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Diffusing Research Into Practice Using the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders

NCJ Number
201344
Journal
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2003 Pages: 219-245
Author(s)
James C. Howell
Date Published
July 2003
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the research literature on juvenile delinquency and effective programming for youthful offenders, and then offers a research agenda for successfully diffusing juvenile justice research to the juvenile justice services sector.
Abstract
During the early 1990’s the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) developed the comprehensive strategy (CS) for serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. It was developed through a comprehensive review of research on juvenile offenders and best practices and effective programs in the fields of treatment, punishment, and prevention. The basic goal of the CS is to realize the effective diffusion of research into practice. The author begins by describing the basic principles and framework of the CS approach, including a discussion of the two main components of the program: the prevention component and the intervention component. The prevention component attempts to reach youth before they fall into delinquent patterns and includes programs designed to prevent substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, and truancy. The intervention component focuses the delivery of appropriate sanctions based on offender activities and assessed risk level. A review of the research literature on juvenile delinquency supports the development of juvenile justice and human services programs. While complete implementation of the CS framework is in its infancy, considerable gains have been made in organizing research into a usable framework for conversion into research-based juvenile programming. The author points to areas where further research is needed, including research on protective factors against delinquency, which has only just begun to be explored. Notes, references