Youth violence in our country has risen dramatically in the past decade. The number of violent arrests of youth under the age 18 has increased dramtically: 36 percent between 1989 and 1993, more than 4 times the increased reported for adults. During that period, juvenile arrests for homicide increased by 45 percent, while adult homicide arrests increased by only 6 percent (FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 1994). Among teenagers 15 to 19 years old, the escalation of gun violence is particulary alarming: one of every four …showed first 75 words of 2793 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2793 total…problems. Keeping these lessons in mind, researchers and program planners can design more effective long-term interventions to prevent serious, violent juvenile offending. Clearly, prevention can curb crime and delinquency. If programs target high-risk children and their parents early life, and if they provide intensive and extended (2 years or more) counseling, education, and parenting assistance and highly skilled youth development professionals, prevention efforts yield powerful reductions in later aggressiveness, delinquency, and criminal behavior can be prevented