All OJJDP publications may be viewed and downloaded at ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications. Print publications may also be ordered online at https://puborder.ncjrs.gov.
Now Available
Best Practices To Address Community Gang Problems: OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model
 This report was written to provide communities that are considering implementing OJJDP's comprehensive gang model with critical information to inform and direct their efforts. The first section provides background information on the model's development, beginning with a national assessment of gang problems and programs. This section details the critical elements that distinguish the model from typical program approaches to gangs. The model's key distinguishing feature is a strategic planning process that empowers communities to assess their own gang problems and fashion a complement of antigang strategies and program activities.
The main section of the report presents best practices from the comprehensive gang model and highlights results of a National Youth Gang Center survey and a meeting of practitioners regarding their experiences in implementing the model. This section contains specific practices that work best in a step-by-step planning and implementation process for communities using the model framework and tools.
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Highlights of the 2006 National Youth Gang Survey (Fact Sheet)
 OJJDP's Highlights of the 2006 National Youth Gang Survey Fact Sheet provides selected findings from the National Youth Gang Center's (NYGC's) annual survey of urban, suburban, and rural law enforcement agencies regarding the presence and characteristics of local youth gangs. This Fact Sheet summarizes findings from NYGC's 2006 survey, using survey results from 2002 (the initial year of data collection for the current sample of agencies) as a baseline for comparison. The survey findings report on the prevalence of gang problems, the estimated number of gangs and gang members, incidences of gang-related crime, and factors influencing gang-related violence. Based on survey results, OJJDP estimates that approximately 785,000 gang members and 26,500 gangs were active in the United States in 2006.
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New Online
Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? (Bulletin)
 This Bulletin provides an overview of research on the deterrent effects of transferring juveniles to an adult criminal court, focusing on two large-scale, comprehensive OJJDP-funded studies on the impact of transfer laws on recidivism. The publication also identifies gaps in the field's knowledge base, notes challenges for further research, and discusses whether effective deterrence may be achieved through transfer. The nationwide policy shift toward transferring juvenile offenders to the criminal court is based largely on the assumption that more punitive, adult criminal sanctions will act as a deterrent to juvenile crime. Research has shown higher recidivism rates among juveniles convicted for violent offenses in criminal court when compared with similar offenders tried in juvenile court. With respect to whether transfer laws act as a deterrent to would-be juvenile offenders, the studies have produced somewhat conflicting findings. The bulk of the empirical evidence suggests that transfer laws have little or no general deterrent effect.
Violence by Teenage Girls: Trends and Context (Girls Study Group Bulletin)
 Recent media accounts have described a significant rise in violent behavior among girls as a burgeoning national crisis. This Bulletin assesses the accuracy of these assertions using the best available data. Drawing on information from official arrest sources, nationally based self-report and victimization surveys, and studies reported in the social science literature, the authors examine the involvement of girls in violent activity (including whether such activity has increased relative to the increase for boys) and the contexts in which girls engage in violent behavior.
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