NCJ Number
114694
Date Published
1989
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This chapter shows how community organization approaches to juvenile delinquency prevention were developed from an ecological model and Cloward and Ohlin's (1960) opportunity theory.
Abstract
Early community strategies combined community groups and agencies into an umbrella type organization focused on strengthening intergroup cooperation for the attainment of welfare objectives, making the public aware of community resources, and assisting in case-finding and referral. The field of delinquency prevention has used strategies ranging from neighborhood councils to social workers doing outreach with urban gangs. Five of the most widely known projects and approaches of the last 80 years have been community coordinating councils, Youth Service Bureaus, the Chicago Area Project, Boston's Midcity Project, and New York's Mobilization for Youth project. The Youth Service Bureau, a modern day version of coordinating councils, built on previous programs and approaches. The major goals were to divert juveniles from the juvenile justice system, fill gaps through advocacy and services development, provide case and program coordination, and involve youth in the decisionmaking process. Experiences from these programs suggest that delinquency prevention strategies should involve community residents and social workers and should provide individual and family counseling and vocational and educational programming and services. 7 discussion questions and 36 references.