In 1994, the Little Hoover Commission examined juvenile crime, its roots and its regulation in California, in a seven-month study and issued a report emphasizing the importance of the prevention of delinquency. The concept that there are consequences linked to decisions and actions is not passed down to children. Reinvigorating these elements of society so that they may provide children with solid values and good decision-making skills requires multiple strategies that can be put into place according to specific needs of families, neighborhoods and communities. Unfortunately the universal agreement that prevention is vital has been systematically undercut by a gradual but accelerating shift in spending patterns over the last two decades. While tight fiscal constraints make it difficult to put prevention first, such a shift in priorities is crucial to halting the increasing amounts of violent juvenile crime.
Many models exist that can be adapted to a local community.
Head Start and Healthy Start are two examples of effective, governmentally funded programs. Three major controlled studies of early childhood education and home visitation have tracked participants well into adolescence and have shown that these interventions predict lower rates of violence and crime. The students of the Perry Preschool in Ypsilanti are probably the most studied group of children in history. The teacher met once a week with parent and child and encouraged the mother to do activities at home consistent with the curriculum. The study tracked the participants well into young adulthood.