Recent research indicates that children exposed to certain risk factors in their families, at school, among their peers, and in their communities are at greater risk of becoming serious violent juvenile (SVJ) offenders. The Study Group on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, a group of 22 researchers convened by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to study the population of SVJ offenders, implementing family, school, and community interventions is the best way to prevent children from becoming SVJ offenders. Interventions include strategies that prevent problem behavior or that intervene to reduce future problem behavior. The Study Group also concluded that programs similar in philosophy to public health approaches (i.e., those that both address risk factors and introduce protective factors) are the most promising prevention and early intervention programs for SVJ offenders. The Study Group examined five types of school interventions: structured playground activities, behavioral consultation, behavioral monitoring and reinforcement, metal detectors, and schoolwide reorganization. Programs monitoring student behavior and reinforcing attendance and academic progress increased positive school behavior and academic achievement, and decreased delinquency. The Study Group also examined eight types of community interventions: citizen mobilization, situational prevention, comprehensive citizen intervention, mentoring, afterschool recreation programs, policing strategies, policy changes, and mass media interventions. Several of these interventions showed positive results in reducing risk and enhancing protective factors. In studies with long-term follow-up, certain programs were effective in reducing juvenile crime and substance abuse. (Contains 89 references.) (GCP)