Why Address Juvenile Delinquency With Prevention Strategies?
In the 1992 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974 (the Act), Congress affirmed that it is more effective in human and fiscal terms to prevent delinquency than to attempt to control it after the fact. While treatment and rehabilitation programs are necessary to respond to youth already engaged in delinquent acts, treatment programs face an uphill battle. By the time most serious delinquents are identified by and receive treatment from the juvenile justice system, they are well into their delinquent careers (Thornberry, Huizinga, and Loeber, 1995). In addition, many chronic offenders, according to self-report data, are never arrested and treated. A sole focus on treatment overlooks a large number of delinquent youth (Thornberry, Huizinga, and Loeber, 1995). To effectively reduce the number of youth engaging in delinquent behavior, these behaviors must be prevented in the first place. A growing base of evidence indicates that prevention prog
