NCJ Number
206204
Date Published
2002
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the theoretical premises for juvenile delinquency prevention policies implemented in the Czech Republic and Lithuania, which focus on social dimensions for intervention, data are presented on youth crime before and after the implementation of the national juvenile delinquency prevention projects; Poland, which has no national juvenile delinquency prevention program, is also included in the analysis.
Abstract
In the Czech Republic, increases in juvenile crime during the period 1990-94 led to the initiation of an official crime prevention policy as a working concept in 1994. The aim of the new prevention system was to develop the basic conditions for the creation and effective use of prevention mechanisms designed to eliminate the complex causes of crime while promoting the favorable conditions that support law-abiding behavior. The three-pronged targets of intervention were the individual and the modes of his/her behavior when interacting with the social environment; the social environment conducive to positive behavior; and situational prevention, which aims to eliminate the situation that supports the possibility of crime. The structural division of prevention activities was defined by the three interrelated and interconnected levels of State, region, and local. A total of 300 cities were involved in the cooperative prevention program initiated in 1996-97, which presented various prevention projects for competitive funding to States. A total of 500 projects received financial support. The local programs focused on parents and children in the contexts of family and school. Lithuania undertook a National Prevention Program for Juvenile Delinquents in 1996. The objective of the reform was to move beyond punishment to the effective prevention of delinquent behaviors. A total of 140 programs were funded by the government in 1997, consisting of 71 programs of general purpose and 69 specialized programs. The latter focused on the interaction between negative environmental factors and youth development. The prevention project emphasized the promotion of a positive social environment, the humanization of punishments for delinquents, and protection of children's rights. Currently, there is no national prevention policy in Poland. Prevention activities are randomly established by people of "good will" who develop programs in consultation with specialists. The lack of sufficient financing is the most significant impediment for the development of prevention initiatives. It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of preventive intervention across countries by using the available quantitative data on juvenile delinquents, since the results of prevention projects can only be identified by combining both quantitative and qualitative analysis into longitudinal study. Nevertheless, significant differences in registered youth crime in the three countries indicate that the Czech Republic and Lithuania have managed to stabilize juvenile crime fluctuations and reduce youth arrest statistics while juvenile delinquency in Poland over the past 5 years reached its highest increase of 8.2 percent in the year 2000. This suggests that a nationwide coordinated prevention strategy that promotes local prevention projects based in the targeting of analyzed delinquency causes can be effective. 33 notes, 74 references, and appended tables and charts on juvenile crime data and the organization of the national prevention programs for the Czech Republic and Lithuania