Juvenile Delinquency

This was an urban-based intensive supervision program in which high-risk, gang-affiliated youths (ages 12–19) were assigned to work with a probation officer who was paired with a paid “street mentor.” The program is rated Promising. Youths in the program were significantly less likely than those in the comparison group to have a new conviction in the follow-up period of up to 3 years and remained offense-free for a longer period.

This is a framework of recommended practices for integrating police into the educational environment to enhance a safe school climate. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences in treatment and control school students’ delinquency, victimization, exclusionary discipline, relationships with adults, perceptions of police, nor school bonding, connectedness, and safety. Treatment school students had statistically significant increases in rule clarity.

This program aims to prevent sexual violence in middle school male athletes. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between treatment and control group athletes in reports of abuse (relationship, cybersexual, or sexual), sexual harassment, negative bystander behaviors, sex-equitable attitudes, or intention to intervene. Treatment group athletes reported statistically significantly more positive bystander behaviors and recognized more signs of abuse.

This is a one-to-one mentoring program aimed at improving public safety by assisting youths who commit offenses with comprehensive reentry services following their release into the community. The program is rated Ineffective. There was no statistically significant difference between program and comparison group youths in prevalence of reoffense. Program youths had statistically significantly fewer official juvenile justice contacts within 1 year of release, compared with comparison group youth

This is a juvenile reentry program that offers services to youth returning to the community in Tulsa, Okla., after their out-of-home placements. The goal of the program is to reduce rates of recidivism for high-risk youth. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences in reconviction rates for treatment group youth who received the program’s services, compared with comparison group youth who did not receive services.

This was an intervention to reduce crime and delinquency in urban areas by remediating vacant land. The program is rated Promising. Compared with the control area, treatment areas experienced statistically significant reductions in gun assaults, burglary, nuisances, shootings (overall and per kilometer), and all crimes overall. However, the intervention showed mixed results with regard to drug offense rates and no statistically significant effect on robbery/theft rates.

This mentoring program for urban high school students is designed to improve college readiness. The program is rated Ineffective. Compared with comparison students, treatment students were more likely to graduate and reported higher self-advocacy and critical thinking. These differences were statistically significant. There were no statistically significant differences in attending college, taking AP courses, task persistence, sitting in on college courses, seeking help, or growth mindset.

This is a one-to-one mentoring program in which children (ages 5–11) meet weekly over 12 months with an adult volunteer. Mentors engage in structured activities to help reduce behavior and emotional problems in children by developing self-esteem, self-efficacy, social skills, and future aspirations. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in parent- and teacher-rated problem or prosocial behavior or in child self-esteem or goals.

This is a school-based mentoring program for low-income high school students designed to increase academic achievement and college attendance and success. The program is rated Promising. Program participants had a statistically significant increase in receiving a C grade or above in algebra I and in scores on a standardized state math exam, compared with the comparison group. However, there was not a statistically significant difference between groups in receiving a C grade or above in geometry.

This is a summer jobs program in Chicago, Ill., which seeks to reduce youth violence by providing high-risk students (grades 8–12) with part-time summer employment and access to an adult job mentor. The program is rated No Effects. There were no statistically significant differences between the treatment group and the control group in violent crime arrests, property crime arrests, drug arrests, or other arrests.

This is a group-mentoring afterschool program in which elementary and middle school students with the diagnosis of a learning disability (LD) or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) meet with high school or college student mentors who also have LD/ADHD, to discuss and address their strengths and challenges. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to be associated with statistically significant decreases in depression and increases in self-esteem over the program period.

This is a responsive intervention that seeks to reduce severe aggressive behaviors of incarcerated youth at a juvenile justice institution in the Netherlands. The program is rated Promising. Intervention group youth, compared with treatment-as-usual group youth, had statistically significant higher aggression-related skills, lower cognitive distortions (such as how youth think about aggression), and a lower recidivism risk for violent and general offenses at the 3-year follow up.

This is a mentoring program that uses volunteer community members to strengthen the supportive environment and improve psychosocial outcomes among youth living without an adult caregiver in rural Rwanda. The program is rated Promising. Youth in the intervention group showed statistically significant greater improvements in scores for depression, grief, marginalization, and adult support at 18 months, compared with the youth in the comparison group.

This is a school-based group mentoring program that seeks to improve academic performance and promote resilience against criminal involvement for ninth graders at risk of dropping out. The program is rated No Effects. While there were statistically significant increases in problem solving and prosocial peers for the intervention group, there were no statistically significant differences between intervention and comparison students in juvenile offenses, empathy, and perceptions of home support.

This individual and group mentoring intervention was designed to improve transition outcomes for foster youth by increasing their self-determination skills. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between program participants and the comparison group in number of arrests or convictions, charge severity, range of punitive system involvement, comprehensive criminal justice involvement, delinquency, dropping out of high school, or homelessness.

This is a group mentoring program that seeks to reduce recidivism of youth on probation in New York City, using an interactive journaling curriculum based on cognitive-behavioral principles. The program is rated Ineffective Program participants showed a statistically significant reduction in felony reconvictions, compared with comparison group youth at 24 months; however, there were no statistically significant differences on arrests, felony arrests, or reconvictions.

This is an intervention designed to prevent future criminal activity among system-involved youth through using short-term, high-intensity relationships with paid mentors, referred to as Advocates. The program is rated Promising. Program participants showed statistically significant improvement in educational engagement and reductions in serious dispositions, compared with a comparison group.

This is a structured, one-on-one tutoring and mentoring intervention that was designed to improve language arts skills among low-achieving students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The program is rated Promising. Students in the intervention group showed a statistically significant increase in their reading comprehension and overall reading quotient scores, compared with students in the comparison group. However, there were no significant differences in reading fluency scores.

This is a one-on-one mentoring program in which youth referred from a community mental health agency receive support from adult volunteers with whom they spend 2 to 3 hours weekly on positive community activities. The program is rated Effective. The intervention was shown to be associated with a statistically significant increase in global functioning and a lower likelihood of an unplanned and client-initiated ending of treatment.

This is a mentoring program for disadvantaged elementary school children that aims to enrich their social environment and enable their acquisition of new skills through an authentic relationship with a caring adult. This program was rated Promising. The findings show a statistically significant improvement in the prosocial behavior and likelihood of high-track attendance in school for the children assigned to the intervention, compared with children in the control group.

This is a mentoring program for youth who show low levels of antisocial behavior. This program was rated Promising. Youth in the program had statistically significant improvements in offending behavior, antisocial behavior, negative affect, association with antisocial peers, emotional well-being, and involvement in education or employment, compared with youth in the control group, but not in volume of offending behavior, use of alcohol or drugs, impulsivity, or aspirations for the future.

This is a mentoring program for fifth- and sixth-grade public school students who are at increased risk for underachievement and antisocial behaviors. The program’s goals are to strengthen a students’ self-esteem, social skills, motivation, and study skills using college student mentors. This program was rated as Promising. Students who participated in the program had a statistically significantly lower risk of dropping out of school, compared with students in the comparison group.

This is a parent-training program for parents who have gone through a recent marital separation and for their families. The program is rated Promising. The program was found to have a statistically significant effect on reducing measures of youths’ delinquency, arrests, and problem behaviors and improving measures of parenting skills. There was no effect, however, on parents’ use of appropriate discipline.

This is a group, motivational interviewing program for adolescents with a first-time alcohol or drug offense. The goal of the program is to prevent negative consequences of alcohol and other drug use. This program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and comparison groups on past month frequency of alcohol, heavy drinking, or marijuana use; alcohol or marijuana consequences; recidivism; delinquency; and alcohol and other drug use.

This is a school-based, substance-use-prevention program for adolescent girls, which uses solution-focused brief therapy and community and peer mentorship. The program is rated Promising. Program participation was shown to have a statistically significant effect on lowering drug use, improving social competence, increasing knowledge surrounding drug use, and increasing negative attitudes toward drug use. The program had no statistically significant effect on grade point average or self-esteem.

This is a school-based, structured mentoring program designed to reduce school absences and promote student engagement. This program is rated No Effects. One study found students in the program had statistically significant fewer days absent and more days in school. However, program students also had statistically significant lower math scores. There were no other statistically significant differences in outcomes. A second study also found no statistically significant differences

This program provided gender-responsive services in two group homes for female youths who had been adjudicated in the delinquency (formal probation) or truancy divisions of juvenile court. The program is rated Promising. Results showed a statistically significant difference in that the girls who received gender-responsive services had lower recidivism rates after 2 years, compared with the comparison group.

This was a mentoring program in which high school juniors had regularly scheduled one-on-one contacts with trained college advisors to increase college attendance rates. The program is rated Ineffective. The program was shown to have small positive effects on enrollment rates and number of months enrolled in California State University and University of California campuses, but did not have statistically significant effects on 2-year, 4-year, or overall college enrollment or months of attendance.

This is a school-based, mentoring program designed to improve academic performance and life satisfaction and reduce absences and behavioral infractions. The program is rated Promising. Participants had a statistically significant decrease in unexcused absences and higher math and English grades, compared with the control group. However, there were no effects on school-reported behavioral infractions, science or history grades, positive affect, negative affect, coping, or overall mental health.

This is a reentry program designed to reduce recidivism and increase reentry services for males, ages 13 to 18, who have committed offenses and are placed in a locked, residential treatment facility. The program is rated Promising. The program was shown to statistically significantly decrease recidivism rates among youths who participated in the program, compared with youths who received services as usual.

This cognitive–behavioral, group-mentoring intervention was designed to improve child behavior and family functioning among 8- to 12-year olds with mental health disorders, and their primary caregivers. This program is rated Promising. Although there were statistically significant improvements on measures of social problem solving and behavior problems, there were no improvements on measures of social skills among children in the intervention group, compared with the control group.

This cognitive–behavioral mentoring intervention was designed to improve child behavior and family functioning among 8- to 12-year olds with mental health disorders, and their primary caregivers. This program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups on measures of child behavior, parenting stress, perceived social support, and attachment to parents.

This is a school-based intervention designed to help students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) develop, practice, and generalize academic and social skills by using volunteer mentors to deliver skills training to students. This program is rated as Ineffective. Academic functioning and parent/teacher ratings of student behavior reflecting ADHD symptoms did not differ statistically significantly for youths in the intervention group, compared with the control group.

This is a tutoring intervention designed to improve reading and math skills among 14- to 15-year old youths in foster care who were 1 to 3 years behind grade level in reading and/or math. The program also aimed to build a mentoring relationship between the youth and the tutor and provide access to independent living workshops. This program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups on any of the outcomes assessed.

This is an after-school intervention designed to help students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) develop, practice, and generalize academic and social skills by using volunteer mentors to deliver skills training to students. This program is rated as Ineffective. Academic functioning and parent/teacher ratings of student behavior reflecting ADHD symptoms did not differ statistically significantly between youths in the intervention group and those in the control group.

This is a diversion program in which juveniles ages 13–18, who have committed non-violent offenses, study works of literature and classic virtue theory in small groups, led by trained volunteer mentors. The goal is to foster moral development and reduce recidivism. The program is rated Promising. Participants had a statistically significantly lower chance of being prosecuted for any offense (including misdemeanors and felonies) and fewer arrests than the comparison group.

This is a problem-solving community court that seeks to prevent crime. One component of the program, the Criminal Court, hears misdemeanor cases and seeks to provide quick and meaningful sanctions to defendants in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The program was rated Promising. The program had a statistically significant impact on recidivism rates for defendants.

The program is a school-based peer mentoring program in which high school students provide one-on-one mentoring to late elementary and early middle school students. This program is rated Promising. The mentored children showed statistically significant improvement on measures of spelling achievement and connectedness to school and to parents compared with the control group. However, mentored and control group children did not significantly differ on connectedness to reading, future, or friends.

This is a training program for juvenile justice probation/parole case managers (PCMs), to promote their use of evidence-based practices to identify the mental health and substance use needs of delinquent youth and increase youth’s access to services. The program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant reductions in re-referral and placement rates for youth whose PCMs received the enhanced training, compared with youth whose PCMs received the standard training or no training.

This is a tutoring and mentoring program to improve the literacy outcomes of elementary school-aged children at risk of academic failure. This program is rated Promising. Program participants made statistically significantly greater gains in reading comprehension scores and teacher-assessed reading skills over an academic year, as compared with the control group. However, there were no differences in vocabulary and word attack scores from pre- to postintervention.

This program was designed to help high school students with mild learning disabilities improve their ability to identify postsecondary career goals. This program is rated Promising. The program group showed statistically significant improvement in social connectedness, transition competency, and self-determination, compared with the control group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in career/educational goals, academic connectedness, and familial connectedness.

This is a housing mobility demonstration program intended to help move families from high-poverty public housing to low-poverty private housing to improve their lives. This program is rated Ineffective. The program was shown to have no statistically significant long-term effects on violent, property, drug, or general crime arrests.

A high school transition program that targets ninth-grade students who are at risk of dropping out. Its goal is to improve high school graduation rates. This program is rated Ineffective. The program did not have a statistically significant overall effect on students’ high school graduation rates or on several other measures (such as credits earned). There was a statistically significant positive effect on school attachment.

The program is a preventative, group-based training intervention for parents and kindergarten teachers of young children with externalizing problem behaviors. The program seeks to reduce problem behaviors and ultimately prevent delinquency later in life. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group mothers and teachers reported statistically significantly fewer child problem behaviors, compared with the control group. However, there was no effect of observer-rated problem behaviors.

This is an intervention for urban minority freshmen at risk of dropping out of high school. The goal was to enhance school-related cognitions and behaviors. The program is rated Promising. The program did not statistically significantly impact students’ absences, grade point averages, or decision-making efficacy, but had statistically significant effects on discipline referrals, negative school behavior, performance in mathematics and language arts, and other self-reported outcomes.

This is a problem-solving community court that seeks to prevent crime. One component of the program, the Family Court, hears juvenile delinquency cases involving youth aged 15 or younger, with the goal of responding to the specific needs of youth in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The program was rated Ineffective The program had no significant effect on recidivism rates for juvenile defendants.

This program incorporates contingency management protocols and multisystemic therapy into traditional juvenile drug court services to provide juveniles and families with additional engagement opportunities and support to reduce recidivism and substance abuse. The program is rated Promising. The program statistically significantly reduced alcohol and poly drug use, positive drug urine screens, status offenses, and property offenses. The program had mixed effects on marijuana use and offenses.

This is a school-based program designed for at-risk middle school students that aims to improve academic performance, promote school connectedness, and decrease disciplinary actions. The program is rated Ineffective. There was no statistically significant impact on students’ English, reading, or science grades; measures of school connectedness; or school absences. However, treatment group students had statistically significantly fewer discipline referrals compared with control group students.

This is a juvenile drug court designed to reduce alcohol and other drug and delinquency offenses through an accountability framework. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group participants were statistically significantly less likely to recidivate in delinquency/criminal offenses, compared with the comparison group participants. However, there was no statistically significant effect on alcohol and other drug recidivism.

An intensive residential program that provides training and services, including structured one-on-one mentoring, to at-risk youth (ages 16 to 18 years). This program is rated Ineffective. The program had a statistically significant, positive impact on employment and GED attainment among participating youth as compared with control group youth. However, the program had no effect on youths’ frequency of arrests, marijuana or other illegal drug use, delinquent behavior, or psychological distress.

This was a multicomponent intervention to prevent delinquency and substance misuse for girls in foster care transitioning from elementary school to middle school. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group girls reported statistically significantly reduced tobacco use, marijuana use, and delinquent behavior, compared with control group girls. However, there was no statistically significant impact on alcohol use or association with delinquent peers.

This is a school-based intervention to improve the social-emotional and behavioral skills of young children at risk for mental health disorders and substance abuse. This program is rated Promising. The program had a statistically significant, positive effect on children’s task orientation, behavior control, assertiveness, and peer social skills. The program was also associated with a statistically significant decline in the average number of suspensions and office disciplinary referrals.

This program offered one-to-one mentoring to at-risk students in 7th to 9th grades in an urban middle school setting to reduce their discipline referrals and school absences and to improve their school connectedness. This program is rated Promising. The program was associated with a statistically significant decline in the number of office disciplinary referrals and a statistically significant increase in school connectedness. However, the program had no impact on unexcused absences.

This is a school-based prevention program designed for high-risk students. The program is rated Ineffective. There were no statistically significant differences between experimental group youth and control group youth in engagement in delinquency, alcohol use, smoking, GPA, anger, and school connectedness. There were also statistically significant negative program effects for experimental group youth in conventional peer bonding and peer high-risk behavior.

This is a strengths-based, university-led program that diverts arrested youth from formal processing in the juvenile justice system and provides them with community-based services. The program is rated Effective. Participants in the program had statistically significant lower rates of official delinquency, compared with control group youth. However, there was no statistically significant difference between groups in self-reported delinquency.

This is an intergenerational mentoring initiative designed to delay or reduce substance use by increasing the resiliency and protective factors of at-risk middle school youth. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group showed statistically significant improvements in school attendance; reactions to situations involving drug use; and attitudes toward school, the future, and elders, compared with the control group; however, there were no effects on overall well-being or substance use.

This is a school-based program designed to improve students’ school attitudes and reduce delinquency. The program is rated Promising. The program showed a statistically significant positive effect on participants’ attainment of higher rates of supportive behavior and spontaneous prosocial behavior, compared with students who did not participate. There were no statistically significant effects on negative behavior, harmoniousness, substance/alcohol use, property damage, theft, or victimization.

This is a prevention program for disruptive kindergarten boys and their parents, designed to reduce short- and long-term antisocial behavior. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group boys had a statistically significant greater likelihood of graduating from high school and having lower rates of property violence, compared with comparison group boys, at the 19-year follow up. However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in rates of personal violence.

This is a nonpunitive treatment model that concentrates on teaching juvenile justice–involved youth about prosocial behaviors as alternatives to antisocial behaviors. The program is rated Promising. Overall, findings were mixed. Treatment group youth had a statistically significant lower likelihood of being convicted for any new offense, compared with control group youth. However, there were no statistically significant effects on new charges or on incarceration rates.

This program seeks to reduce substance abuse and problem behavior in adolescents. The program is rated Promising. The intervention group had a statistically significant decrease in favorable attitudes toward substance use at the 24-month follow up and in drug use frequency at the 72-month follow up, compared with the comparison group. However, there were no statistically significant differences at the 24-month follow up in violent and delinquent behavior and perceived harm of drug use.

This is a comprehensive, multiyear program designed to reduce youth gang crime and violence. The program is rated Promising. The target area demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in calls for shots fired and gang-related incidents compared with the comparison area. However, there were no statistically significant impacts on calls for vandalism, incidents of serious violence, gang-related incidents of serious violence, or student attendance.

This program seeks to reduce substance use and problem behaviors of youths with substance use disorders. The program is rated Promising. Relative to treatment-as-usual youths, intervention youths showed a statistically significant reduction in the number of crimes committed (i.e., property and violent crimes), substance use problems, and delinquent behaviors. But there were no statistically significant differences in diagnoses of cannabis use disorder or externalizing and internalizing behaviors

AMIkids is a program encompassing community-based, experiential treatment interventions for at-risk and delinquent youth, which is designed to reduce recidivism and be cost effective. The program is rated Promising. The treatment group showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of being rearrested, adjudicated, convicted, or experiencing a subsequent commitment for any offense within 12 months of release, compared with the comparison group.

This is a cognitive-based intervention for aggressive children and for their parents to increase the children’s competence, study skills, social skills, and self-control during the transition to middle school. The program is rated Promising. There were mixed results on self-reported delinquency, but treatment group children showed a statistically significant reduction in substance use and improvement in aggressive behavior, compared with control group children.

This is a multisystemic intervention for boys younger than 12 who display aggression and antisocial behavior problems. This program is rated Effective. Boys who participated in the program showed a statistically significant decrease in delinquency and aggression scores and in behaviors such as rule-breaking, aggression, and conduct problems, compared with control group boys.

This is a family and community-based treatment program for adolescents with serious antisocial, delinquent, and other problem behaviors. The program is rated Effective. The treatment group had a statistically significant reduction in rearrests and number of days incarcerated, compared with a control group that received usual services. However, there were no statistically significant differences between groups in substance use outcomes.

This version of multisystemic therapy is for adolescents with substance abuse and dependency issues. This program is rated Effective. Treatment youth showed statistically significant reductions in marijuana use and in aggressive behavior and convictions for aggressive behavior, compared with control group youth. However, no significant differences between groups were found for symptoms of mental health, criminal behavior, or alcohol or cocaine use.

This is a prevention program designed to decrease adolescents’ underage drinking and delinquency by increasing parents’ restrictive and prohibitory attitudes toward these behaviors. The program is rated Promising. Adolescents whose parents participated in the program had a statistically significant lower likelihood of having been drunk in the past month, lower alcohol use overall, and lower delinquency levels, compared with adolescents whose parents did not participate in the program.

This program is an adaptation of Multisystemic Therapy, specifically designed for adolescents who have committed sexual offenses and demonstrated other problem behaviors. The program is rated Promising. Program participants had lower rates of self-reported person and property offenses as well as lower rates of arrests for sexual crimes and other crimes, compared with control group participants. These findings were statistically significant.

This is a family-based prevention and intervention program for dysfunctional youth, ages 11 to 18, who are justice-involved or at risk for delinquency, violence, substance use, or other behavioral problems. The program is rated Effective. Program participants showed a statistically significant reduction in general recidivism and risky behavior, compared with control group participants. However, there were no differences between groups on felony recidivism or caregiver strengths and needs.

This is a behavioral intervention for youth, which is designed to reduce drug and alcohol use and promote an abstinent lifestyle. The program is rated Promising. Participants showed a statistically significant reduction in alcohol use, other drug use, and depressive symptoms, and an increase in linkage to continuing care services, adherence to the continuing care model, and social stability. However, there was no statistically significant effect on high-risk behaviors or delinquency.

This is a behavioral treatment alternative to residential placement for adolescents with antisocial behavior, emotional disturbance, and delinquency. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group boys showed a statistically significant drop in criminal referral rates, criminal activities, and days spent in lock up, compared with comparison group boys. Treatment group girls showed a statistically significant reduction in delinquency, compared with comparison group girls.

This interactive classroom curriculum is designed to reduce youth dating violence by addressing bullying, unsafe sexual behavior, and substance use. The program is rated No Effects. The program had small, statistically significant effects on decreasing dating violence and sexual harassment/assault victimization. However, there were no significant effects on sexual harassment/assault perpetration, peer violence perpetration or victimization, sexual activity, substance use, or prosocial attitudes.

This is a multicomponent treatment program administered in juvenile correctional facilities for youth with conduct disorders. This program is rated Promising. Program youth showed statistically significant improvements in social skills and had statistically significant fewer instances of self-reported and staff-reported institutional misconduct, compared with control group youth. However, there were no significant differences between groups on measures of moral judgment.

This program offers one-to-one mentoring in a community setting for at-risk youth between the ages of 6 and 18. This program is rated Effective. It was associated with a statistically significant reduction in initiating drug and alcohol use and antisocial behavior among mentored youth, compared with non-mentored youth. Mentored youth also showed statistically significant improvement in relationships with parents and academic performance (i.e., better grades and fewer absences).

This is a planning and implementation system that helps community stakeholders come together to address adolescent behavior problems such as violence, delinquency, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of school. This program is rated Promising. There were statistically significant lower levels of risk factors and a lower likelihood of initiation of delinquent behavior for intervention communities, compared control communities, but mixed results in substance use initiation.