What was S.E. Hinton's inspiration for writing The Outsiders?

Answer S.E. Hinton had a friend who went through something like this (being jumped) and S. E. Hinton didn't like it so she thought that if she could publish a book about it or related to it, everyone would know and understand what her friend went through. Her friend's name was Jimmy, and if you look at the book, it is dedicated to Jimmy.