 The
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model
Programs Guide (MPG) is a user-friendly online gateway to evidence-based
(scientifically tested and proven) programs that address a range
of issues across the juvenile justice continuum—from delinquency
prevention to aftercare and reentry. In August 2005, the MPG is
being expanded beyond delinquency prevention and intervention programs
to include substance abuse, mental health, and education programs.
In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institute
on Drug Abuse, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, OJJDP is identifying
evidence-based programs that focus on at-risk and delinquent youth.
In addition, the National Youth Gang Center is identifying and providing
information about gang-related programs. The result of these cooperative
efforts will expand the scope of the MPG beyond delinquency, violence,
and substance abuse to include programs that focus on other youth
problems such as tobacco use, trauma exposure, academic failure, poor
interpersonal skills, family dysfunction, social and community disorganization,
and sexual activity/exploitation. All programs in the MPG must demonstrate
robust empirical findings using a sound conceptual framework and an
evaluation design of high quality.
Searching
the OJJDP Model Programs Guide
To help communities identify evidence-based delinquency
prevention and intervention strategies that meet their
specific needs, the Model Programs Guide offers several
ways to search:
- Program category. Users can browse five categories
of programs—prevention, immediate sanctions,
intermediate sanctions, residential care, and reentry.
- Program type. The searchable database contains
research reviews of more than 30 different types of
programs—more than 250 prevention and intervention
programs in all.
- Target population and setting. Users can
search by gender, ethnicity, age group (early childhood,
preschool, school age, adolescent), and setting (rural,
suburban, urban).
- Problem area. Users can find programs that
address specific problems, including academic problems;
aggression/violence; alcohol, tobacco, and other drug
use; delinquency; family functioning; gang activity;
sexual activity/exploitation; and trauma exposure.
- Offender group. Programs can be identified
by type of offender—females, first-time offenders,
mentally ill offenders, serious/chronic offenders,
less serious offenders, sex offenders, status offenders,
truants/dropouts, and young offenders.
- Program strategies. Strategies include detention
alternatives and JJDP Act core requirements.
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Although the MPG was originally developed as a tool to support the
Title V Community Prevention Grants Program, all juvenile justice
practitioners, educators, and health and substance abuse specialists,
regardless of their funding sources, are encouraged to take advantage
of this valuable resource.
The MPG profiles more than 250 programs and helps communities zero
in on those that best suit their needs. Programs are organized into
five categories:
- Prevention programs address at-risk youth before they become
serious delinquents. Some program types include afterschool/recreation,
truancy prevention, parent training, drug prevention, alcohol therapy/education,
gang prevention, classroom curricula, and mentoring.
- Immediate sanctions programs hold youth accountable while
diverting them from formal court processing. Some program types
include community service, restitution, mediation, restorative justice,
wraparound services, and teen courts.
- Intermediate sanctions programs hold youth accountable
through more restrictive and intensive interventions (both nonresidential
and residential). Some program types include community-based corrections,
intensive supervision, school-based probation, drug courts, and
alternative schools.
- Residential care programs are for serious, violent, and
chronic juvenile offenders who require incarceration. Some program
types include group homes, correctional facilities, cognitive behavior
treatment programs, and residential treatment centers.
- Reentry programs provide services that prepare juveniles
for reentry into the community after residential placement or detention.
Some program types include day treatment, reentry courts, and aftercare
services.
Each program is assigned a rating—exemplary, effective, or
promising—on the basis of specific evaluation criteria. Individual
program profiles include information on risk and protective factors
addressed, target population, intervention components, and evaluation
design and outcomes. The profiles also provide references, links to
related Web sites, and contact information.
With the MPG's easy-to-use search function (see sidebar),
users can identify programs that match their community's target
population characteristics and priority risk and protective factors.
Users can also search the database by program type and effectiveness
rating, or they can simply browse through all of the program profiles.
In addition to the searchable database, the MPG offers valuable
background information to help users select delinquency prevention
and intervention strategies that are most likely to make a difference
in their communities. Written in clear, concise language, this information
includes comprehensive reviews of risk and protective factors and
detailed state-of-the-art research reviews for each type of program.
The MPG's database is continuously updated, and users are
invited to nominate programs for inclusion. To access the MPG, visit
ojjdp.ncjrs.org/programs/mpg.html.
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