Learning Disabilities and Juvenile Offenders - Prevention and Diversion (From Learning Disabled Delinquent - Issues and Programming, P 70-81, 1981, Joseph A Cox, ed. - See NCJ-88371)

• NCJ Number: 88374
• Author(s): J Rector
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Lakeview Ctr, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

The administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) discusses the relationship between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency and describes federally supported educational programs designed to meet the problem.

Abstract

Tensions in the school setting make a greater contribution to delinquent behavior than do learning disabilities. A major OJJDP study in 1974 found that the link between learning disabilities and juvenile delinquency was not yet established but should be studied further. This was done with the funding of a program in 1976 to investigate the delinquency-disabilities link in three metropolitan areas. Preliminary results of this study suggest that although learning disabled youth do not engage in more delinquent activity than nonlearning disabled juveniles, learning disabled youths are twice as likely to be brought into the juvenile justice system. This suggests that schools incorporate more remediation programs for the learning disabled and that diversion programs include procedures to identify and treat the learning disabled. Other OJJDP initiatives to deter school crime, such as funding for alternative education, are outlined. No references are included.