The importance of empirical sociological surveys in providing legal support for Russia's social development has a substantive foundation. Sociology and the juridical sciences share a common viewpoint when it comes to the study of social relations, namely the analysis of normative behavior. Social norms and the norms of law differ a great deal, which is one of the reasons that rights of the individual, which are guaranteed by law, are violated. This article presents the result of a regional sociological survey of adolescent crime, conducted by the present author in 2004 in Saratov Oblast. The survey results show that ways to prevent criminal behavior by adolescents include, first and foremost, effective measures by state authorities to eradicate poverty. A mere increase in parents' spending on schooling without at the same time increasing per capita family income enough to cover costs will have the consequence of actually fostering the growth of adolescent crime. Sociological appraisal of factors that foster adolescents' criminal behavior leads to the conclusion that carrying out education reform at the expense of parents' resources in a situation, where families have less ability to meet the material needs of their children and there is no legally guaranteed help for poor families to educate their children will bring about a jump in thefts, muggings, and robberies that are committed by underage citizens. (Contains 3 tables.)