This report includes content areas consistent with the major activities and program components of the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (NIJJDP). The major statutorily-established functions of NIJJDP are assessed in terms of research, evaluation, and program development, information development and dissemination,…

Over 5,200 youths processed through a Juvenile Assessment Center during a 20-month period were involved in this study of recidivism predictors. Significant relationships were found between the youths' demographics, dependency referral factors, delinquency referral history variables, and recidivism. Direct implications for service delivery and…

An innovation in the teaching of undergraduate psychology courses is the implementation of a field experience that gives students the opportunity to apply newly learned skills and knowledge in a community setting. Changes in undergraduates' attitudes toward various delinquency interventions were examined as a result of participation in a…

Traditional mental health approaches for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders often fail to yield successful results. However, one method, Multisystemic Therapy (MST), which represents a departure from traditional treatment strategies, is described. MST was designed to provide communities with affordable and effective remedies for…

This study evaluated a multiple-family group-intervention program (MFGI) for first-time juvenile offenders. The recidivism rate for subjects who completed the MFGI (the Family Solutions Program) was compared to recidivism rates of two other groups of first-time juvenile offenders. Using logistic regression analysis predicting who will recidivate,…

The Urbana-Champaign Adolescent Diversion Project (ADP) involves children, parents, professors, graduate and under-graduate students, policemen, teachers, and community social service workers in a cooperative effort to divert youngsters in legal jeopardy from the juvenile justice system. Its three goals are: (1) to provide juveniles with an…

The use of undergraduates (N=57) working on a one-to-one basis with delinquent youths as the change agents in a nonprofessional program which systematically varied training/supervision/intervention components was investigated. Students and delinquents (N=73) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental training/supervision conditions or to a…

Compensatory education, criminal rehabilitation and training the hard-core unemployed are all forms of resocialization. Resocialization programs operate on the assumption that values, attitudes, and ability can be permanently altered as a result of outside intervention. The importance of resocialization is evidenced by the vast amounts of money…

With the recent trend towards diversionary projects for juvenile law offenders, various threapeutic residential and outreach models have been introduced. It was hypothesized that there are family characteristics which are related to high incidences of continued delinquent behavior, and that males from single parent, low-income families will be the…

This paper describes a California-based interagency program that combines mental health, educational, and probation services in an effort to reduce juvenile recidivism. The program provides interagency services at three therapeutic high schools and one juvenile facility with the goal of keeping minors at home and thereby reducing recidivism by…

This paper describes the Prime Time Project, a Washington-based project which is a comprehensive intervention model for youths who are at the extreme end of the juvenile justice continuum due to their history of repeat offending, relatively severe offenses, a high degree of isolation or abandonment from their natural community, and the…

This article discusses the prevalence of youth with behavioral disorders in correctional settings and reviews issues related to schooling, programing, teacher training, and teacher supply and demand. It notes that increasingly violent, antisocial, and culturally diverse incarcerated youth are expected, requiring special teachers who are both well…

Reports results of a study of the long term impact of a Family Empowerment Intervention (FEI) on the psychosocial functioning among youths processed at Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center who entered the project between September 1994 and January 1998. Results provide support for the sustained effect of FEI services. (BF)

In 1976 the Special Emphasis branch of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention made $10 million available for the development of 11 diversion programs. A national evaluation of these programs was promoted in the hope of better understanding the viability of diversion as an alternative to traditional practices. The impact of…

The Adolescent Diversion Project, an alternative to court processing for juvenile offenders, employs intervention strategies of behavioral contracting and advocacy. Youth (N=73) were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) the control group receiving usual court treatment; (2) the family condition involving a trained undergraduate volunteer who…