The United States is in the top ten out of 108 countries for the highest juvenile offender percentage (Harrendorf, Heiskanen, & Malby, 2010). Interaction with the juvenile court system has significant iatrogenic effects (Steinberg, Chung, & Little, 2004; Gatti, Tremblay, & Vitaro, 2009; McCord, 1992; Gatti, Tremblay, & Vitaro,…

Juvenile delinquency intervention and treatment programs have the broad goals of preventing crime and reducing recidivism by providing treatment and services to youth who have committed crimes. The following five statements are presented in this report and based on practices and programs rated by CrimeSolutions: (1) Juvenile awareness programs may…

Background: Evidence of treatment foster care (TFC) and group care's (GC) potential to prevent delinquency and crime has been developing. Objectives: We clarified the state of comparative knowledge with a historical overview. Then we explored the hypothesis that smaller, probably better resourced group homes with smaller staff/resident ratios have…

This article examines the extent to which participation in a large urban afterschool program had an impact on reducing participants' future juvenile crime rate. The research tracked the academic and juvenile crime histories for a sample of 6,000 students, including 2,000 participants in LA's BEST and 4,000 matched control students not…

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed what is now known as the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA). This effort was designed to provide a stable funding source to counties for juvenile programs that have been proven effective in curbing crime among juvenile probationers and young at-risk offenders. The Corrections Standards…

In recent years, schools have become a focal point for general delinquency and gang prevention programs for a variety of reasons. One premise behind this approach is that schools can serve as ideal settings for providing delinquency and intervention services because youths spend so much time there. School-based gang prevention efforts are supposed…

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile-justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) (formerly named the Board of Corrections) the administrator of funding. A 2001 California Senate bill extended the funding and changed the…

This report describes the results of an exploratory study of juvenile justice programs where managers and practitioners are attempting to build youth interventions with strength-based, positive youth development principles. Previous researchers have not adequately documented how such reforms take place, let alone whether they produce effective…

David Finkelhor examines initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse, which have focused on two primary strategies--offender management and school-based educational programs. Recent major offender management initiatives have included registering sex offenders, notifying communities about their presence, conducting background employment checks,…

Demonstrated long-range effectiveness of SAY IT STRAIGHT training as a school-based program for the prevention of destructive behaviors by comparing juvenile police offenders among trained and untrained ninth through twelfth graders (N=357) for 18 months following training. Found untrained students had more criminal offenses than did trained…

With serious problems plaguing California's juvenile justice system, the efficacy of incapacitating juveniles in the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) correctional facilities must be reexamined. California's youth incarceration patterns offer an opportunity to analyze the validity of incapacitation theory as it applies to young people. Under…

Panel data were analyzed to determine whether funding for collaborative juvenile crime prevention programs reduced arrests in California counties. Because the data were a population (i.e., all 58 counties in the state), regression results were summarized descriptively, and special attention was given to the direction and magnitude of key…

"Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California" is an anti-crime organization led by more than 200 California sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys, and victims of violence. This report brings together new evidence from California and around the nation showing that the after-school hours are the peak time when youth become involved in…

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) compiled this summary in order to assist states and jurisdictions in their delinquency prevention efforts. The summary provides a synthesis of current information on a broad range of programs and strategies which seek to prevent delinquency. The theory of risk-focused prevention is…

This report describes the economics of programs working to reduce crime in Washington State. For a variety of approaches, from prevention programs designed for young children to correctional interventions for juvenile and adult offenders, it systematically analyzes North American research studies from the past 25 years. For this review, the…