Of the four classes of children which we are now considering, only one class exhibits delinquency, yet all have this in common – that they are in trouble, something has gone wrong in the ordering of their lives, they have been deprived or they are depriving themselves – and the distinction is of no importance – of the opportunity to grow up in happiness and security. They are developing, so far as they are developing at all, along the wrong lines, and this feature they have in common is much more striking than any features which distinguish them.

[I]n terms of the child's actual needs, the legal distinction between juvenile offenders and children in need of care or protection was – looking to the underlying realities – very often of little practical significance… . From the standpoint of preventive measures, children in both groups could equally be said to be in need of special measures of education and training – “education” being taken in its widest sense. The emphasis in these training measures might vary according to the circumstances of the individual case; in some the protection of the child would be of prime importance, in others the training regime might place more emphasis on discipline.