After increasing sharply during the late 1980s and early 1990s and peaking in 1994, arrests for juvenile violent offenses have declined dramatically in recent years. The juvenile arrest rate for violent offenses dropped for the sixth consecutive year during 2000 (the most recent year for which juvenile arrest statistics are available) to its lowest level in 14 years. The number of juvenile arrests in every category tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Violent Crime Index (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) fell during 2000.² Although OJJDP is encouraged by the significant decrease in juvenile arrests for violent crime in recent years, it remains strongly committed to combating violent juvenile crime. The Office’s activities, areas of focus, and accomplishments during fiscal year (FY) 2001 reflect this commitment.

A Focus on Research

OJJDP performs its role of national leadership in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention through a cycle of activities that include data collection, research, evaluation, demonstration, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination. OJJDP, for example, collects and disseminates critical statistics about juvenile arrests, offenders, and victimization. These statistics provide the Office and the juvenile justice field a better understanding of issues affecting juveniles, and they also help OJJDP identify new areas for research.

OJJDP funds short-term and longitudinal research studies, and findings from these studies often lead to the development of demonstration programs, many of which involve community-based, comprehensive juvenile justice strategies. To ensure that these strategies are effective, OJJDP funds scientifically rigorous evaluations—the Office currently supports 19 program evaluations and plans to increase this number to target funding on programs that work. When a strategy or program is proven to be effective, OJJDP sponsors training and technical assistance to help communities replicate the approach. Training and technical assistance are available to policymakers and practitioners on a broad range of juvenile justice topics.

OJJDP also provides seed money to State and local governments through formula and block grants to implement programs, projects, and reform efforts. The Office provides training and technical assistance to help States and local governments implement programs effectively and maintain the integrity of model programs being replicated.

OJJDP has an aggressive information dissemination strategy that incorporates a Web site and print and electronic documents and products designed to inform the field about the most recent statistical and research findings, program developments, funding availability, and other OJJDP news.

Research represents a specific agenda for OJJDP and is central to its overall program delivery. Research activities will continue to be stressed in coming years as OJJDP’s leadership recognizes the critical role of research in identifying and developing programs to prevent and reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. Critical first steps in assisting juvenile offenders toward successful reentry into society are determining what factors place them at risk for delinquency, identifying patterns of offending, and developing effective strategies to respond to their needs and behaviors. Committing to a research agenda is, therefore, one of the most important ways in which OJJDP can respond to the needs of children at risk of delinquency, their families, and their communities. Knowledge gained through research of what works increases OJJDP’s ability to form and wisely fund programs that will result in well-crafted solutions and interventions to address the problems of juvenile crime and violence.

Programs that promote protective factors and help reduce the risk factors that lead to juvenile crime are among the best investments a community can make to lower its rate of delinquency. Evaluation and testing are vital for the identification of effective programs that keep juveniles from being arrested and entering the juvenile justice system in the first place. At the same time, communities need to identify corrections treatment and aftercare that will reduce the likelihood of recidivism. To aid these efforts, OJJDP’s Research and Program Development Division (Research Division) is committed to maximizing the impact of OJJDP’s diverse research by disseminating its findings to practitioners and policymakers who work with juveniles and juvenile offenders.

The ultimate goal of OJJDP’s Research Division is to prevent at-risk youth from pursuing a delinquent career and to help youth who are already in the juvenile system turn away from future delinquency and criminal behavior and become productive citizens. OJJDP’s cycle of activities demonstrates the need to use what researchers have learned to craft solutions and interventions that address the problems of juvenile crime and violence. Together, OJJDP divisions and program units provide a continuum of activity that fully supports the efforts of researchers, policymakers, courts, schools, juvenile justice facilities, practitioners, parents, and juveniles.

Yet, despite the knowledge OJJDP has gained, it recognizes that much work still remains to be done. Over the years, OJJDP’s Research Division has developed strong partnerships with the many highly skilled researchers in the field of juvenile justice and risk behavior. These partnerships—including those conducted in collaboration with a number of Federal agencies—will continue to be strengthened and many new ones will be formed. Through these activities, OJJDP will continue to support a meaningful array of research studies, evaluations, and statistical activities. With the help of researchers in the field, OJJDP will use what it has learned to develop programs and solutions that will make a difference to juveniles, their families, and communities.

OJJDP’s research activities and program development and delivery will continue to expand to improve juvenile justice knowledge of what works and what does not. As this Report details, in fulfilling its role of national leadership in juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, OJJDP demonstrated an increased emphasis on research in 2001, and this focus will continue to be stressed in coming years. OJJDP’s research agenda stands at the center of its overall program development, statistics, evaluation, and funding activities to determine what the roots of delinquency are, what policies and programs can help protect youth and families from risk factors, and how communities can assist and support these efforts.

Collaboration

For the past several years, OJJDP has emphasized the need for State and local agencies, communities, and components of the juvenile justice system to work together to address juvenile crime and victimization. Collaboration, therefore, guided a number of OJJDP programs in FY 2001, including programs to address drug use, juvenile gun violence, gang violence, truancy, offender reentry, and Internet crimes against children. In addition, OJJDP is collaborating with other Federal agencies on several critical programs, such as the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a joint effort of the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to reduce school violence, and the Comprehensive Indian Resources for Community and Law Enforcement (CIRCLE) Project, which (with the help of Federal partner agencies from the U.S. Department of Justice and the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs) helps tribal communities develop comprehensive planning and funding infrastructures to more effectively fight crime, violence, and substance abuse.

Priority Program Areas

OJJDP administered several new program activities during FY 2001. Priority areas in FY 2001 included the following:

• Intervention and prevention efforts. Aggressive and immediate steps to stop delinquency before it starts can prevent juveniles from entering the juvenile justice system and lower the number of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. The research, prevention, and early intervention programs described in chapter 2 reflect OJJDP’s continued commitment to combating juvenile violence and delinquency and intervening early and effectively.

• Gang programs. The National Youth Gang Survey documents the persistence of a serious youth gang problem in the United States and describes changes in the scope and nature of the problem. Through research, evaluation, training and technical assistance, and dissemination activities, OJJDP supports communities in their gang prevention, intervention, and suppression efforts. Chapter 6 highlights OJJDP’s recent gang-related activities.

• Tribal youth programs. Although rates of juvenile violent crime have been declining throughout the Nation for several years, juvenile crime continues to rise in Indian Country. OJJDP is working to prevent and reduce juvenile crime in tribal communities through its continued support of several broad program areas, including the Tribal Youth Program (TYP) and the TYP Mental Health Project. The Office’s efforts to help tribal communities prevent and control juvenile delinquency and address other problems facing tribal youth are described in chapter 7.

• Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Program. During FY 2001, OJJDP’s Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) Program continued to work with States to address the problem of underage drinking through an approach that included block grants, discretionary funding, and training and technical assistance. EUDL is discussed in chapter 4.

• Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. During FY 2001, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program, created in 1998, continued to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in developing effective responses to Internet exploitation and child pornography cases. The program includes forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, and community education. Chapter 5 provides information on the background, purpose, and activities of the ICAC Task Force Program.

Information Dissemination

Providing a full spectrum of information (about research, statistics, promising practices, and emerging concerns and issues) to juvenile justice practitioners, policymakers, and the public remained a high priority at OJJDP during FY 2001. The Office, for example, developed two new Web sites—OJP’s Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative site (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reentry), and a Web site for OJJDP’s Title V Community Prevention Grants Program (ojjdp.ncjrs.org/titlev/index.html). The Office also produced more than 80 new publications, established electronic and printed products, and used a range of vehicles (e.g., print publications; electronic products such as CD–ROMs, listservs, and Web sites; and satellite videoconferences) to convey information to the field. These activities are highlighted in chapter 9.

Although OJJDP continues to disseminate up-to-date information to a broad audience of juvenile justice practitioners and policymakers and the general public, it recently began to change its approach to information dissemination, relying more on the OJJDP Web site (ojjdp.ncjrs.org) to disseminate information and exploring the advantages of electronic publishing. In addition, OJJDP is beginning to target its mailings of publications and solicitations to more carefully defined audiences. Electronic versions of all publications and solicitations are still available (for viewing and downloading) on the OJJDP Web site, and a limited number of print copies are available on request from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse. All new publications will continue to be announced on OJJDP’s Web site and through the JUVJUST listserv as well.

OJJDP is also considering online publication as an alternative to print for certain categories of information. For example, for statistics and other time-sensitive materials, online publication may allow the information to be made available sooner, updated more easily and more frequently, and presented without the physical constraints of print. A shift to online publication will enable OJJDP to provide up-to-date and comprehensive information to the field. Although the volume of OJJDP’s mailings will decrease, the agency’s overall information dissemination activity should expand—particularly when the economies of electronic dissemination are fully realized.

Program Solicitations and Peer Reviews

Many of the programs that OJJDP supported in FY 2001 were funded through a competitive application process. It was, in fact, a busy year, as OJJDP issued solicitations for 7 discretionary-funded programs and received 724 applications in response. Several program announcements resulted in hundreds of applications: for example, the Drug-Free Communities Support Program received 385 applications in response to its program announcement and the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative received more than 200. To ensure that only the highest quality programs are funded, OJJDP conducts an intense peer review of all eligible applications for competitive discretionary funding. Peer reviewers include practitioners, researchers, and academicians from the public and private sectors. During FY 2001, the Office convened 61 peer review panels to evaluate applications for funding for 7 programs. A total of 170 reviewers served on the panels. (Typically, a panel consists of 3 reviewers and considers 10 applications.)

Conclusion

As described throughout this Report, OJJDP programs and activities during FY 2001 have sought to combat juvenile violent crime and violence and keep communities safe. Through its continued support of a cycle of activities—research and statistics; program development, testing, and demonstration; replication; training and technical assistance; and information dissemination—the Office in FY 2001 was able to help practitioners and policymakers identify programs and services that would best serve their States and communities.