald large, lived up to the expectatioDs ofthe commullty?

The most obvio[s explanation for the differ- ences ill the community's and law enforcement agencies' rcactions to the two gatrgs is that one group of boys was "more delinquent" ftan tbe other. Which group was more delinquent? The answer to this questiotr will determhe in part how we explail the differential resporces to these groups by the members ofthe communily a[d, particularly, by law enforcement and school officials.

In sheer number of illegal acts, the Sairts were the more delinquent- They werc truant from school for at least part of the day almost every day ofthe week. In addition, thetr drink- ing and vandalism occured nith surpdsing regu- Iarity. The Roughneck, in contrast, elgaged sporadically in delinquent episodes. Whllle these episodes were frequent, they certainly did rtot occtu o[ a daily or even a weekly basis.

The difference in frequency of offenses was pmbably caused by the Roughnecks' inatrility to obtain liquor aIId to manipulate legitimate ex- cuses from school. Since the Roughnecks had less money thar the Saints, and teachers care- fully supervised tieir school activides. the Roughnecks' hearts may have been as black as the Saints', but their misdeeds werc trot nearly as frequent.

Therc are really no clear-cut criterla by which lo measure qualitative differences in antisocial behavior. The most iDportant dlmension of the differcnce is generally referred to as the "seri- orrsness" of lhe offenses.

If seriousness ercompasses the relative eco- lomic costs of delinquent acts, the[ sorne as- sessment can be made. The Roughnecks proba- bly stole an average of about S5.0O worth of goods a week. Some weeks tle figure was con- siderably higher, but these times must be bal- arced against long periods when almost nothing was stole[.

The Saints were mor€ continuously engaged in delinquency but their acts were not for the most part costly to property. Only their v:urdal- ism and occasional theft of gasolhe would so qualify. Perhaps once or twice a month they would siphon a tankful ofgas. The other costly

The Saints and the Roughnecks 191

items were street sigtrs, construction lantems and the like. All ofthese acts combined probably did not quite averige S5.0O a week, partly be- cause much of the stolen equipmelt was aban- doned aqd presumably could be recovered. The difference itr cost of stolen prcperty betweel lhe two groups wa5 kivial, but the Roughnecks probably had a slightty more expensiye set of activides than did the Sains.

Another meanhg of seriousness is the poter- tial threat of physical harl! to members of the commu ty and to the boys themselves. The Roughneck were morc prone lo physical vio- lence: they not only welcomed a[ oppodutrity to Iight; they went seeking it. In addition, they fought amotrg themselves frequently. Although the fighting never included deadly weapom, ii was stiU a menace, however mitror, to the physi- €al safety of those involved.

The Saints never fought. They avoided physi- ca.l conflicl both inside atrd outside the group. At the same time, tho[gh, lbe Saints frequently en- dangered their own and other people's lives. They did so almost every time they drove a car, especially lfthey had been drinking. Sober, their driving was risky: under the influence ofalcohol it was honendous. In addition, the Saints en- dangered lhe lives of others with their prank. Sheet excavations Ieft unmarked werc a very serlous hazard.

Evaluatilg the relatlve seriousness ofthe lwo gangs' activities is difficult. The community re- acted as though the behavior ofthe Roughnecks was a problem, and they reacted as though the behavior ofthe Saints was trot. But the members ofthe community were ignora ofthe alray of delirquent acts that characterized the Saints' be- havior, Although colcertred citizetrs were utr- aware of much of the Roughnecks' behavior as well, they were much belter informed about the Roughnecks' involv€mcDt in delinquency than they were about the Sainlt .

Visibility

Differential tIealment of the two gangs re- Ited in part because one garlg was inllnitely

more visible than the other. This differential visibility was a direct functior ofthe econondc standing of the families. The Sahls had access to automobiles and were able Io rcmove them- selves from tle sight ofthe communlty. lll as mutile a decisiotr as to where to go to have a

192 The Effects of Contacl with Control Agents

milkhake after school, the Saints stayed away from &e mainstream ofcommunity life. Lacking transportation, the Roughnecks could not make it to tbe edge of town. The center of towll was the only practical place for them to meel since &eir homes werc scattered throughout lhe town and any noncentral meetillg place put an undue hardship on some members. Thrcugh necessity the Roughneck congngat€d in a cmwded area where everyom i[ the commudty passed fre- quendy, includlng teachers and law enforcement officen. They could easily see the Roughneck hanging around the &ugstore.

The Roughtrecks, ofcourse, made lhemselves ever morc vislble by making remarks to pas- sersby and by occasionally getting into fights on the comer. Meanwhile, just as regularly, the Saints were elther at the cafe on one edge of town or in the pool hall at the other edge of town. Without ary partlcular rcalization that they were making themselves lnconspicuous, the Saints werc able to hide their timc-warting. Not only werc they removed from the maitr- stream of lraffic, but they were alnost always iruide a building.

On their escapades the Saints werc also rcla- tively invisible, since they left Hanibal and tmvelled to Big City. Here, too, lhey were mobile, roaming the city, rarely going to the sarne area twice.

Demeanor

To the rotion of visibiltty must be added the dlfference in the responses ofgm[p members to outside intervention witi their activities. Ifone of the Saints was confmated with an accusing policeman, even if he felt he was truly innocent of a wrongdolng, his demeanor was apologetic ard petritent. A Roughneck's attitude was al- most the polar opposite. Whetr confronted with a threatenlng adult authority, even one who tried to be pleasant, the Roughneck's hostility atrd rllsdain werc deady observable. Sometlmes he might attempt lo put up a veleer ofrespect, but it was thin and was nol accepted as sincere by the authority.

School was no different from the commudty at large. The Saints could manipulate the system by feigning compliance with the school norms. The avallability of ca$ at school meant that once frce from the immediate sight of the teacher, the boys could disappear rapidly. And

this escape was well enough planned that no ad- minishator or leacher was nearby when the boys left. A Roughtreck who wished to escape for a few hours was in a bind. Ifit were possible to get free from class, downtown was still a mile away, and even if he arrived there, he was still very visible. Truancy for the Boughnecks meant al- most certaill detection, while the Saints enJoyed alflosl complete immunity from sanctions.

Bias

Commulllty members were not aware of the lmnsgrcssions of the Saints. Ever if the Saints had been less dlscreel, their favorite delinquen- cies would have been perceived as less serious than those of the Roughnecks.

In the eyes ofthe pollce and school officials, a boy who drinls in an alley and stands intox- icated on the strcet comer is committing a morc serious offense than is a boy who ddnk to ine- briation in a nightclub or a lavem and drives around a.flerwards in a car. Similarly, a boy who steals a wallet from a s{ore will be viewed as having committed a more serious offense than a boy who steals a lantern from a construclion site.

Perceptual bias also operates with respect to the demeanor of the boys In the two groups when they ale confronted by adults. It is llot simply that adults dislike the posture affected by boys ofthe Roughneck ilk; more imponant is the conviction that the posture adopted by the Roughneck is an hdicatlon of their devotion and commitment to deviance as a wav of life. The posturc becomes a cue, just as the type of the offense is a cue, to the degrce to which the krowrt transgressions are indicators of the youths' potentlal for other problems.

visibility. demeanor and bias are surface vari- ables which explaln the day-to-day operations of the police. Why do these swface variables oper- ate as they do? Wby did the police choose to disregard the Saints' delinquencies while brrath- ing down the backs ofthe Roughnecks?

The amwer lies in the class structure ofAmer- ican society and the control of legal institutions by those at lhe top of the class slruclue. Obvi- ously, no rcpresentatlve ofthe upper class drew up 0re opentional chart for the police which led them to look in the ghettoes and o[ streelcor- ners-which led them to see the demealor of lower-class youth as troublesome and that ofup-

per-middle"class youth as tolerable. R:ather, lhe pmcedures simply developed ftom e\farience- experience with irate and influertial upper- middle-class parcnts insisting that theh son's yandalism was simply a prank ard his drunk- elness on]y a mometrtary "sowing of wild oats"-experience with cooperative o[indiffer- ent, powerless, lower-class pareDts who ac- quiesced to the laws' definitior of their son's behavior.

Adult Careers of the Saints and the Roughnecks

The community's confiderce in the potertial of the Saints and the Roughnecks apparcntly wasjustified. Ifanything, the community mem- bers underestimated the degree to which these youngsteN would turu out "good" or "'bad."

scven ofthe eight members ofthe Sairts wert on lo college immediately after high sch,rol. Five ofthe boys graduated from college in four years. The six r one finished college after two yean in the army, and the seventh spent four years in the air force before returning to college and receiv- ing a B.A. degree. Ofthese seven college gradu- ates, thrce went on for advanced degrees. One finished law school and is now active in state politics, one finished medical school and. is prac- ticing rear Hanibal. and one boy is now working for a Ph-D. The other four college graduates en- tered submanagerial, managerial or executive traidng positions with larger ffnns.

The only Saint who did not complete college was Jerry. Jerry had failed to graduate from high school with the other Saints. During his second senior year, after the other Sahts had gone on to college, Jerry began to hang around with what several teachers described as a "rough crowd"

-the gang that was heir apparent to the Rough-neck. At lhe end of his second senior year, when he did gnduate from high schooil, Jerry took ajob as a used-car salesman, got maried and quickly had a child. Although he made sev- eml abortive attempts to go to college by attend- ing night school, whel I last saw hlm (ten years after high school) Jerry was unemployed and had been living on unemployment for almost a year, His wife wo*ed as a waitress.

Some of the Roughnecks have lived up to community expectatiotrs. A number of them were headed for trouble. A few were not.

Jack and Herb were the athletes among &e

The Saints and the Bouglmecks 193

Roughnecks and their athletic pmwess paid off handsomely. Both boys received unsolicited atbletic scholarships to college. After Herb n- ceived his scholarship (near the end ofhis senior year), he apparently did an about face. His de- meanor became very sfunilar to tlat of the Saints. Although he r€mained a member in good standing of the Roughneck, he stopped partici- pating in most activities and did not hang on the corner as often.

Jack did not change. If anything, he became more prone to lighling. He even made excuses for accepting the scholarship. He told lhe other gang members that the school had guaranteed him a "C" average if he would come to play football-anidea that seems far-fetched, evel in lhis day of highly competitive recruiting.

During the summer after grdduatio[ from high school, Jack attempted suicide byjumping from a tall building. The jump would certainly have killed most people trying it, but Jack survived. He etrtered coUege in the fall and played four yean offootball. He and Herb graduated in four years, and both are teachlng and coaching itr high schools. They are manied and have stable families. If anything, Jack appear to have a morc prcstigious positior in the community thall does Herb, though both are well rcspected and secure i[ their positlons.

Two of the boys never finished high school. Tommy left at the end of hls junior year and went to alother state. That summer he was ar- rested and placed on probation on a manslatrgh- ler charge. Three years later he was arrested for murder; he pleaded guilty to second degree mur- der and is serving a so-year sentence in the state penitenuary.

Al, the other boy who did not finish high school, also left the staie in his senior year. He is sewing a life seotence in a state petritentiary for {irst degree murder.

Wes is a small-time ganrbler. He finished high school and "bumued around." After several yearc he made cotrtact with a bookmaker who employed him as a runrer. l,ater he acquired his own arca and has been n orldng it ever since. His position among the boolmakers is almost identi- cal to the posiuon he had in the gang; he is al- ways around but no one is really aware of him. He makes no houble and he does not get into any. Steady, reliable, capable of keeping his mouth closed, he plays the game by the rules, even though tle game is an illegal one.

That leaves only Ron. Some of his former

194 The Effects ofContact with Conhol Agents

friends reported that they had head he was "&iving a tmck up no h," but no one could pmvide any conclete lnformation.

Reinforcement

fie community r€sponded to the Boughnecks as boys in trouble. ard the boys agrced with that perception. Their panem of deviancy was rein- forced, and breaking away frcm lt became ln- creasingly unlikely. Once the boys acquired an iruage of themselves as deviatrts, they selected new friends who afflrmed that self-image. As that self-conception became more flrmly en- trenched, they aho became willlng to try new ard more extreme deviances. With their growing alietration came freer expression of disrespecl and hostility for represetrtatives ofthe legitimate society. This disrespect ircrcased the commu- nity's negativism, perpetuating the enttue pro- cess ofcommitment to deviance. Lack ofa com- mitnent to deviance work the same way. In either case, the pmcess will perpetuate itselfun- less some event (like a scholarship to college or a sudden failure) extemal to the established rcla- tiorship intervenes. For two ofthe Roughuecks (Herb and Jack). receiving college athletic schol arships crealed new nlations and culmimted ill a break with the established pattern ofdeviance. Irl the case ofone ofthe Satnts (Jerry), his par- ents' divorce and his faiting to graduate from high school changed some ofhis other relations. Beiry held back in school for a ycar and loshg

his place among the Saints had sdficiert impact on Jery to alter his self-image and virtually to assurc that he uiould rot go on to college as his peers did. Although the experiments of llfe can rarrly be reversed, it seems likely in view ofthe behavior of the other boys who did not etrjoy this special trcatment by the school that Jery, too, would have "become something" had he graduated as anaicipated. For Herb and Jack outside i[tervention worked to th€ir advantage; for Jerry it was his undoing.

Selective perception ard labelling-nndinE. processlng and punishing some kinds of crirni- nality and not others-means that visible, poor, nonmobile, outspoken, undiplomatic "tough" kids will be noticed. whether their actio$ arc serlously delinquent or rot. Other kids, who have established a repulation for being bright (even though underachieving), disciplined ard involved in rcspectable activities, who alt mobile and monied, will be invisible when they deviate from salctioled activities. They'll sew their wild oats-pcrhaps even wider and thicker than their lower-class cohorls-bul they won't be noticed. When it's lime to leave adolescence nost will follow the exp€cred path, setdirg into the ways of the middle class, remembering fondly the delinquent but urtroliced fliDg of their youth. The Roughnecks ard othen llke them may turn around, too. It is more likely that their nodceable deviance will have been so relnforced by police and commudiy that their lives will be effectively chamelled irto carceB consislent with their adolescelt background.