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Teens, Crime, and the Community Initiative

NCJ Number
188499
Date Published
June 2001
Length
2 pages
Annotation
After discussing the components and goals of Teens, Crime, and the Community (TCC) initiative, this paper outlines TCC publications and action projects, along with training and technical assistance services.
Abstract
The goal of TCC is to teach youth how to prevent crime and, in doing so, help them develop a greater sense of social responsibility, thereby reducing risk factors associated with delinquency. TCC achieves its goals in four ways. First, it educates youth about the costs and consequences of crime and ways to reduce the risk of becoming crime victims. Second, it teaches teens life skills through hands-on classroom activities and community involvement. Third, it engages youth in youth-led service projects to improve community safety. Fourth, it enhances teens' sense of social responsibility. TCC brings its program into the community by using resource persons, including police officers, sheriff's deputies, victim advocates, social service providers, judges, and prosecutors. TCC locations vary; 73 percent are based in schools, 14 percent in juvenile justice settings, and 13 percent in communities. The key materials used by TCC are a textbook, a community binder, and conflict-resolution manuals that are adaptable to a wide range of settings. The TCC network consists of 16 expansion centers that include metropolitan areas, entire States, or groups of States. The national partners, the National Crime Prevention Council and Street Law, Inc., provide training to the expansion centers. These centers offer information, training, and technical assistance to TCC programs within their assigned areas. More than a dozen third-party evaluations, many using both control groups and TCC participants, have found that TCC has achieved significant success in meeting its goals.

Date Published: June 1, 2001