NCJ Number
85572
Date Published
1982
Length
166 pages
Annotation
This autobiography describes the experiences from age 20 to 70 of Stanley, the pseudonym of a juvenile delinquent whose 1930 autobiography, The Jack-Roller, became a classic in the field of juvenile delinquency and has long been required reading for sociologists training in the field.
Abstract
Stanley had his first encounters with the police when a runaway at age 6.5. He had been in institutions from the time he was 9 years old. He began to write his life story when he was 16 and recently released from the Illinois State Reformatory where he had served a 1-year term for burglary and 'jack-rolling.' A jack-roller is a robber of drunk or sleeping men (today's mugger). Clifford Shaw, a sociologist, met Stanley in 1921 and developed a 5-year rehabilitation program that involved a foster-home placement, a change of neighborhoods, employment, and individual interviews. Most of the initial autobiography was written during the first year of the treatment period and indicated that the rehabilitation effort was extremely successful. Stanley's later life included a variety of jobs, some additional criminal involvement, two marriages, and two periods of forced confinement in a State mental hospital. Interviews covering various aspects of Stanley's current life and discussions of the criminological and sociological significance of Stanley's case and of the two autobiographies are included. Notes and reference lists are provided for some chapters.