Effective Programmes to Prevent Delinquency (From Forensic Psychology: Concepts, Debates and Practice, P 245-265, 2004, Joanna R. Adler, ed. -- See NCJ-205397)

• NCJ Number: 205409
• Author(s): Brandon C. Welsh; Lowell Farrington; David P. Farrington
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter presents the most effective programs for preventing delinquency and later offending.

Abstract

Rather than offering a systematic review of programs, this chapter focuses exclusively on programs that have outcome measures of delinquency, antisocial behavior, or disruptive child behavior. The best-evaluated and most important programs are presented, with an emphasis on those programs that completed a cost-benefit analysis. Two main categories of programs are considered: (1) individual and family programs; and (2) peer, school, and community programs. Four types of individual and family programs have been particularly successful: parent education, parent management training, child skills training, and pre-school intellectual enrichment programs. The particular characteristics that are targeted in these programs are poor parental child-rearing, supervision, or discipline factors, as well as high impulsivity, low empathy, self-centeredness, and low intelligence and attainment. Following a review of these programs and their evaluation outcomes, the chapter turns to the most successful types of peer, school, and community programs, which fall into the categories of school-based parent and teacher training, school-based anti-bullying curricula and education, and multi-systematic therapy (MST). These programs target poor parenting and poor school performance, bullying and intrapersonal problems, and systematic factors at the peer, school, and family level associated with antisocial behavior. All of the programs have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing delinquency and later offending behavior, however more research in the United Kingdom is needed as most of the program assessments are from the United States. Missing in the United Kingdom is risk-based targeted prevention delivered at an early age and designed to reduce later offending and antisocial behavior. A national agency should be created to foster and fund early crime prevention programs in the United Kingdom. References