This report describes the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) major activities and accomplishments during fiscal year 2002 (October 1, 2001, to September 30, 2002), which reflect the Office's continuing commitment to programs that have the greatest potential for reducing juvenile delinquency and the victimization of children, as well as improving the juvenile justice system.
The mission of OJJDP is to provide national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile offending and child victimization. This mission is achieved by helping States, local communities, and Tribal jurisdictions develop and implement effective, multidisciplinary prevention and intervention programs and improve the capacity of the juvenile justice system to protect public safety, hold offenders accountable, and provide treatment and rehabilitative services that are tailored to the needs of individual juveniles and their families. On April 17, 2002, J. Robert Flores was sworn in as Administrator of OJJDP. A major focus of OJJDP as well as the Office of Justice Programs in fiscal year 2002 was to help ensure that serious and violent juvenile offenders safely and successfully return to their communities after leaving correctional institutions. The Office was one of many Federal partners that participated in the Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative, an innovative program that awarded more than $100 million to 68 programs that targeted serious, high-risk juvenile and adult offenders returning from commitment to correctional institutions. Another major activity of FY 2002 involved updating and streamlining information dissemination efforts. Further, in order to improve its publications process, the Office instituted a new approach to promoting the program solicitations that announce funding opportunities available. Also, OJJDP focused on reaching out to faith-based groups, which have historically not been a part of OJJDP's activities. This report briefly describes the major conferences which OJJDP sponsored or in which it participated during FY 2002. Chapters of this report describe the various ways in which OJJDP has responded to child victimization, prevented and intervened in delinquency, enhanced public safety and law enforcement, addressed youth gangs, strengthened the juvenile justice system, implemented Tribal youth initiatives, collected information on juveniles in custody, and disseminated information. The concluding chapter outlines OJJDP's priorities for FY 2003, funding for FY 2003, and OJJDP program restructuring. Appended listing of OJJDP publications produced in FY 2002