NCJ Number
233278
Date Published
January 2011
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This issue of Justice Resource Update presents brief descriptions of recent activities of the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs (OJP), including efforts in child protection, trends in correctional populations, youth gang research and programs, evaluation of the gang research program of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), a report on identity theft victimization, and substance use and delinquent behavior among serious offenders.
Abstract
As part of its efforts to protect children, OJP recently announced a partnership between the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Facebook that will expand the distribution of AMBER Alert postings, which are issued by law enforcement in serious child abduction cases that meet specific criteria. OJP announces that in 2009, the Nation experienced the first measured decline in the total number of adults under correctional supervision since the Bureau of Justice Statistics began reporting on these populations in 1980. The number of adults under correctional supervision in the United States declined by less than 1 percent to 7,225,800 (down by 48,800 offenders) at yearend 2008. OJJDP, an agency under OJP, recently published a bulletin that presents a compilation of current research on gangs, including research findings on the status of gang problems in the United States, why youth join gangs, the risk factors and attractions that increase youth's propensity to join gangs, and how gangs form. In addition, a new bulletin presents findings of an independent evaluation of OJJDP's Gang Reduction Program, a $10 million, multiyear initiative to reduce crime associated with youth street gangs in Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; North Miami Beach, FL; and Richmond, VA. Other reports mentioned document the prevalence of identity-theft victimization over a 2-year period prior to 2008 and examine the link between adolescent substance use and serious offending. A listing of conferences and training events