As one of the primary agents of socialization during adolescence, schools have become an important place for crime prevention. Many programmes have been developed but many of them lack a theoretical basis. Therefore criminological learning theories are examined for possible starting points for successful school-based crime prevention. Theses derived from these theories concerning the direct and indirect impact of student–teacher relationships on students’ attitudes and later self-reported delinquency are analysed with the first four waves (ages 13 to 16) from the German prospective panel study Crime in the Modern City. The findings suggest that the quality of the student–teacher relationship is a causal link in the generation of adolescent delinquent behaviour and hence a promising starting point for crime prevention measures.