In 1993, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice issued an important policy paper that synthesized the best national level thinking about comprehensive approaches to prevent, and control, serious and violent youth crime. This Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent and Chronic Juvenile Offenders set out key research findings and specified a number of critical policy assumptions to guide effective programming. Overview of Social Development Strategy Figure 1 The strategy rests on a risk-focused prevention model based on known risk factors existing in a community. That Care, the strategy leads community leaders to identify priorities for reducing risk factors and increasing protective or buffering factors for at-risk youth.
Protective factors buffer children from the dangers associated with the risk factors.
These include personal characteristics of the individual, social bonding, a system of healthy beliefs, clear standards for behavior, and involvement with community assets. It is crucial that protective factors be identified in programs serving children. This focus improves the community's effort to protect children against the effects of exposure to risk factors and helps community leaders assess the effectiveness of programs for children. The graduated sanctions component of the strategy employs the same risk and protective factors as the Communities That Care model, in establishing effective juvenile justice sanctioning programs. The continuum of sanctions covers immediate responses for minor misconduct, an array of intermediate sanctions for serious habitual offenders, as well as effective, secure treatment programs for the violent few.