John J. Wilson, Acting Administrator Fact Sheet #20 . What Works Effective Delinquency Prevention and Treatment Programs by Imogene Montgomery and Marilyn Landon The question of what works for juvenile offenders concerns juvenile justice practitioners, public officials, and private citizens alike. As society seeks to address the increasingly complex problems of youth, research suggests that traditional treatments focused on a single modality are inadequate. An integrated system that includes offender accountability, graduated sanctions, and services is needed. This approach consists of immediate intervention and intermediate sanctions on the first level and secure confinement in community settings, training schools, and aftercare on the second. Juvenile courts seeking to develop programs that address juvenile problems through a comprehensive continuum of services and sanctions that consider youth needs, community safety, and victim reparation. The Study In 1992 the National Center for Juvenile Justice and its parent organization, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges set out to identify juvenile programs that effectively address the needs and problems of juvenile offenders. The research design included a literature review and surveys of professionals. The literature review focused on research that suggests specific components are essential to successful programs and that traditional evaluations that focus exclusively on recidivism ignore other factors that may contribute to success. A general list of program components critical to program success was derived from this review. These include goals and objectives, community involvement, case management, security and monitoring, behavior management, staff, an evaluation mechanism, and aftercare. In the initial survey, 3,000 juvenile court judges, probation administrators, and line staff nominated 1,000 programs in 49 states. Administrators of nominated program administrators were surveyed to collect additional information in order to assess the essential components identified in the literature review. The result of the effort is What Works: Promising Interventions in Juvenile Justice, a compendium of 425 nominated programs deemed effective by the practitioners who use them. Program Characteristics Research indicates that successful programs focus on the needs of the individual as well as the child's social networks and that they use a comprehensive array of interventions rather than relying on a single approach. The three most frequent modes of intervention cited in the survey were skill development (28%); individual, group, and family counseling (24%); and mentoring (10%). Aftercare was used by half the programs to ease the juvenile's transition from program to home. The majority (71%) of programs were relatively small, serving some 50 clients. Most (59%) were community-based, while 30% involved group homes, shelters, or foster care and only 11% of the programs were secure. Private non-profit agencies operated half the programs and public agencies 39%. Only 10% of the programs were conducted by for-profit and volunteer organizations. Ninety percent of the programs indicated they had been evaluated between 1990 and 1993, a critical factor as found in the research. Staff efforts are essential to any success. Four out of ten programs provided over 40 hours of staff training, including such topics as safety, cultural sensitivity, and gender awareness. The Directory The directory concisely and clearly summarizes each program. Its alphabetic program listing and target population index enable the reader to identify specific programs for specific target populations. The following categories are covered for all programs: *program name *contact person *location *client age *telephone number *target population *program type *gender *average stay *structure *administration *staff size *per diem rates *date of evaluation & summary For Further Information To obtain a copy of What Works: Promising Interventions in Juvenile Justice please call the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, toll free at (800) 638-8736. Reference Lipsey, Mark W.; 1992; "Juvenile Delinquency Treatment."; pp. 83 - 127 in Meta-Analysis for Explanation , edited by T.D. Cook et al. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. This Fact Sheet was prepared by Imogene Montgomery, National Center for Juvenile Justice, and Marilyn Landon, Office of Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention. Funding for this project was provided by OJJDP under grant number 92-JN-CX-0004.