Evaluates the validity of the "superpredator" theory, which concluded that a new breed of violent juveniles was emerging in the early 1990's and predicted a wave of violent juvenile crime that would continue into the next decade. Examines juvenile crime statistics, concludes that recent data do not support the superpredator theory, and offers alternative explanations of recent trends in juvenile crime.

Examines data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) on the characteristics of crimes committed against juveniles. Analyzes 1997 NIBRS data (collected from 12 States) for such crimes as assault, kidnaping, robbery, and sexual assault. Notes that juveniles make up 12 percent of all crime victims known to police, including 71 percent of all sex crime victims and 38 percent of all kidnaping victims.

Describes a unique collaborative program between the New Haven, CT, Department of Police Service and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of Medicine to address the psychological impact of chronic exposure to community violence on children and families. States that this program serves as a national model for police/mental health partnerships across the country.

Presents an overview of statistics on juveniles as victims of crime and maltreatment. Examines recent trends in violent crime against children and youth (murder, assault, and sexual assault) and in child abuse and neglect, analyzes patterns of victimization, and summarizes data on missing children. Notes that juveniles are twice as likely as adults to be victims of serious violent crime and that children with a history of maltreatment are at increased risk for delinquency.

Focuses on the national effort to reach youth who are absent or truant from school because of school-associated fear and intimidation. Discusses manifestations of street violence that have encroached on schools, including bullying, gangs, the possession and use of weapons, substance abuse, and violence in the community.

Offers an overview of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders, which was developed by OJJDP to assist States and local communities in prevention and intervention efforts. Explains that the Comprehensive Strategy focuses on (1) preventing youth from becoming delinquent and (2) improving the juvenile justice system's response to delinquent offenders through a system of graduated sanctions and treatment alternatives. Describes the strategy's implementation in three sites and discusses the lessons learned in each site.

Provides a reference tool that offers both basic information and the experience of experts to assist educators and other youth-serving professionals in building effective conflict resolution education programs. Notes that the Guide is based on a shared vision that youth of all ages can learn to deal constructively with conflict and live in civil association with one another.

Presents videotaped proceedings of a 1996 teleconference. Promotes the incorporation of conflict resolution strategies into programming for schools and other settings, provides information on the availability of training and consultation resources, and outlines various approaches to conflict resolution.

Summarizes longitudinal research from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, which shows that the development of disruptive and delinquent behavior in boys generally takes place in an orderly, progressive fashion, with less serious problem behaviors preceding more serious problem behaviors. Examines three documented developmental pathways that display progressively more serious problem behavior among boys in three conceptually different domains: authority conflict, covert actions, and overt actions.

Presents a brief summary of the research on violence prevention and intervention along with crisis response in schools. This guide, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, provides school communities with reliable and practical information about what they can do to be prepared for and to reduce school violence.

Presents notable findings from OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency—three coordinated, longitudinal research projects that constitute the largest shared-measurement approach ever achieved in delinquency research. Examines study sites in Rochester, NY; Denver, CO; and Pittsburgh, PA, where three research teams have interviewed 4,000 participants at regular intervals for nearly a decade, recording their lives in detail.

Features popular musical artists and interactive scenarios with youth on violence-related issues. Provides an accompanying guide to the CD–ROM with information on conflict resolution, mentoring, artistic responses to violence, youth crime watch and prevention, and advocacy. Includes contact information for additional resources.

Provides communities with a framework for preventing delinquency, intervening in early delinquent behavior, and responding to serious, violent, and chronic offending. Identifies effective prevention and intervention programs and offers a blueprint for assessing their present juvenile justice system and planning new programs that respond to community needs.

Serves as an introductory piece for OJJDP's framework for preventing delinquency, intervening in early delinquent behavior, and responding to serious, violent, and chronic offending. Highlights key points of the Comprehensive Strategy and summarizes the Guide's implementation components.

Provides juvenile justice professionals, policymakers, the media, and concerned citizens with the most comprehensive source of information about juvenile crime, violence, and victimization and about the response of the juvenile justice system to these problems in a user-friendly CD–ROM format. Allows the user to view the 232-page Report in a portable document format (PDF). Also provides a comprehensive "educator's kit," which includes statistical information in full-page, presentation-ready graphs; data for the graphs; more than 40 source documents in a PDF; and links to government Web sites to obtain more information.

Presents comprehensive information on juvenile crime, violence, and victimization and on the juvenile justice system. Brings together the latest available statistics from a variety of sources and includes numerous tables, graphs, and maps, accompanied by analyses in clear, nontechnical language. Provides baseline information on juvenile population trends, patterns of juvenile victimization, the nature and extent of juvenile offending, and the structure, procedures, and activities of the juvenile justice system.

Examines data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) on kidnaping of juveniles. Analyzes 1997 NIBRS data on kidnaping (collected from 12 States) that suggest that these crimes can be categorized into 3 groups based on the identity of the perpetrator: family kidnaping, acquaintance kidnaping, and stranger kidnaping. Provides statistical descriptions of these crimes as they relate to factors such as the time of day and location of the incident or the perpetrator's use of a weapon.

Presents an overview of statistics that reveal the impact of gun availability on the lives of youth. Examines data on gun use in homicides committed by and against juveniles, weapons arrest rates, the relationship of handgun carrying to other problem behaviors, and firearm-related suicide. Notes that the recent decline in firearm-related juvenile homicides and suicides is encouraging and reinforces the need to remain vigilant in keeping weapons out of the hands of children.

Examines risk and protective factors for youth violence, including individual, family, school, peer-related, community/neighborhood, and situational factors. Ranks predictors of violent or serious delinquency for age groups 6–11 and 12–14.

Describes intervention methods that test the hypothesis that behavior can be modified by focusing on the thinking processes rather than the behaviors themselves. Reports on research findings that specific interpersonal cognitive problem-solving skills relate to high-risk behaviors that may develop into serious problems such as violence and substance abuse. Describes the use of these skills in the "I Can Problem Solve" curriculum, part of the Raising a Thinking Child program, a primary prevention program for parents and their children ages 4 to 7.

Presents videotaped proceedings of a 1999 teleconference designed to (1) build or improve effective school and community collaborations that support safe and effective schools and (2) provide participants with information about effective approaches and practices that can improve school discipline, safety, and related academic results.

Profiles 60 programs and strategies designated as either "demonstrated" (shown to have a positive impact) or "promising" that address the problem of gun violence; examines the nature of the problem from a national perspective, including current trends; and discusses the process of developing a solution. Provides brief profiles including the type of program, its goals, the target group and target area, and contact information.

Summarizes current Federal and State legislation to reduce youth gun violence and describes state-of-the-art prevention and intervention programs as well as Federal and local partnerships in implementing these laws and programs. Includes directories of programs, organizations, and research designed to reduce youth gun violence.

Provides, on an interactive disk, a broad array of publications, technical assistance, and other resources on prevention and intervention programs for at-risk juveniles and those involved with the juvenile justice system. Includes more than 8,000 pages of information from successful programs, the full text of more than 200 OJJDP publications, and links to more than 150 Web sites and e-mail addresses.

Provides a brief overview of the findings of four new violence studies that examine the causes and correlates of serious and violent juvenile offending in urban and rural settings and three existing studies. Identifies the existing studies as part of OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency, including the Denver Youth Survey, the Pittsburgh Youth Study, and the Rochester Youth Development Study.

Describes school and community interventions shown to reduce risk factors for drug abuse and for serious and violent juvenile offending. Examines five types of school interventions and eight types of community interventions, based on findings of the OJJDP Study Group on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders.

Documents and analyzes national changes in the handling of serious and violent juvenile offenders from 1992 to 1995. Offers implications for policy and practice as considerations for lawmakers and policymakers.

Presents information on temporal patterns (time of day, school vs. nonschool day) of violent crimes committed by and against juveniles, excerpted from Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report. Shows that serious violent crime involving juveniles peaks in the hours immediately after the close of school and discusses implications of the data for community strategies to reduce violent juvenile crime.

Presents findings of research that examined the types of delinquent behavior found among boys living in the three most violent neighborhoods in Washington, DC, and the role that institutions such as families, schools, churches, and youth-serving organizations play in the boys' lives. Summarizes these findings, which are based on statistical analyses of data collected in interviews with a random sample of 213 boys, ages 13 to 17, who lived in one of the 3 identified census tracts in the summer of 1996.