Across the country, statutes were rewritten to allow for certain classes of juvenile offenders to be handled in criminal court as if they were adults. During the 1990s, however, our growth in understanding the complex nature of juvenile crime and the relationship of important social, psychological, and familial conditions grew exponentially. In addition, the results of years of youth violence and juvenile crime research recommended a more balanced, integrative approach to combating youth violence and crime. The 1990s marked another evolution in the history of the juvenile justice system at the Federal, State and local levels, as policymakers began to embrace this balanced approach, and incorporate sanctions, offender accountability, and treatment and prevention components into a continuum of services for children and youth. We are beginning to see significant downturns in previously frightening juvenile arrest statistics that are cause for optimism.
Juvenile crime is also down in comparison to adult crime.
It is this continuum of services and sanctions that comprehensively addresses delinquency by preventing its future occurrence while seeking to aggressively intervene with those juveniles who are entering pathways to delinquency and controlling those whose behavior marks them as serious, violent, or chronic juvenile offenders. This program provides communities with the resources needed to identify and respond to root causes of local juvenile delinquency problems through comprehensive, collaborative prevention planning. The program offers training and technical assistance to help communities successfully negotiate the local assessment and planning processes and then provides seed funding for implementation of community three-year prevention plans. It is through this process that communities are empowered to initiate delinquency prevention programs geared to their unique needs and circumstances. Across the country communities have been implementing this prevention strategy for 6 years and are now beginning to fully integrate the key principles of the Community Prevention Grants Program into comprehensive community planning, with positive results.