History Main / Delinquents

& The Gangreen Gang from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' is this and more. The time they're sent back to school, in "Schoolhouse Rocked," shows why no school will take them.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeIceKing'' has the Dark Moon Esbats, a gang of unpleasant but not very powerful young wizards who have stereotypical juvenile delinquent personalities.

* The "Dead End Kids" series from the 1930s, switching between the main characters and the supporting players, eventually becoming the Bowery Boys (and sliding into BMovie territory) when the actors got too old to play teens. They were somewhat more hard-edged in their film debut ''Film/{{Dead End|1937}}'', in which they assault and rob a rich kid, and one of them has to be stopped from slicing another's face with a knife. In ''Film/TheyMadeMeACriminal'' they are petty criminals (vandalism, burglary) who have been sent out to a date farm in Arizona in order to get straightened out.

* Carmen in ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'' was this before the movie begins. She first met Vincent after she got arrested for driving the getaway car while her (former) boyfriend was robbing his parents' house.
* The teenage leads of ''Film/LordsOfDogtown'' are this: growing up too wild in Venice Beach, California, "the ghetto by the sea", skipping school to surf in the early morning and joy-riding behind buses on their skateboards.
* John Connor in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. He skips school to steal from ATM machines, play at the arcade, and ride around on his motorbike playing loud metal music. It's basically him venting his frustrations at being taught from a young age that he'll be the leader of humanity in the Armageddon by (from his point of view) his insane terrorist mother.

* ''Film/OverTheEdge'' Is basically about what happens when you build a planned community and make no plans for the fact that 25% of the population is under 15.

* Jason and his friends of Creator/RickRiordan's ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' are students at a 'Wilderness School,' a BoardingSchool in Nevada for 'bad kids.'
* The main characters of the book ''Literature/TheOutsiders'' are a typical greaser gang. Their rivals are the Socs, who are true delinquents that get away with most of their crimes due to being rich.

* Most of Slytherin House in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series.

[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

* ''Series/HappyDays'': Fonzie is a semi-reformed delinquent.

* ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' has an interesting subversion: Gentarou dresses up like one, but he's the most likable guy out there!
* A group is seen in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' short ''Film/WhatAboutJuvenileDelinquency''.
* Mac and Charlie from ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' were this as children / teens (and grew up to become [[LowerClassLout Lower-Class Louts]]). Flashbacks to them at the age of 8/9 show their main hobbies as throwing rocks at trains / cats and burning trash.
* Two companions in ''{{Series/Doctor Who}}'':
** Dorothy "Ace" [=McShane=], an [[TheEighties Eighties]] delinquent who travelled with the Seventh Doctor.
** Courtney Woods, a [[TheNewTens New Tens]] delinquent who travelled with the Twelfth Doctor. Inkeeping with the show's general anti-establishment vibe, both Courtney and Ace are portrayed positively.
* ''Series/OpenHeart'' has Dylan and the group was with before her arrest and community service. Dylan still retains some of the delinquent traits, as they help her sneak around the hospital while she's [[AmateurSleuth sleuthing]].
* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS10E09TheThingsWeLeftBehind "The Things We Left Behind" (S10, E09)]], [[Characters/SupernaturalOtherHumans Claire]] is in a solitary cell in a juvenile center after running away. Later we see that she is shoplifting and mixed up with a dangerous man, Randy.
* Mirabelle of ''Series/TheKicks'' is a frequent rulebreaker and as such, is constantly in detention. Parker, her best friend, is also one of these. They even met in detention.

[[folder: Music]]

* Young Wrestling/GeorgeWagner, before he became GorgeousGeorge, was a delinquent. Being a deliquent didn't stop him from being a baby {{face}} though, [[FaceHeelTurn until]] became AmbiguouslyGay.[[/folder]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* The Zodiac Order in ''TabletopGame/PsionicsTheNextStageInHumanEvolution'' is basically made of delinquents. Their M.O. is making and dealing drugs, crashing parties, and making as much trouble for the authorities as possible. Artwork in the book depicts them as punks and hippies.
* ''Hellcats and Hockey Sticks'', being essentially ''Film/StTrinians'' with the SerialNumbersFiledOff, has the school being just as bad as its inspiration (and that's without taking magic and weird science into account).

[[folder:Theatre]]
* The two feuding gangs, the Polish-American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, in ''Theatre/WestSideStory''. Each gang even gets a song about it; the Jets have "Gee Officer Krupke," where they mock how every adult offers up different explanations for "delinquent" behavior without actually doing anything about it, while the Sharks have "I Like It Here In America," where the men of the Sharks protest to their girlfriends how xenophobic New York is.
* Basically everyone in ''Film/{{Grease}}'', even if they are singing the whole time.
* Jonny Warner of ''Theatre/ZombieProm'' is ''treated'' as a delinquent. He has a motorcycle, but the most rebellious thing he does is spell his name without the customary "h".
* "Three Juvenile Delinquents" from Noel Coward's ''Ace of Clubs''.

* Alex of ''[[VideoGame/{{TCT RPG}} The Colour Tuesday]]'', mostly due to no one taking her [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia Synesthesia]] seriously as a kid, and authority figures generally putting her down even for reasonable things. In reality, she's less an actual delinquent and more the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Girl]] in a world where the adults are morons. [[spoiler: As it turns out, having the adults be pawns of the Others doesn't help matters.]] Alex's status as a rebel is a sign of her destiny to break the control of the Others.

* Kyo Kusanagi from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' is a mild example, he gets into fights, skips school almost constantly, ignores/neglects his girlfriend and seems to enjoy brawling random people.
* Daigo Kazama, Eiji "Edge" Yamada and Gan Isurugi from ''VideoGame/RivalSchools''. Of course, the school they attend is [[PlanetOfHats nothing]] ''[[PlanetOfHats but]]'' [[PlanetOfHats deliquents]].
** In the sequel ''Project Justice'', they're joined by female delinquent Aoi "Zaki" Himezaki and her all-female gang, the Ladies Team. The two gangs even face off against each other in the game's story mode.
* Akira, from the near-future chapter of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', is the very image of a delinquent. He even slouches.

* ''Inverted'' in ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice''. The term is used to describe demons who attend the school that do... "odd" things. [[FelonyMisdemeanor Donating blood, picking up trash, attending classes, and even doing]] ''[[FelonyMisdemeanor homework]].'' Honor Students are the real delinquents; they skip class, cause fights, and so on. Of course this still fits the formal description of the term, as most of the students are aspiring {{Card Carrying Villain}}s and the school is supposed to train them to be "evil".
** The protagonist Mao is considered the top honor student because he has ''never attended a single day of school yet.'' He is deeply ashamed of that one time his rival forced him to perform "delinquent acts" of cleaning up and donating blood.
* G-Bankaran in ''The Second VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' is a HumongousMecha shaped like a stereotypical delinquent, piloted by an ''actual'' stereotypical delinquent.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': All of the party members beside [[NonHumanSidekick Morgana]] are high school students who moonlight as anti-heroic criminals. Ryuji and Ann also have the standard looks down when attending school, with blond hair (Ann's being natural) and extremely NonUniformUniform school clothing.

* The Bloody Fists in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' version two start out this way, but eventually turn into a full fledged criminal gang. Alexander Stevens, leader of the Hellbirds, also qualifies, though he tends to avoid making trouble in the schools themselves.

* The "Bad Kids" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', usually consisting of Kurst the Worst (who really doesn't take pride in her mean acts), Mundy, Skeens, Sue Bob Murphy, and Lazy Kid.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The teenage dragons Spike meets in Dragon Quest are delinquents, and a fairly nasty bunch too.

* Lars and his gang from ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' are this as well. They commonly play hooky, vandalize houses with toilet paper, and stay up past curfew. They also take delight in picking on the main kids (especially with [[BigBrotherBully Lars to Twister]]). [[AntiHero Otto Rocket]] tends to fall into this category as well considering he is the most rebellious and competitive of the main characters.
* Roger Klotz and his gang of friends from ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}''. They play pranks on other people, vandalize things, love to bully others especially Doug, and other stuff that falls under this category.

If the protagonist encounters them, they're probably going to either be bullied by them, or fall in with them. In the later case they'll serve as {{Poisonous Friend}}s who use [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil peer pressure]] to encourage the protagonist to join them in their misdeeds (naturally this "friendship" will be short lived, as the protagonist [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin will be caught the moment they try it]] and subsequantly be abandoned by them at best or made their {{scapegoat}} at worst). Alternatively, the trope can be played more lightly, with a delinquent acting as a sort of TokenEvilTeammate, or as an outright AntiHero.

This trope can overlap with SpoiledBrat or LowerClassLout (depending on who their parents happen to be). Expect them to act as {{mooks}} or be the "hat" of a GangOfHats. For the leather-clad delinquents of TheFifties and TheSixties, see GreaserDelinquents.

* The "Dead End Kids" series from the 1930s, switching between the main characters and the supporting players, eventually becoming the Bowery Boys (and sliding into BMovie territory) when the actors got too old to play teens. In ''Film/TheyMadeMeACriminal'' they are petty criminals (vandalism, burglary) who have been sent out to a date farm in Arizona in order to get straightened out.

* ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'' has an entire cast of delinquents (and a robot delinquent...and a gorilla...and Freddie Mercury), though they mostly spend their time [[BadassOnPaper talking about who they think is the toughest, rather than proving it by having a brawl]]. If you haven't guessed it yet, this is one great big parody of delinquent manga.
* Kouji Kabuto from ''Anime/MazingerZ'' skipped school and used rough language.
* ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}''
** Tatsumi Oga is such a violent delinquent that the son of Satan himself chooses him to be his guardian. Naturally, the people he associates with are delinquents as well.
** Hell, the school he attends, Ishiyama High, is repeatedly stated to have a delinquency rate of [[UpToEleven 120%]]. Everyone there is a delinquent, it's a [[TwoTeacherSchool No Teacher School]] ruled by the pseudo-AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil known as the Tohoshinki, with Oga himself being the technical StudentCouncilPresident, as he defeated all four of them.
* The student council in ''YankeeKunToMeganeChan'' consists of four legendary badass delinquents and one guy [[FaceOfAThug who'd easily pass as one]].
* England from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' was said to be quite the delinquent as a teen, something which he fervently denies due to his current status as a (self-proclaimed) gentleman. This is also touched in [[HighSchoolAU Gakuen Hetalia]] where in England's official bio it mentions how he had been given such a reputation in the past.
* ''Manga/HarlemBeat'': Kiriko, Kosuke, Sawamura love to smoke, gamble and skip school. And then there's the Kyan team.
* ''Crows'' and it's sequel ''Worst'' center around a gang of delinquents of Suzuran High.
* Airs Blue from ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'', a gang leader who gets his hands on the only gun on the Ryvius.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Sailor Jupiter (aka Makoto Kino)]] has this reputation at her school, because she is so tall that she couldn't get a uniform in her size, and because she's the new kid. She's not actually a delinquent, though, just has the reputation. [[spoiler: In actuality, she was not expelled from another school for fighting, but left voluntarily because she couldn't deal with seeing her ex after a bad breakup.]] According to WordOfGod she was ''supposed'' to be an actual delinquent (a leader of a girl-gang, specifically), but the creator changed her mind about that.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has had delinquent protagonists of both the Japanese and Western mold - Joseph, Jotaro (even though he chose to stay there), and Jolyne have even done jail time.
* Fuka Reventon of ''Anime/VividStrike'' is frequently gets into scraps with entire gangs due to her violent temper and subsequently gets into trouble with the police. As a loner orphan, this did not help her living condition as she's been kicked out from various jobs and from her orphanage due to all the trouble she causes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': All of the party members beside [[NonHumanSidekick Morgana]] are high school students who moonlight as criminals. Ryuji and Ann also have the standard looks down when attending school, with blond hair (Ann's being natural) and extremely NonuniformUniform school clothing.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': All of them party members beside [[NonHumanSidekick Morgana]] are high school students who moonlight as criminals. Ryuji and Ann also have the standard looks down when attending school, with blond hair and extremely NonuniformUniform school clothing.

* The ''Film/EastSideKids'' series from the 1930s & 40s, switching between the main characters and the supporting players.

* The Bloody Fists in ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' version two start out this way, but eventually turn into a full fledged criminal gang. Alexander Stevens, leader of the Hellbirds, also qualifies, though he tends to avoid making trouble in the schools themselves.

* ''Film/XMen'':

** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': Ororo and her gang of street urchins steal from market vendors in order to survive.

* Fuuka Reventon of ''Anime/VividStrike'' is frequently gets into scraps with entire gangs due to her violent temper and subsequently gets into trouble with the police. As a loner orphan, this did not help her living condition as she's been kicked out from various jobs and from her orphanage due to all the trouble she causes.

** In the sequel ''Project Justice'', they're joined by female delinquent Aoi "Zaki" Himezaki and her all-female gang, the Ladies Team. The two gangs even face off against each other in the game's story mode, as illustrated above.

* OlderThanRadio: Tom and Huck of MarkTwain's ''TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'' and ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''.

[[folder:Film]]
* John Bender from ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', though he's actually a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold pretty nice guy]] when you get to know him.
* The vampire gang in ''Film/TheLostBoys''.
* The ''Film/EastSideKids'' series from the 1930s & 40s, switching between the main characters and the supporting players.

* [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] with ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'', in which the teens act the way they do because they lack competent guidance from adults. In fact, the main character of the film, Jim, ''wants'' to be a good person, except society - including his own parents - is keeping him form being so.
* Carmen in ''Film/TheColorOfMoney'' was this before the movie begins. She first met Vincent after she got arrested for driving the getaway car while her (former) boyfriend was robbing his parents' house.
* The teenage leads of ''Film/LordsOfDogtown'' are this: growing up too wild in Venice Beach, California, "the ghetto by the sea", skipping school to surf in the early morning and joy-riding behind buses on their skateboards.
* John Connor in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. He skips school to steal from ATM machines, play at the arcade, and ride around on his motorbike playing loud metal music. It's basically him venting his frustrations at being taught from a young age that he'll be the leader of humanity in the Armageddon by (from his point of view) his insane terrorist mother.

* John Bender from ''TheBreakfastClub'', though he's actually a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold pretty nice guy]] when you get to know him.
* The vampire gang in ''TheLostBoys''.
* The ''EastSideKids'' series from the 1930s & 40s, switching between the main characters and the supporting players.