Traditional mental health approaches for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders have all too often failed to yield successful results. Adolescent drug and substance abuse is remarkably resistant to treatment.

The Multisystemic Therapy (MST) approach to the treatment of serious antisocial behavior in adolescents represents a significant departure from more traditional strategies. MST is a home-based services approach developed in response to the lack of scientifically proven, cost-effective treatment options for this population.

Treating Serious Anti-Social Behavior in Youth: The MST Approach, an OJJDP Bulletin released in May 1997, provides an overview of the MST approach and features evaluations of programs that have implemented it. The Bulletin is available online at www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165151.pdf or can be ordered from OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (see the order form).

Mental Health Disorders and Substance Abuse Problems Among Juveniles

An OJJDP Fact Sheet released in July 1998, Mental Health Disorders and Substance Abuse Problems Among Juveniles, describes steps that OJJDP is taking with government and private organizations to address specific behavior or circumstances that bring juveniles into the justice system and discusses the underlying, often long-term mental health and substance abuse problems of youth in the juvenile justice system.

The OJJDP steps described in this Fact Sheet include supporting research and data collection that provide a clearer picture of the incidence and prevalence of mental health and substance abuse disorders among juveniles, assessing juveniles when they first come in contact with the system, increasing the number of high-quality treatment programs in the community and in juvenile institutions, and focusing on juveniles who are at risk for delinquency rather than those already in the juvenile justice system. This Fact Sheet is available online at www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/fs9882.pdf or can be ordered from OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (see the order form).

Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report

OJJDP's Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report brings together the most recent statistics on a variety of topics related to the problems of juvenile crime, violence, and victimization. Readers will find extensive baseline information on juvenile population characteristics; patterns of offending and victimization; and the structure, procedures, and activities of the juvenile justice system. The information is presented in numerous tables, graphs, and maps, accompanied by analyses written in clear, nontechnical language.

The National Report covers several topics of particular interest to readers concerned with mental health issues:

Drug abuse: juvenile arrests for drug abuse offenses, patterns of deviant behavior (including marijuana use) among youth ages 12-16, illicit drug use among high school seniors, and societal costs of juvenile drug abuse.

Child abuse and neglect: incidence and characteristics, including data on psychological and emotional abuse.

Suicide: long-range trends in youth suicide, and data by age group, race, and sex.

Violence: extensive data on incidence and characteristics of juvenile arrests for violent crimes and patterns of violent behavior among youth.

This Report is available online at ojjdp.ncjrs.org/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=3750 or can be ordered in hard copy or CD-ROM format from OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (see the order form).