NCJ Number
170002
Date Published
1996
Length
37 pages
Annotation
After placing the problem of youth violence in perspective, this paper divides existing youth-violence-prevention programs into three groups: those that have been evaluated and found to be effective; those that have so far yielded disappointing or mixed results; and those that are promising, but have not been adequately evaluated.
Abstract
Programs that work include those that prevent unintended pregnancy and infancy and early childhood intervention programs. The latter programs include home visitation, parenting programs, early childhood education, teaching problem-solving skills, marital and family therapy, innovative teaching and classroom organization, supervised after-school recreation, and innovative policing. Less effective programs are individual-level interventions (e.g., mentoring programs, violence-prevention curricula, peer mediation, and peer counseling) and community- level interventions (e.g., juvenile curfews, gun buy-backs, and anti-violence advertising campaigns). Untested strategies include family literacy programs, firearm safety training, the disruption of illegal gun trafficking to youth, and support groups for victims. Overall, evaluation research suggests that preventive approaches applied between the prenatal period and age 6 reduce juvenile violence, delinquency, and crime more effectively than programs implemented later in life. 117 references