Blueprints for Violence Prevention

• NCJ Number: 187079
• Author(s): Sharon Mihalic; Katherine Irwin; Delbert Elliott; Abigail Fagan; Diane Hansen
• Date Published: July 2001
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-MU-MU-K005
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Corporate Author: University of Colorado at Boulder
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse/NCJRS
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report describes the criteria established by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence to designate model programs called Blueprints for Violence Prevention and discusses the activities of the 11 programs from the more than 500 reviewed to date that have met those standards.

Abstract

The report also discusses replication of the program, their funding, and lessons learned from the replication sites. The most significant criterion in reviewing a program’s effectiveness was evidence of its deterrent effect based on a strong research design. The programs also demonstrated an effect at least 1 year beyond treatment, with no subsequent evidence that this effect disappeared. A further criterion was the demonstration of success in multiple sites in diverse settings with diverse populations. Two further factors were whether a program conducted an analysis of mediating factors and whether a program was cost effective. The Blueprints programs featured in the report have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing adolescent violent crime, aggression, delinquency, drug abuse, and predelinquent childhood aggression and conduct disorders. Individual programs involved prenatal and infancy home visitation by nurses; curricula for parent, teacher, and child training to promote social competence and prevent, reduce, and treat conduct problems in children ages 2-8 at risk for problem behavior; and a school-based intervention called Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS). Further programs included the Bullying Prevention Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Life Skills Training, the Midwestern Prevention Project, Functional Family Therapy, Multisystemic Therapy, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, and the Quantum Opportunities Program to benefit youth from families receiving public assistance. The experience of these programs indicates that obstacles to implementation are inevitable and that sites can overcome problems through a network of support at the staff, supervisory, administrative, and community levels. Table, footnotes, contact information for each program, and 25 references