It also stated that "the juvenile justice system has been able to screen the hard core offenders fairly well, but it has been unable to restrain, discourage, or cure delinquency."
Wolfgang spent the later years of his life showing his opposition to issues such as the death penalty and the use of a gun against a perpetrator in articles such as "We Do Not Deserve to Kill"[8] and A Tribute to a View I Have Opposed.
"[9] His career was cut short by pancreatic cancer, and he died on 12 April 1998, while in the middle of a longitudinal study of crime in China.
One of the conclusions Wolfgang argued was that even if firearms had been removed from a shooting, the assailant would have chosen the next most suitable weapon and carried on with their intentions.
[11] Studies which provided a counter or alternate to Wolfgang's conclusions included Zimrings' observations that "if knives were substituted for guns, the homicide rate would drop significantly" (weapon instrumentality effect).
[13] This lack of methodological objectivity in measuring an assailants intentions resulted in Wolfgang's research having significant influence until the early 1990s.
[14] Wolfgang's undiscredited weapon substitution hypothesis would have an impact on the gun debate as it was able to counter the best of pro-gun control conclusions.