Finding that “it is more effective in both human and fiscal terms to prevent delinquency than to attempt to control or change it after the fact,” Congress established Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs in Subchapter V of its 1992 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974.¹ The Title V Community Prevention Grants Program, as it is now known,² provides communities with funding and a guiding framework for developing and implementing comprehensive juvenile delinquency prevention plans.

This is the ninth report prepared in fulfillment of the requirements of Section 504(4) of Title V, which directs the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to submit an annual report to both the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary in the U.S. Senate. Section 504(4) specifies that the annual report shall:

• Describe the activities and accomplishments of grant activities funded under Title V.

• Describe the procedures followed to disseminate grant activity products and research findings.

• Describe the activities conducted to develop policy and to coordinate federal agency and interagency efforts related to delinquency prevention.

• Identify successful approaches and recommend activities to be conducted under Title V in the future.

The 2002 Report to Congress begins with a look at the conceptual framework of the Community Prevention Grants Program, including the importance of delinquency prevention, the research on risk and protective factors, and current knowledge about “what works” in delinquency prevention. The second chapter provides an overview of the structure of the Program and an update on federal Title V allocations and state subgrant awards for 2002. The third chapter highlights the experience of Title V communities nationwide in using the research base to implement, evaluate, and sustain their programs. The report concludes with OJJDP’s recommendations for program modifications that will enhance the positive impact of the Community Prevention Grants Program.

¹ Public Law 93–415: 42 U.S.C. § 5601 et seq. The JJDP Act was again reauthorized in 2002 (Public Law 107–273).

² In this Report, the Title V Community Prevention Grants Program is variously referred to as “the Community Prevention Grants Program,” “Title V,” and “the Program.”