The Saints And The Roughneck By William J Chabbliss

The article The Saints and the Roughneck, written by William J. Chambliss discusses the discrepancy of treatment between two groups of juveniles who participate in approximately equal number of delinquent behaviors. Chambliss performed a two-year observation study of two groups of students, at Hannibal High School, he characterized the two groups as Saints and Roughnecks. The Saints group consisted of eight boys from upper-middle class families, well liked in their community and thought to have bright futures ahead of them. The Roughnecks were a group of six boys from lower-class families, feared by society and seen to be heading to failure in the future. He first noted the Saints delinquent behavior and connection with society. The Saints were able to skip school daily by informing their teachers they had meeting and promptly leaving school grounds in their cars. They would then, usually, either go to the Pool Hall or a Café. At the Café they would torment the employees by purposefully knocking over their drinks or causing general mischief. They were permitted to perform these behaviors because the Café relied on their business. The pinnacle of their delinquent behavior occurred during their trip to Big

The chapter notes that two of the most studied factors effecting delinquency are school bonding and school engagement. The Saints tended to be well involved in school and well liked. One of the Saints was the vice president of the class and all were well liked by other students. The Roughnecks on the other hand were not well respected by peers and their academic performance was much lower than those of the Saints. These differences likely contributed to the increase of perceived delinquency of the Rednecks. Without the proper connections to school, the Rednecks more easily able to disassociate themselves from the school systems and responsibilities they may have had