NCJ Number
186352
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the Juvenile Action Group (JAG) as a community and interagency approach to crime prevention.
Abstract
The city of Albany, Western Australia, has established JAG to create a safer and more secure community by identifying young people at risk of criminal behavior and/or drug and alcohol abuse. JAG is a mobile response team comprising a police officer, youth worker, and aboriginal liaison officer, dedicated to responding to young people’s needs and behaviors outside traditional hours. The JAG Team can distribute to hungry young people food vouchers honored at local fast food outlets, take these kids to the home of a responsible adult, or to the youth crisis accommodation center for temporary care. During 1999, 2,240 young people were taken home, to a crisis center, or to a hospital because they were at risk. The JAG has been responsible for a dramatic reduction in overt substance abuse, substantial savings in city vandalism and graffiti cleanup costs, and decrease in the number of children appearing in the Children’s Court from 126 in February 1998 to 15 in November 1999.