Youth Crime Watch of America: A Youth-Led Movement (From Policing and Community Partnerships, P 125-136, 2000, Dennis J. Stevens, ed., -- See NCJ-194083)

• NCJ Number: 194091
• Author(s): Gerald A. Rudoff; Ellen G. Cohn
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice Hall Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter examines youth crime watch programs, including the activities of the Youth Crime Watch of America, Inc. (YCWA).

Abstract

An important element in dealing with the problem of juvenile crime is collaboration. One of the first attempts to create a collaborative community-based response to juvenile crime in the schools and in the community was the YCWA. First appearing in the 1970's, the programs are now in use throughout the country. They are designed to enable the students themselves to create within their schools a safe haven from violence. The theoretical basis of juvenile crime prevention is the social learning theory that suggests that children imitate the behavior of others through a process of observation and modeling. Risk-focused prevention involves identifying both the risk factors, which have a negative impact on juveniles, and the protective factors, which may help reduce the juvenile’s exposure to risk. One national program that attempts to apply the principles of risk-focused prevention is the YCWA. The goals of this program are to: provide crime-free, drug-free, and violence-free environments for health learning and living; instill positive values, foster good citizenship, and build self-confidence in youth while instilling a sense of personal responsibility and accountability; and enable youth to become a resource for preventing drug use and other crimes in their schools and neighborhoods. The YCWA began as an outgrowth of the adult Neighborhood Crime Watch and later became a school-based version of the neighborhood watch program. The YCWA emphasizes a “watch out, help out” commitment, which encourages youth not only to look for problems within their school and community, but also to become actively involved in solving those problems. The program has enabled participants to greatly reduce crime, violence, and drug use in their environment. Police-community collaboration programs such as the YCWA are creating the concept of “solution-oriented” policing. 20 references