This bulletin draws on findings from an independent evaluation, conducted by the Urban Institute, of the Gang Reduction Program's (GRP) Impact in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; North Miami Beach, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia, to examine how effectively these sites implemented the program. Following are some of the authors' key…

The parenting gap is a big factor in the opportunity gap. The chances of upward social mobility are lower for children with parents struggling to do a good job--in terms of creating a supportive and stimulating home environment. Children lucky enough to have strong parents are more likely to succeed at all the critical life stages, which means…

Supposedly designed to improve student attendance, the aggressive truancy policing in Los Angeles (LA) has discouraged students from going to class and often pushes them to drop out and into harm's way. Truancy tickets play a role in the school-to-prison pipeline. Students are being brought up in an environment that is a pre-prisoning of youth. LA…

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…

This brief is designed for juvenile justice agencies and professionals (including law enforcement officers, juvenile probation officers, attorneys, juvenile court personnel, and detention facility staff), as well as State Coordinators for Homeless Education and local homeless education liaisons. It provides basic information to help educators…

Juvenile offending is associated with several bleak outcomes, including high rates of continued crime and incarceration, substance use, and higher mortality rates due to crime. Academic achievement is a very important consideration in the area of crime and delinquency: Failure is associated with greater delinquency, and success is a protective…

This study assesses the effects of three aspects of school organization--student enrollment, student-teacher ratio, and the number of different students taught--on the property and personal victimization experiences of students. It hypothesizes that smaller schools, schools with lower ratios of students to adults, and schools in which the number…

K-12 public schools across the country have begun to deploy law enforcement agents on school grounds in growing numbers. In 2004, 60% of high school teachers reported armed police officers stationed on school grounds, and in 2005, almost 70% of public school students ages 12 to 18 reported that police officers or security guards patrol their…

It's not easy to keep young people on task for learning in a youth prison, but David Domenici, the principal of the Maya Angelou Academy, a charter-like school serving incarcerated juveniles, is trying to do it while at the same time creating a model program for improving educational services for young offenders. Located at the New Beginnings…

Prevailing anti-violence practices in public schools, especially in the context of recently increased emphasis on bullying, often allocate more resources to surveillance and control than to facilitation of healthy relationships or conflict/ peace learning. This policy emphasis increases the risks of marginalization and reduces opportunities for…

State juvenile justice systems face critical problems when it comes to juvenile delinquency issues such as reentry--when offenders return home from incarceration--and substance abuse. GAO was asked to review juvenile reentry and substance abuse program research and efforts by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Juvenile Justice and…

This issue of "The Link" newsletter contains the following articles: (1) Strong Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) Now in Senate (Tim Briceland-Belts); (2) Director's Message (Janet K. Wiig); (3) Mental Health and Substance Abuse Issues in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act; and (4) Registering Harm:…

Most Monday mornings are noisy affairs where students and staff members are catching up on the events of the weekend. Sometimes these events are disputes that have festered over the weekend and are now ready to get settled. When a confrontation between students occurs, noise levels accelerate, students begin running, and an unnerving combination…

Youths in gang-ridden neighborhoods are at risk for trauma-related mental health disorders, which are early indicators of likely school failure and delinquency. Such youths rarely seek out services for these problems. The Juvenile Intervention and Prevention Program (JIPP), a school-based gang intervention and prevention program in Los Angeles,…

One frequently held assumption found within the school discipline literature suggests that students of color- particularly African American, male, low-income populations- are at an increased risk of receiving exclusionary discipline sanctions. Aside from race, gender, and socioeconomic status; however, less is known about other factors that…