In the early part of our country’s history, certainly prior to the American Revolution, juvenile delinquency as we think of it today did not exist. That is, from the first days of the founding of the original colonies through the Revolutionary War, there was no such thing as delinquency. Perhaps the primary reasons for this were, first, that the colonies were fundamentally agricultural and children were expected to work along with their parents to survive (Oliver and Hilgenberg, 2006). Second, parents were responsible for the actions and behaviors of their children (Walker, 1998), consequently, most often misbehaving children were handled at home by their parents. Colonial law did, however, make punishable such offenses as running away, incorrigibility,
