Reviews the rationale and concepts involved in the behavioral evaluation of delinquents and provides several approaches and instruments for organizing information about youths in trouble. Provides a format and process for preparing a behavioral assessment report. (Author/LHW)

Describes an instructional rehabilitation program that targets hard-core male delinquents. Run by the Boys Clubs of Miami, in conjunction with the Circuit Court's Juvenile Division, the program presently serves 120 youngsters at a third of the cost of the state training schools. (MD)

Discusses the concept of loneliness and some program strategies for school counselors to use in responding to concerns about loneliness. Counseling techniques include exploration of loneliness, improving self-esteem, improving social skills, and managing anxiety. (JAC)

Explores the causes and symptoms of adolescent suicide including depression, loss of parent, alienation from family, and a mystical concept of death. Treatment procedures with unsuccessful suicide attempters and their parents are described and prevention strategies are discussed which involve teachers and counselors as well as parents. (JAC)

This report draws on data from the 1996 and 1998 National Youth Gang Surveys to compare the characteristics of gangs and gang members in jurisdictions with later onset of gang problems with those of gangs and gang members with earlier onset of gang problems. The survey asked respondents from law enforcement agencies to describe when gangs began to…

The current research and policy debate over why teen pregnancy and birth rates have declined in the 1990s has focused on whether increased abstinence or increased contraceptive use is primarily responsible. This research brief indicates that both factors appear to be contributing factors. It finds that: (1) the percentage of teens who reported…

This issue of the serial "Juvenile Justice" is devoted to the theme of female juvenile defenders and contains three articles on this subject. The lead article, "Investing in Girls: A 21st Century Strategy," by Leslie Acoca, stresses that addressing the needs of adolescent girls, who make up the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice…

This paper reviews the literature on the subject of forgiveness and suggests clinical implications for the treatment of adolescent offenders. Although research has been done in the areas of forgiveness, no studies have been conducted with adolescent offenders. This dearth of information points to a gap in understanding the role of forgiveness in…

Youth courts spread rapidly around the country in the 1990s, sharing important goals with law-related education (LRE), including a strong potential to improve the citizenship skills of young people. Youth court is a general term describing courts that involve young people in the sentencing of their peers. This technical bulletin provides an…

This report explores how Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) sites promoted and sustained detention reforms in their jurisdictions. Chapter 1, "Why Promoting and Sustaining Detention Reform are Important," introduces the issue. Chapter 2, "Promoting Reform," discusses how to establish the need for reform, build…

Young workers, persons from sixteen to thirty years old, have problems relating to occupational choice, vocational guidance, vocational training and other educational opportunities, job satisfaction, and housing, complicating their search for an occupational and social identity. (AG)

Describes citizens' action or youth environment councils which coordinate information and resources for dealing with drug problems. (KJ)

Students who learn how children lived in other eras may be less pessimistic about the present and the future. (Author)