A social problem of interest to many scholars today is that of
juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is a serious
behavioural problem, manifested through behaviours that
deviate from the moral and legal norms of society. It was noted in
Europe in the last decade an increase in the number of juvenile
delinquents and a decrease in the age of young people who
commit acts of delinquency. This requires prevention and
intervention measures to be applied as early as possible.
Prevention can be achieved only when an early detection of risk
is performed. One screening tool for assessing risk is The
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. This tool is intended to
clarify, in a first rough assessment (a so-called ‘screening’) of
whether a child is about to become an ‘early starter’; a child
showing signs of an early onset delinquent behaviour. In the city
of Sibiu the questionnaire was applied within schools and
information was provided by teachers relating to 308 pupils in
grades I-IV. The main perception of the target group of this study
was that children who have committed crimes, but are not
criminally responsible, are primarily troubled kids, not criminals
with established patterns of behaviour. Consequently, the social
and educational systems and not the justice system should bear
the responsibility for this target group. From this perspective, it is
important that social, educational and therapeutic activities focus
on the various individual problems of each child and family.