The Youth Environmental Service (YES) aims to rehabilitate adjudicated delinquents and to prevent at-risk youth from entering the juvenile justice system by engaging them in environmental work and education programs on federally owned land. YES is a joint program of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and…

This booklet describes the juvenile justice system and offers suggestions for the system's future. The disparate legal context of juvenile justice in the United States reflects Americans' ambivalent feelings toward this branch of justice. What is needed, it is argued, is a developmental perspective where society expects young people to make…

In 1995, a report on the Washington state juvenile justice system found that minority youth were four times more likely than white youth to be sentenced to confinement. This report reviews aspects of disproportionality in Washington's juvenile justice system, summarizes inquiries by the Washington Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil…

A five-year longitudinal study of 531 incarcerated youth, more than half of whom had a disability, showed that those who were working or in school 6 months after release tended to stay involved in positive activities and had not returned to the juvenile facility 12 months after release. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Interdisciplinary and social-developmental approaches for prevention of juvenile violence are explored. Twenty-one recent works are reviewed and their approaches compared. At issue are early identification of juvenile delinquents who go on to careers of serious violence, and interdisciplinary application of modern scientific knowledge to the…

As part of a larger study examining the impact of the "get tough" policy on juvenile crime, we studied the effects of efforts to "get tough" on juvenile participation in diversion programs in Hillsborough County, Florida. Florida legislature budget cuts in 2000 eliminated a primary community service program (JASP), replacing it…

Following a national trend of "getting tough" on increased juvenile crime, the Florida legislature eliminated one of the primary community service-oriented juvenile diversion programs, the Juvenile Alternative Services Program (JASP). JASP was subsequently replaced with four other diversion programs, two of which (the Walker Plan and an…

Canadian counselors working with young offenders confront at least two problems that interfere with effective intervention: a trend toward increased incarceration, and public confusion and mistrust over approaches to reducing crime. Research during the past decade is beginning to show clearly that programs for young offenders and other at-risk…

Describes the application of the Positive Peer Culture (PPC) treatment methodology to a population of troubled girls in a residential setting. The peer group utilizes naturally occurring problems as vehicles to teach girls about errors in behavior and thinking. Community activities are used to practice newly obtained prosocial behaviors. (LSR)

Provides a history of youthful offenders and society's efforts at rehabilitation and punishment. Traces the development of correctional institutions from their early days in England to the current efforts involving intervention and prevention. Includes photographs, historical and contemporary statistics, and tabular data. (MJP)

This study examined the relationship of basic educational skills in Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension and Math to program outcome and escape risk among male juvenile offenders in residential care. The records of 144 youth who were treated in a residential treatment center between 1978 and 1996 were reviewed along with subsequent adult and juvenile…

This report is based on a review of literature, statistical data, and a range of community-based programs for juvenile offenders, studied during the past 5 years by the National Governors' Association. The report provides an overview of innovative approaches to program design and coordination of services for delinquent youth. It describes several…

This curriculum is the product of a project between the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Juvenile Detention Association to develop and implement a 40-hour, core training curriculum for line staff in education programs in juvenile confinement and custody facilities. The curriculum is primarily intended…

This digest presents the major findings of a national survey of public and private facilities and state agencies on the prevalence of youth with disabilities in juvenile and adult correctional facilities in the United States and the educational and related services offered to them. Findings include: (1) a preliminary estimate of the prevalence of…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the mental health referral patterns of youth referred to a public sector mental health system as the result of a judicial consent decree. The study included two samples of youth ages 13-17 from the entire state of South Carolina. The first group included incarcerated youth recruited from…