Prevention (OJJDP Model Program Guide)

Prevention

Traditionally, the juvenile justice system has focused on dealing with youth after an initial contact with the local juvenile court. While this reactive emphasis on delinquent behavior is still prominent and necessary, the last 20 years has seen the emergence of a proactive approach to help stem the swell of delinquent youth. This new approach is known as the public health model of crime prevention.

The public health model focuses on reducing the risk of and increasing resiliency against illness and disease. With its emphasis on prevention of disease or injury, the public health approach to violence offers an appealing alternative to an exclusive focus on rehabilitation or punishment. Thus, other disciplines outside the public health field, such as criminal justice, have begun to adopt this multilevel approach to understand the nature of violence and identify potential points of intervention. In the context of delinquency prevention, the public health model focuses on reducing the risk of and increasing resiliency against problem behavior. It offers a practical, scientifically based procedure to promote and maintain prosocial behavior. In essence, the public health approach follows a four-step procedure to identify problems and develop solutions for entire population groups (Hamburg, 1998). These steps are 1) define the nature of the problem using scientific methods (i.e., data); 2) identify potential causes through analyses of risk and protective factors associated with the problem; 3) design, develop, and evaluate interventions; and 4) disseminate successful models as part of education and outreach.

It should be noted that risk and protective factors are neither causes nor cures. Rather, risk and protective factors are statistical predictors that each have a strong theoretical base. They can be defined in the following manner:

Risk factors are personal characteristics or environmental conditions scientifically established to increase the likelihood of problem behavior (Kirby and Fraser, 1997).

Protective factors are personal characteristics or environmental conditions that interact with risk factors scientifically established to reduce the likelihood of problem behavior.

The potential for an individual to engage in delinquent behavior is expressed as an algorithm of risk and protective factors that, over the developmental process, increase or decrease the likelihood that a given youth will engage in problem behaviors (delinquency, substance abuse, school dropout, HIV/AIDS risk behavior, or others). The framework indicates that no single factor is essential but rather multiple factors (both risk and protective) combine to contribute to and shape behavior over the course of adolescent development. It suggests that the more risk factors present in life, the greater the probability of problem behaviors (Bry, McKeon, and Pandina, 1982; Newcomb, 1995). The negative influence of risk factors, however, can be moderated by the presence of certain protective factors to build a resiliency against problem behaviors (Garmezy, 1985; Werner, 1994).

Some researchers advocated for a paradigm shift in the prevention field to concentrate exclusively on building resiliency rather than on trying to reduce risks (Bernard, 1991; Benson, 1997). These researchers argue that an emphasis on risks is an emphasis on deficits and that a prevention strategy would produce more significant outcomes by concentrating on building strengths. However, current research suggests that neglecting risk by concentrating solely on resiliency is incomplete as a strategy for reducing the prevalence of problem behavior. Pollard and colleagues (1999) found that a strategy that concentrates on resiliency at the expense of risks is less likely to reduce problem behaviors than a strategy that is effective in both enhancing protective factors and reducing risk factors.

Today, many juvenile delinquency prevention programs use variations of this approach but have been unsuccessful because they do not adequately address both risks and resiliency. In other words, they concentrate too heavily on risk factors without addressing protective factors that decrease the likelihood of problem behavior. Or they concentrate too heavily on improving resiliency without addressing the source of the risks. Instead, the design of effective prevention programs and strategies should consider the dynamics and interrelationship of both types of factors (Pollard, Hawkins, and Arthur, 1999).

As a result, the prevention side of the MPG database offers two unique search options. First, it incorporates a search engine that utilizes the risk and protective factors framework to help guide communities through the public health model. Secondly, it offers a traditional option to search the universe of prevention and intervention programs to assist communities that are not interested in utilizing the risk and protective factor framework.

Click here for 'PREVENTION' References, and to browse other references.

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Functional Family Therapy
Wraparound Milwaukee
Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices
Project Toward No Drug Abuse
Teaching Students to Be Peacemakers
Truant Recovery Program
Child–Parent Center (Chicago, Ill.)
Career Academy
Active Parenting of Teens: Families in Action
Teams–Games–Tournaments Alcohol Prevention
Across Ages
Adolescent Transitions Program
Aggression Replacement Training® (ART®)
All Stars™
Good Behavior Game
Bicultural Competence Skills Approach
BBBS Community-Based Mentoring
Boys and Girls Club Project Learn
Brief Strategic Family Therapy
Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project (Comprehensive Gang Model)
Caring School Community Program
Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline®
Coping Power Program
DARE To Be You
Early Risers ‘Skills for Success’ Program
Family Effectiveness Training
Fast Track
Families Facing the Future
Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT)
Healthy Families America
Perry Preschool Project
HOMEBUILDERS
I Can Problem Solve
The Incredible Years
Job Corps
Kansas City Gun Experiment
Let Each One Teach One
LifeSkills® Training
Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT)
Midwestern Prevention Project
Multidimensional Family Therapy
Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
Native American Prevention Project Against AIDS and Substance Abuse
Nurse–Family Partnership (NFP)
Open Circle Curriculum
Operation Ceasefire
Parent-Child Development Center
Parenting Partnership
Parenting Wisely
Parents as Teachers
PeaceBuilders
Peers Making Peace
Positive Action
Guiding Good Choices
Preventive Treatment Program
Primary Project
Project ACHIEVE
Project ALERT
Project Link
Project PATHE (Positive Action Through Holistic Education)
Project PACE
Project Venture
Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS®)
Reconnecting Youth
Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (New York City)
Responding In Peaceful and Positive Ways
Rural Educational Achievement Project (REAP)
Say It Straight
SCARE Program
Second Step®: A Violence Prevention Curriculum
SISTERS
Positive Youth Development Program (Connecticut)
STARS (Start Taking Alcohol Risks Seriously) for Families
STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program)
Strengthening Families Program
Syracuse Family Development Research Program
Too Good for Drugs
Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents
Woodrock Youth Development Program
Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Oakland Beat Health Program
Families And Schools Together (FAST)
Parenting with Love and Limits®
Girls Circle
Success in Stages®
Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS)
Family Matters
Hardcore Gang Investigations Unit—Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
Richmond Comprehensive Homicide Initiative
Supporting Adolescents with Guidance and Employment (SAGE)
Responsive Classroom
Philadelphia Youth Violence Reduction
Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention of College Students (BASICS)
Safe Dates
SMART Leaders
First Step to Success
Weed and Seed
Project Northland
Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS)
Kentucky Adolescent Tobacco Prevention Project
Community Trials Intervention to Reduce High-Risk Drinking
Sembrando Salud
Preventive Alcohol Education Program
keepin’ it REAL (Refuse, Explain, Avoid, Leave)
American Indian Life Skills Development
Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS)
Movimiento Ascendencia
Project Toward No Tobacco Use
Lions-Quest Skills for Adolescence
Peace Works
Saving Lives
SOS Signs of Suicide® Program
Teenage Health Teaching Modules
Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development Program (BUILD)
Lions-Quest Working Toward Peace
Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education
Minnesota Smoking Prevention Program
Social Decision Making/Problem Solving Program
Strengthening the Bonds of Chicano Youth and Families
Spit Tobacco Intervention for Athletes
Too Good for Violence
Tribes
Urban Women Against Substance Abuse
Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10–14
Steps to Respect®: A Bullying Prevention Program
Urban Improv
Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program®
Success For All
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Staying Connected with Your Teen
Project Chrysalis
Strong African American Families (SAAF)
Common Sense Parenting (CSP)
Taking Charge
CeaseFire—Chicago
Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise & Nutrition Alternatives (ATHENA)
the truth® campaign
CARE (Care, Assess, Respond, Empower)
The Leadership Program’s Violence Prevention Project
4th R Curriculum
HCZ – Promise Academy Charter Middle School
Triple P – Positive Parenting
Aban Aya Youth Project
Familias Unidas
KiVa Antibullying Program
Media Detective
Media Ready
Success for Kids

Prevention

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