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The American Society of Criminology (ASC) held its annual meeting November 14–17, 2007, in Atlanta, GA. Many Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) staff and grantees participated in the presentations, and many OJJDP programs were discussed.

The session "Girls Study Group: New Findings" presented the latest results from this OJJDP-funded study. The Girls Study Group is an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners that was convened by OJJDP to develop a comprehensive research foundation for understanding and responding to girls' involvement in delinquency. The group consists of 15 members with theoretical and practical expertise related to female development, delinquency, and the juvenile justice system (see http://girlsstudygroup.rti.org for more information on the project). Dr. Margaret Zahn, the Group's leader, chaired the ASC session. Presentations on this panel included one on findings regarding risk and assessment instruments for girls and another on analyzing National Incident-Based Reporting System data to better understand the changing nature of girls' delinquency.

"Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth: What We Know Today" addressed this tragic form of human trafficking. The research discussed included OJJDP-funded studies on aspects of how this crime can be detected and its victims protected. The focus was on what the field has learned since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which brought this issue to the forefront for policymakers, practitioners, law enforcement, and academia. Presentations included findings from an analysis of Federal commercial sexual exploitation of children prosecutions since the passage of the Act and results of a study regarding the types and characteristics of juvenile prostitution in the criminal justice system. (To learn more about this subject, go to the topic page on Child Protection: child abuse/exploitation on the OJJDP Web site.)

The panel "OJJDP Anti-Gang Evaluations" presented implementation and outcome findings from a recent, large-scale OJJDP-sponsored evaluation of the Gang Reduction Program, which has been implemented in multiple sites across the United States. (For more information about this program and other OJJDP gang prevention activities and publications, visit OJJDP's Web page on the Department of Justice's Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative.)

Another panel looked at the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a landmark collaboration supported by the Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services. Sites funded through the Initiative are required to establish comprehensive strategies to promote healthy development of students and families in safe school and community environments. The panel revealed findings from a cross-site evaluation of the program, and included presentations on school and classroom climate, school violence and safety, and student substance use.

In one of many poster sessions, Brad Snyder of New Amsterdam Consulting, Inc., provided an overview of his study, "Screening, Assessment, Restraint and Isolation: Analyzing Injury in Juvenile Correction and Detention Facilities." This study is part of OJJDP's Performance-based Standards (PbS) for Youth Correction and Detention Facilities project. Data from six PbS facilities were analyzed to review injuries in secure juvenile facilities. The analysis addressed both institutional and individual factors that play a role in injuries. The results are of particular use to facility managers and offer new evidence about the importance of screening and assessment as predictors of self-injury and the use of restraints and isolation as predictors of injuries to staff and juveniles.

The next ASC Annual Meeting will take place November 12–15, 2008, in St. Louis, MO. The theme will be "Reinvigorating Theory Through Diversity and Inclusiveness."