OBJECTIVE The present paper is an overview of studies examining chronic, persistent offending and recidivism in adolescents and young offenders. METHODS The review focused on published papers dealing with chronic offending of adolescents and young offenders. RESULTS The paper provides the picture on definition on juvenile delinquency, definition of recidivism, measurement and operationalisation of recidivism, definition of chronic offenders, correlates and predictors of chronic offending, differences and similarities between chronic and non-chronic offenders, possible genetic influences in chronic offending, proportion of criminal activity attributed to chronic young offenders, factors differentially associated with initiation, escalation, persistence and desistance in juvenile offending. CONCLUSIONS Overall the boundaries of the sociological approach to the study of chronic offending are stressed and the possible advantages of employing a social psychological approach to the study of chronic offending are noted.