From the Administrator

A recent report by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) Study Group on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders provides valuable insights into the pathways to serious and violent juvenile offending. Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions uses OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders as a foundation to construct an analysis of risk and protective factors that will enable communities to build effective prevention and intervention programs for serious and violent juvenile offenders.

The Study Group of distinguished experts chaired by Drs. Rolf Loeber and David Farrington presents empirical evidence that the key to reducing serious and violent offending lies with early prevention efforts aimed at high-risk youth and interventions with serious and violent juvenile offenders.

This Bulletin and the report it summarizes provide critical guidance toward both ends by examining a broad range of prevention and intervention programs, from those that focus on early childhood to those focusing on late adolescence. It is my hope that the information the Bulletin provides will renew our commitment to tackling what has for too long seemed an overwhelming problem -- serious and violent juvenile offending.

Shay Bilchik
Administrator

Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders	Juvenile Justice Bulletin   ·  May 1998