1. Introduction and terminology dilemma -- The Eurocentric influence on South African children and youth -- Child and youth -- Misbehaviour -- 2. A historical perspective of the youthful offender -- Antiquity -- The Renaissance -- Children in the Middle Ages -- The colonial period -- Industrialisation -- The position of the youth in the 20th century in South Africa -- Youth groups -- Education -- Treatment of the youth offender -- 3. The nature and extent of child and youth misbehaviour in South Africa -- Status offences -- The nature of child and youth offences -- Correlation between individual factors and child and youth misbehaviour -- The chronic juvenile offender -- The extent of child and youth misbehaviour in South Africa -- Official crime information sources -- Unofficial crime information sources -- 4. Criminogenic risk factors for youth offenders -- Causes or risk factors -- Risk factor -- Criminogenic risk factor -- Types of risk factors -- Social risk factors -- Community/neighbourhood variables -- Family variables -- School variables -- Extra-family relationship variables -- Individual risk factors -- Biographical variables -- Biosocial factors -- History of conduct disorder amongst young offenders -- Identified risk factors -- Risk factors based on foreign research findings -- Risk factors based on South African research findings.

5. Traditional theoretical explanations for youth misconduct -- Classical school of criminology: 18th century beliefs about the causes of crime -- The growth of science: positivist school of criminology -- A shift away from the positivist school: labelling and radical theories -- Evaluation of traditional perspectives -- 6. Contemporary theoretical explanations for youth misconduct -- Paradigm shift in theories of youth misconduct -- Reformulations of traditional theories -- Neoclassicism: a revival of the classical school -- Neopositivism -- Integrated theories -- A general theory of crime and criminality -- Evaluation of contemporary developments -- Explaining youth misconduct in South Africa -- 7. A historical overview of approaches to understanding female youth misbehaviour -- Early biological and psychological explanations -- Cesare Lombroso and William Ferrero -- W.I. Thomas -- Shelden and Eleanor Glueck -- Otto Pollak -- Gisela Konopka -- John and Valerie Cowie and Eliot Slater -- Clyde Vedder and Dora Somerville -- Gender roles and delinquency in girls -- George Grosser -- Talcott Parsons -- Ruth Morris -- Dale Hoffman-Bustamante -- Masculanity hypothesis -- Liberation and crime -- Freda Adler: masculinisation theory -- Rita Simon: opportunity theory -- Post-liberation explanations -- Socialist/Marxist explanations -- Power control theory -- Feminist theory of delinquency.

8. The prevention and control of youth misbehaviour in South Africa -- Risk factors -- International backdrop -- Primary, secondary and tertiaty prevention -- 9. The socio-moral redirection of troubled youth -- Limited socio-moral development -- Emotional poverty -- Thinking errors -- Developing effective interventions: community youth development -- 10. Juvenile offenders in South African criminal law -- The influence of youthfulness on the criminal liability of juvenile offenders -- Procedural aspects pertaining to juveniles accused of perpetrating crimes -- Sentencing of juvenile offenders -- 11. Current policy and practice, and future prospects -- A new approach: policy developments from 1992 to 1996 -- From policy to law reform -- Parallele developments in practice -- Probation services -- Assessment -- Diversion -- Assessment centres and one-stop child justice centres -- Children awaiting trial in detention -- Pre-sequence reports -- Community-based sentences -- Reform school -- Prison sentences -- Legal representation -- Monitoring.