This paper calls for a coordinated effort of the public, the juvenile court system, and the schools to alleviate juvenile problems in the 1980s. The following needs are discussed and deemed necessary to this common effort: to identify the problem child at the earliest possible stage; to develop new approaches to the challenge of the child advocate…

This paper explores the relationship between public welfare agencies and juvenile courts in cases involving child abuse. Data was gathered from eight Southeastern States through questionnaires and personal interviews with agency officials. The findings are incorporated into a discussion of agency-court relationships in the areas of adjudication…

One unintended consequence of juvenile diversion may be that diversion programs widen the net of justice system control, rather than divert youth from the system. This issue was examined in a group of youths who were randomly assigned to either the Adolescent Diversion Project (ADP) or to a control group who received services as usual by the court…

Based mainly on personal experience and conditions prevailing in Malaysia, this discussion of juvenile delinquency explores (1) the extent of the problem; (2) some causative factors from a theoretical viewpoint; (3) criminal justice system provisions for dealing with the problem; and (4) preventive measures. In Malaysia, between 1960 and 1980 the…

This report is an evaluation of the Youth Crisis Center program run by the Wichita, Kansas Children's Service League to provide crisis counseling services to status offenders. Two major objective of the program were to reduce the number of adjudicated status offenders in Sedgwick County, Kansas; and to reduce placement of such youth in locked…

Psychologists and psychiatrists are regularly used during civil commitment and other hearings to prognosticate dangerousness for the courts. In this process, the judiciary has shown almost complete deference to the recommendations of forensic specialists despite a number of early studies that did not support a clinician's ability to predict…

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 provided financial incentives to states to divert and deinstitutionalize status offenders. Recently, criticisms are surfacing that the federal involvement in the status offender issue was inappropriate and had given children the freedom to run away. Concern about victimization of girls…

This paper presents a broad overview of information about delinquency, crime, and school discipline and violence in relation to U.S. youths. Part 1 compares U.S. and West Germany's crime rates for 1980-1985, while part 2 focuses on U.S. juvenile crime facts and on the contribution of the increasing number of U.S. family breakdowns to juvenile…

Although the media has attended to the subject of juvenile homicide, the professional literature on the subject is sparse. To identify a model for standardized data collection for juveniles who murder, 12 juveniles charged with first degree murder were administered a series of tests during psychological interviews. Data were collected on social…

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Rorschach test are frequently used in juvenile justice settings to assess current psychological functioning and to predict future behavior. The Exner Comprehensive System, which standardized the Rorschach, made possible a comparison of the Rorschach and the MMPI in an investigation of…

The paper reviews the programmatic efforts of the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) targeted for learning disabled delinquents. The history of research projects with this population is traced, and current grant programs designed to make key officials aware of learning disabilities are reviewed. The need for training and…

This paper is an application of attribution theory to the processing of juvenile delinquents in an attempt to understand the differential treatment of female and male offenders within the juvenile justice system. The paper explores the attributions of juvenile delinquency both by male and female minors, by male and female parents, and by male and…

The child is scapegoat in the struggle between varying forces--political, professional, or ideological--in the effort to establish services on his behalf. Faddism, political mottoes, and professional cliches are overdetermining service planning for children. The child has become the victim of his rescuers. Illustrations are given from national and…

Follow-up data are often a neglected part of the evaluation of community programs. Yet, they should be an essential part of the information input to the process of judging effectiveness and whether or not the program should continue. This paper presents follow-up data on a juvenile diversion program which has been operating in a small Western…

The recent development of strong statistical techniques has made accurate predictions of recidivism possible. To investigate the utility of discriminant analysis methodology in making predictions of recidivism in juvenile offenders, the court records of 271 male and female juvenile offenders, aged 12-16, were reviewed. A cross validation group…