The first step is to guarantee all school-age children and teens access to after-school, weekend, and summer youth development programs, so as to fill the "prime time for juvenile crime" with constructive activities for youth. Studies have shown that constructive leisure-time activities planned for and by youth divert them from using such time to devise and commit delinquent acts. In addition, well-designed programs and activities help youth develop the values and skills they need to become contributing and responsible citizens. A second step is to guarantee all families access to early care and education programs that have proven to reduce crime. Rigorous studies, first-hand experience, and even brain scans have found that programs that provide nurturing, early care, and education for babies and toddlers not only prepare children to succeed in school but also reduce crime. A third step is to help schools identify troubled and disruptive children at an early age and provide these children and their parents counseling and training that improves their behavior and school achievements. The fourth step is to improve deficient parenting and prevent child abuse and neglect by offering high-risk parents in-home parenting-coaching and by making sure that child-protective, foster-care, and adoption services have policies and sufficient well-trained staff to protect and treat abused and neglected children. Examples of programs that implement each of these four steps are described.