NCJ Number
75450
Date Published
1981
Length
164 pages
Annotation
Intended as a resource volume for persons interested in developing, implementing, and testing effective ways to prevent juvenile delinquency, this monograph identifies and describes 36 prevention programs currently operating in the United States which can be used as models in cause-focused delinquency prevention planning.
Abstract
Not all of these programs have been adequately evaluated to determine their effectiveness in preventing delinquency. For this reason, the programs are presented as patterns for creative thought and action, rather than as models for replication. The 36 programs were selected from among 541 prevention projects identified in a national survey. Respondents representing public funding, policy, and planning agencies of the Federal Government and all 50 States and Puerto Rico, private foundations and agencies, and local social service agencies nominated the programs as being the most promising or effective in their area for preventing delinquency. Directors of nominated programs then completed a detailed questionnaire. The 36 programs address at least one empirically supported cause of delinquency, show promising evaluation results if evaluated, and together represent a range of programs focusing on the major institutions affecting the lives of youths during the developmental process (e.g., families, schools, peer groups, churches, community groups, youth and recreation clubs and services). The programs are arranged alphabetically, with each description giving key characteristics. These include the program's location, target population, implementation requirements and implementing agency, budget, and rationale. Also included is information on program strategies, which may include one or more of such categories as biological/physiological, psychological/mental health, social network development, criminal influence reduction, power enhancement, role development/role enhancement, activities/recreation, education/skill development, consistent social expectations, economic resources, deterrence, and abandonment of legal control/social tolerance. Finally, the descriptions contain data on the programs' effectiveness as reported by program evaluators. Comments on each program highlight views of the National Center for the Assessment of Delinquent Behavior and Its Prevention concerning the key aspects of the program's conceptualization, target population, activities, implementation, and evaluation. A prevention program matrix is provided to assist readers in identifying programs of interest on the basis of the 11 key characteristics. Appendixes give definitions of variables in the prevention program matrix and a typology of cause-based juvenile crime prevention strategies. One figure and approximately 55 references are provided.