Juvenile Offenders Research Paper
Prevention and Intervention Programs for Juvenile Offenders
Prevention and Intervention Programs for Juvenile Offenders
Peter Greenwood
Summary
Over the past decade researchers have identified intervention strategies and program models that reduce delinquency and promote pro-social development. Preventing delinquency, says Peter Greenwood, not only saves young lives from being wasted, but also prevents the onset of adult criminal careers and thus reduces the burden of crime on its victims and on society. It costs states billions of dollars a year to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate, and treat juvenile offenders. Investing in successful delinquency-prevention programs can save taxpayers seven to ten dollars for every dollar invested, primarily …show more content…
All programs must be compared on an equal footing. Some analyses consider only savings within the criminal justice system. Others view this issue more broadly: costs must be covered and savings are savings no matter where in government they arise.20 This broader approach requires collecting data reflecting the effect of an intervention on all government spending. David Olds’ Nurse Home Visiting Program, for example, is not cost-effective as a delinquency-prevention program alone, but when crime-reduction benefits for both the mother and child are combined with reduced welfare and schooling costs, benefits exceed costs by several orders of magnitude.21 A final financial issue is whether to include the benefits of reduced crime to potential victims, their families, and friends. The criminal justice system has lagged behind fields such as engineering, medicine, public health, and environmental protection in efforts to monetize benefits. Victim surveys provide fairly good estimates of direct out-of-pocket costs such as the value of lost or damaged property, medical costs, and lost wages. These direct costs, however, are only a small share of the total costs to victims imposed by crimes against persons.22 The question is how to estimate the indirect costs of pain and suffering, security expenses, and restricted lifestyle, which can be quite large for some more serious
Prevention and Intervention Programs for Juvenile Offenders
Peter Greenwood
Summary
Over the past decade researchers have identified intervention strategies and program models that reduce delinquency and promote pro-social development. Preventing delinquency, says Peter Greenwood, not only saves young lives from being wasted, but also prevents the onset of adult criminal careers and thus reduces the burden of crime on its victims and on society. It costs states billions of dollars a year to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate, and treat juvenile offenders. Investing in successful delinquency-prevention programs can save taxpayers seven to ten dollars for every dollar invested, primarily …show more content…
All programs must be compared on an equal footing. Some analyses consider only savings within the criminal justice system. Others view this issue more broadly: costs must be covered and savings are savings no matter where in government they arise.20 This broader approach requires collecting data reflecting the effect of an intervention on all government spending. David Olds’ Nurse Home Visiting Program, for example, is not cost-effective as a delinquency-prevention program alone, but when crime-reduction benefits for both the mother and child are combined with reduced welfare and schooling costs, benefits exceed costs by several orders of magnitude.21 A final financial issue is whether to include the benefits of reduced crime to potential victims, their families, and friends. The criminal justice system has lagged behind fields such as engineering, medicine, public health, and environmental protection in efforts to monetize benefits. Victim surveys provide fairly good estimates of direct out-of-pocket costs such as the value of lost or damaged property, medical costs, and lost wages. These direct costs, however, are only a small share of the total costs to victims imposed by crimes against persons.22 The question is how to estimate the indirect costs of pain and suffering, security expenses, and restricted lifestyle, which can be quite large for some more serious