NCJ Number
149485
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: (1994) Pages: 3-14
Date Published
1994
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article presents the program background, principles, rationale, and components for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's comprehensive strategy for dealing with serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders.
Abstract
The program was spurred by the increase in serious and violent juvenile crime over the past few years, as indicated by the statistics presented in this article. The principles that provide the framework for addressing such crime focus on strengthening the family, supporting core social institutions, promoting delinquency prevention, intervening promptly and effectively when delinquent behavior occurs, and identifying and controlling the small group of serious juvenile offenders. The program rationale is based in the belief that risk-focused prevention is the most effective way to prevent delinquency. The major risk factors are in the community, family, school, and in the individual and peer group. Prevention strategies must be comprehensive, so as to address each of the risk factors as they relate to the chronological development of children being served. Based on research and experience, the program has a highly structured system of graduated sanctions, the goal of which is to increase the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system in responding to juveniles who have committed criminal acts. Some effective and promising program models are briefly described. Expected benefits outlined for the program are delinquency prevention, increased juvenile justice system responsiveness, increased juvenile accountability, decreased costs of juvenile corrections, increased responsibility of the juvenile justice system, increased program effectiveness, and crime reduction. Next steps in implementing the strategy are described.