In a context where more than 1,000,000 American adolescents are processed by juvenile courts annually and approximately 160,000 are sent to residential placements, this paper examines "what works" and "what doesn't work" in reducing the criminal behavior of juvenile offenders and presents examples of government initiatives that have successfully…

Over the past ten years, probation departments across the state of California have undertaken five major initiatives aimed at juvenile offenders and at-risk youths. Although these initiatives were concomitant with reductions in juvenile arrests and other positive outcomes, we cannot definitively attribute such observed statewide trends to these…

A supplement to the related document "Delinquency Prevention: Theories and Strategies," this paper analyzes the options for state agencies (particularly state planning agencies participating in the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration formula grant program) to promote and support program forms recommended in the companion document.…

These proceedings of the Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice deal with the proposed abolition of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which was marked for elimination in the proposed budget of the Justice Department. Testimony is presented that supports retention of this office along with the comments of senators, police and…

This report contains the results of a 3-year study sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, whose purpose was to assess what has been happening to youth who commit status offenses (truants, runaways, incorrigibles), in the aftermath of the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The book reviews and…

This document expands and updates the information presented in the First Analysis and Evaluation of Federal Juvenile Delinquency Programs. It includes: a description of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; a report on the activities and recommendations…

The Comprehensive Youth Services Act (CYSA), which was enacted in 1997 to fund juvenile probation services, had the following three basic goals: (1) keep probation youths from further crime; (2) help probation and at-risk youths develop essential skills to avoid dependence on public assistance; and (3) help achieve overarching federal Temporary…