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Do You D.A.R.E. Find Programs That Work for Today's Youth

NCJ Number
173925
Journal
Alternatives to Incarceration Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: May-June 1998 Pages: 12-14-16
Author(s)
K W Strandberg
Date Published
1998
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) and programs like it are designed to stop a problem before it starts and have an impact on the lives of children before drugs and crime harm them beyond repair.
Abstract
D.A.R.E. is a national program with national objectives. In contrast, Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI) is a local program specifically designed to serve 60 percent of the Portland youth population who do not get in trouble, who get Cs in school, who are just average. SEI focuses on building individual relationships with youth to give them skills and support to go beyond average and become whatever they want to become. Programs for youth are most successful when the community itself is involved in the program's launch and success. Professor Mary Jensen, author of "Gangs, Straight Talk, Straight Up," believes that groups parents, teachers, and others need to establish a zero-tolerance system for gangs and other problems and that increased teacher involvement is particularly important. D.A.R.E. is the best known and most widely implemented program. It has expanded to include programs from kindergarten through 12th grade and to focus on gangs and violence as well as drugs. The program has received both positive and negative publicity. Supporters recommend that the program should be expanded so that it will have a greater effect. Programs such as D.A.R.E. are vital to the success of law enforcement efforts and to the future of the country's children. Photograph