In discussing why Boys Clubs of America should become involved, the introductory section notes that it is the only major national youth services agency in the United States that has in the past and is currently placing its greatest emphasis on providing life enhancing services to youth from disadvantaged family, social, and economic circumstances. This paper focuses on setting up Emergency Response Systems to help youth in crises, to provide alternatives to detention in adult facilities, and through the Youth Helping Youth program, to prevent crisis situations from occurring. A section on delinquency prevention outlines the warning signs of a crisis situation in a youth's life. This is followed by a description of a Boys Club program that involves a directed group experience for abused adolescents. This is the Youth Helping Youth program, which is a 6-week group experience developed by Boys Town; it helps abused youth to share their experience with their peers and learn positive ways to cope with their problems. The concluding section describes ways for responding to youth in crisis. Topics addressed include when to intervene at various stages of processing in the juvenile justice system, the development of appropriate alternatives to formal juvenile justice processing for the Boys Clubs of America, and types of alternative programs. Also considered are five successful Boys Club emergency response systems, a sample action plan, a glossary of juvenile justice terms, and terminology used in juvenile cases. Resources are also listed.