Usually has a history of behavioral and academic difficulties, yet "gets by" by conning others. Problems in making and keeping friends; aberrant behaviors such as cruelty to people or animals, stealing, etc.
Sociopaths hate rules. We hate limits, and we generally hate authority. As a child, it's hard to understand, so most sociopaths end up getting caught often. The odd thing is, though, is even as a child, a sociopath will be able to justify the action; i.e. only stealing candy that wasn't being eaten by someone else, hurting a dog because it wasn't listening, breaking a toy only when it's already broken. A sociopath doesn't take candy from a baby, a sociopath takes candy from a doctors office, getting four or five suckers out of the basket that says "Take One Please." A sociopath doesn't hurt an animal out of frustration, a sociopath hurts an animal to teach it. Most of the sociopath's behavioral problems are shown in adolescence, however. Where many teens 'rebel' out of anger, frustration, loneliness, peer pressure, or other emotional reasons, sociopaths 'rebel' solely for the purpose of rebellion. Every sociopath will test the limits, see what can be gotten away with, and more often than not, push it too far. Keeping items that are questionable, if not outright contraband on their person at school, threatening peers to see if they'll retaliate, intentionally being the 'queer kid' to cause a stir, breaking minor rules like dress code or attendance policies in order to irritate authority, limitless possibilities to the ways the rules can be broken. A sociopath will generally know exactly the punishment for breaking the rules as well, and when questioned, will normally own the crime. No denial, no trying to squirm around the rules. Just a solid stance of "I broke the rules. Punish me." It often forces disciplinary action to become awkward, when a student walks into the principal's office, knowing the punishment better than the principal does.
Another type of delinquency is when the young sociopath dislikes a rule, and so questions it by performing an act which does not directly break the rule, but calls into question the validity of the rule. This is actually a lawyer's method for changing the law. The lawyer, however, waits for someone to break the law he doesn't like, then goes to prove that the law somehow infringes the rights of the person who broke it, and that the only reason the person broke that specific law was to exercise their rights. A sociopath would simply break the law because they didn't like it, then when court came around, explain to the judge and jury why (s)he broke the law. Getting a sentence wouldn't bother the sociopath, however, as they'd easily convince everyone around them, parents, friends, teachers, that the sentence was ridiculous and the law was idiotic. Doing so makes the sociopath a martyr, while getting off the hook makes the sociopath a hero. Either way, the broken rule gives the sociopath a positive outcome.
Throughout younger ages, friends will be hard to come by, as most sociopaths have difficulty communicating with people before they develop. A sociopath's mind functions on a different level, using different logic and reasoning than the people around him/her. A young, undeveloped sociopath may often begin to believe that they are smarter than their peers, or otherwise better, and will be seen as cocky, else the undeveloped sociopath may begin to view his/herself as weird, a misfit, and will be labeled and judged as such. As the sociopath reaches teen years, however, (s)he begins to be able to fake normality, and grow into a small group of friends. As the sociopath becomes more comfortable, (s)he begins to expand, adding more groups of people to their repertoire, learning more about different cliques in their school, and fitting in more and more. Old prejudices may remain, however, as many teens may remember the sociopath as the 'weird kid' from middle or elementary school.
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