WINNING THE BATTLES AND THE WARS. An evaluation of comprehensive, community‐based delinquency prevention programming

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-6988.1998.tb01477.x
• Date: 01 February 1998
• Published date: 01 February 1998
• Author: PAMELA S. HOWITT,EUGENE ARTHUR MOORE,BERNARD GAULIER

WINNING THE BATTLES

AND

THE WARS

An

evaluation

of

comprehensive,

community-based delinquency

prevention programmrn

g

A

BY PAMELA

S.

HOWITT,

PH.D.,

JUDGE EUGENEARTHUR MOORE,

AND

BERNARD GAULIER, PH.D.

ABSTRACT

Introduction

“Early intervention” and

“prevention” may fast be

entering our daily vernac-

ular

as

the “buzz words” of

the

’90’s.

From health care

to

education to child wel-

fare, the idea is that dollars

spent on services before

problems have become

full-blown or deeply

ingrained are dollars well

spent. Regarding the delin-

quency issue,

it

has been

observed that “the search

for ways to prevent juve-

nile crime

in

the United

States has become

a

matter

of national urgency,

as

the

incidence of serious

offenses continues to rise.”

(Yoshikawa,

1995).

In

This three-year program evaluation investigated the

primary prevention aspects ofyouth Assistance (YA),

a

community-based program of the Oakland County

Probate Court providing casework and prevention

services. The activities studied included parent

education sessions, supervised teen recreation,

summer camp scholarships, skill building activities, and

a

one-to-one mentorship program. The goals of the

study were to determine how effectively the program

succeeded in mobilizing community volunteers, and to

examine whether the incidence of neglect and

delinquency had been reduced

as

a

result of children

and parents participating in one or more of these

primary prevention activities. Ethnographical

as

well

as

quasi-experimental approaches were used. The

following results

are

highlighted: YA primary

prevention services do serve

“at

risk” populations in

the community; overall, participation in the YA

activities

had positive effects on the participants, such

as

improved communication skills, increased respect

for authority, and more use of positive discipline

techniques;

92%

of the primary prevention program

participants had no subsequent contact with YA or

the Court; the program

is

cost-effective. The study

also confirmed that volunteers are an essential part of

the success

of

a

community-based prevention

program.The study resulted in

a

number of specific

recommendations which will be implemented over

the next few years in order to continuously improve

the program.

community-based preven-

tion

programming plays

a

prominent role in the sug-

gested formula for success-

fully intervening with

at-risk youth and families

(Howell,

1995).

This rela-

tively new emphasis on

prevention, at least on

a

national scale, is based

partly

on

a

recognition of

the grim reality that violent

juvenile crime is not

abating, despite increasing

investments in enforce-

ment, the courts, and cor-

rections (Hawkins,

1995).

Pragmatically, it is

argued that communities

should promote preven-

tion as the most cost-

effective approach

to

recent years, the National Office

of

Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has promoted

a

compre-

hensive plan for dealing with serious juvenile offenders, and

reducing juvenile delinquency, since prevention programs

typically cost many thousands of dollars less to admin-

ister than intensive treatment

or

residential placements.

Please see writer biographies at

end

of

article

on

page

48

Winter

I998

juvenile and Family

Court

journal