Detailed and comprehensive, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders presents authoritative discussions by a select group of leading scholars on issues surrounding serious and violent juvenile offenders. This population is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of all crime and poses the greatest challenge to juvenile justice policymakers. Under the skillful editorship of Rolf Loeber and David P. Farrington, this unique volume integrates knowledge about risk and protective factors with information about intervention and prevention programs so that conclusions from each area can inform the other. Current literature on these two areas does not, for the most part, apply directly to serious and violent juvenile offenders. This volume contends that serious and violent juvenile offenders tend to start displaying behavior problems and delinquency early in life, warranting early intervention. It is the contributors′ thesis that prevention is never too early. They also maintain, however, that interventions for serious and violent juvenile offenders can never be too late in that effective interventions exist for known serious and violent juvenile offenders. Augmented by charts, tables, graphs, figures, and an extensive bibliography, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders is an excellent reference work and a must read for policy and lawmakers, judges, attorneys, law enforcement personnel, education administrators, researchers, academics, social workers, sociologists, as well as graduate students and interns.

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

Explores "the lives of juveniles, their experiences in society, and the consequences of those experiences, ... [examining] the structures, procedures, policies, and problems of American juvenile justice agencies"--Amazon.com.