Miller, Walter B. (1920–)

Contributions to the Gang Delinquency Literature

Beginning in 1955, Miller worked on the Boston Delinquency Project, serving as its director from 1958 to 1965. This privately funded demonstration project attempted to change the attitudes and activities of corner-group youth (predominantly male and Irish) through the interventions of a small group of social workers in the field. As Miller reported, the project was somewhat effective at lowering rates of law-violating behavior as well as reducing hostility towards law enforcement officials.

Drawing from these experiences, Miller made significant contributions to subcultural theories of delinquency with his work on lower-class gang members. While other theorists writing at this time viewed lower-class children as competing unsuccessfully for, and being frustrated by, middle-class standards, Miller (1958) saw lower-class lifestyles and values as separate and distinct, functional in their own surroundings. As he explained, lower-class delinquent behavior is [Page 258]primarily the result of pursuing values common to the cultural environment.

Building on common perceptions of the time, he theorized that broken homes were related to delinquency and gang involvement. Miller argued that many of the youth he had observed came from female-dominated households, where the mothers engaged in serial monogomy. This meant that significant male authority figures rotated in and out of the home without providing the sex-role identification and authority that the youth needed.

Young men from these working-class urban environments exhibited thought patterns and behaviors that were marked by what Miller identified as lower-class focal concerns or values, including trouble, smartness, excitement, fate, toughness, and autonomy. The youth seemed to favor a reputation for “trouble” and sought out older peers from the streets as role models who reflected their preference for maleness, status, and belonging.

Miller continued his work on youth gangs and has been responsible for, or associated with, all three phases of the federal government's Youth Gang Surveys. These surveys cover the years from 1974 to 1978, 1980 to 1993, and 1994 to 1998. Over this period, Walter Miller has arguably been the nation's foremost expert on youth gangs. In 2001, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention published his latest report on the growth of youth gangs in the United States.

Academic Recognition

Dr. Miller held positions at Boston University, Brandeis University, Simmons College, the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, and the State University of New York at Albany. In 1973, he was named a research fellow at the Center for Criminal Justice at the Harvard Law School, where he is now professor emeritus.

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