Juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial or illegal behavior by children or adolescents. In Canada, juvenile delinquency became tied to social and moral concerns after World War II.
Social commentators worried that hanging out at seedy cafes or in street gangs would lead youth to disorderly behaviour, crime, or “sexual delinquency.”
The deviant behaviour of teenagers threatened the “ideal society” of the 1950s, a society that desired stability and traditional after the upheaval of World War II.