Law-related education (LRE) seeks to improve the citizenship skills and attitudes of young people by providing them with an understanding of law, the legal process, and the legal and political systems. This brochure describes five national law-related education projects supported by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the…

The seriousness of the consequences of teenage pregnancy and parenthood results in substantial long-term costs to the public as well as immeasurable personal implications. Education may be one way to combat the deleterious effects. Since attendance at school seems to be the avenue for acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to become…

This booklet presents practical ideas and suggestions intended to help adults develop and support alcohol abuse prevention projects for youths. The first of five major sections considers the following topics: realistic goals for a prevention program; effective prevention approaches; key factors in achieving a working relationship with teenagers;…

Drug abuse in schools, and to a lesser extent, alcohol and tobacco abuse, are the topics of this report. Discussions are provided in these areas: (1) prevalence of drug abuse; (2) student attitudes and beliefs; (3) drug laws and school rules; (4) student searches and drug testing; (5) drug epidemic reaching the very young; (6) tobacco abuse; (7)…

Some evaluations have concluded that diversion programs for juvenile offenders (programs intended as community-based alternatives to formal justice dispositions) reduce recidivism only among youths with the least serious offense histories. To investigate the relationship of offense history to program effectiveness, three diversion programs were…

Although there has been a significant amount of research on the families of drug abusers, this field has encountered a number of obstacles to its continued growth. Some of these problems include an emphasis of research on opiate use, methodological hindrances, and lack of a constituency. A review of two concurrent national processes, the White…

Reality Therapy was adopted as the major treatment modality to be used by the staff to work with the youth at the Maine Youth Center (MYC). A time-series design, which included the administration of the Correctional Institutions Environment Scale, was used to evaluate the influence of Reality Therapy on the perceptions of staff and youth at the…

This booklet reviews programs and specialized services available for the serious juvenile offender without any attempt to evaluate the programs. The descriptions focus on alternative rehabilitation residential facilities, community-based programs, day-treatment, educational and vocational programs, and secure treatment facilities. In addition to…

Reality Therapy is a system which stresses that individuals are responsible for their own behavior, and that excuses based on environment, heredity, or the past are not acceptable as explanations for behavior. To assess the impact of training in Reality Therapy on youth at the Maine Youth Center, subjects (all students at the Center) were asked to…

A study was undertaken to examine the high risk/high need youth population of West Virginia. Workers from 55 county school boards, 27 area offices of health centers, private and public psychiatric hospitals with adolescent units, juvenile probation offices, and state juvenile correctional facilities were asked to nominate certain youths as high…

Purpose of this paper is to serve as a critical review of the literature concerned with intergenerational differences--to differentiate between "fact and fiction." Findings suggested a dearth of concrete knowledge regarding the entire social issue of intergenerational differences, as well as the nature of family-offspring interaction and the…

A review of the history and literature about the runaway child in America reveals that young people from poor families have always viewed running away as a reasonable way of leaving a poverty stricken home. For many adolescents, running away has been a response to an unhealthy family or work situation, and at times it has been a problem-solving…

At many points within the juvenile justice system, there is evidence of differential treatment of male and female juveniles. Nearly 75% of females under 18 who are arrested and incarcerated are charged with status offenses such as disobeying their parents, promiscuity, running away and other acts for which adults cannot be charged and boys…

The Minnesota Youth Advocacy Corps is an attempt to bridge the gap between institution and community for delinquent youth. The Corps was planned jointly by the Minnesota Departments of Education and Corrections, was funded by HEW (through the Youth Delinquency Prevention Administration) for initial organizational purposes and continued by funds…

The idea of diverting youths away from the juvenile justice system has grown in the past decade. Most evaluations of diversion programs have been program-centered rather than examining individual programs, and in most cases, success has been judged by recidivism rates. A diversion program, called the Careers Center, was investigated and a…