Expert Panel Issues Report on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders

• NCJ Number: 247768
• Author(s): Joseph Foote
• Date Published: October 1997
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Factsheet

Annotation

In this Fact Sheet, a ground-breaking report by a team of leading scholars offers a comprehensive assessment of research-based knowledge about serious and violent juvenile (SVJ) offenders.

Abstract

The report instructs professionals across the criminal and juvenile justice systems in what is known about these juvenile offenders, what programs have been tried with them, how well they have performed, and what lessons policymakers and practitioners can draw from them. It integrates the concept of risk and protective factors with information about intervention and prevention programs. Among the conclusions of the report are that SVJ offenders are a distinct group who begin their problem behaviors early and continue late in their offending; early warning signs include aggression, dishonesty, property offenses, and conflict with authority figures; and many known predictors of SVJ offending could be incorporated into screening devices for the early identification of emerging SVJ offenders. The authors recommend the integration of juvenile justice, child welfare, mental heath, and public health-based approaches as the most cost-effective approach for reducing SVJ offending.