NCJ Number
79691
Date Published
1981
Length
87 pages
Annotation
This report focuses on youths involved in serious or violent criminal activity, reviewing causation theories and exploring the characteristics of juvenile offenders and their crimes. From this base, a set of theoretically grounded intervention strategies is developed in the report.
Abstract
A large proportion of serious property crime and violent crime is committed by juveniles, and a small percentage of all juvenile offenders account for a majority of serious offenses. However, the arrest records of these individuals are indicative of only a small part of their total delinquent activity. For these reasons, it is suggested that juvenile offenders be categorized into serious and less serious offenders and that prevention strategies be placed within the context of what is known about prevention in general and the correlates and causes of delinquency. Delinquency prediction techniques used to identify potential offenders are deemed inadequate to justify corrective interventions concentrating on 'high risk' individuals. The most promising theory of delinquency prevention is an integrated model derived from social control and cultural deviance theories. Social processes which prevent delinquency have been found to occur in social institutions (family, school, peer group, community); high risk communities particularly tend to display weaknesses in these institutions. Therefore, intervention should focus on organizational change within the major socializing institutions and concentrate community-based strategies in neighborhoods of serious delinquency. Specific strategies are community organization, youth development projects, parenting training, community crisis intervention services, surrogate families, personalized education, alternative schools, peer leadership groups, gang crisis intervention, community committees, and others. Tabular material and graphs are included. The reference list contains over 170 entries. (Author summary modified)