[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 116 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33126-33166]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15832]



[[Page 33125]]

_______________________________________________________________________

Part II





Department of Justice





_______________________________________________________________________



Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention



_______________________________________________________________________



Comprehensive Program Plan for Fiscal Year 1998 and Availability of 
Discretionary Program Announcements and Application Kit; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 116 / Wednesday, June 17, 1998 / 
Notices  

[[Page 33126]]



DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
[OJP(OJJDP)-1184]
RIN 1121-ZB21


Comprehensive Program Plan for Fiscal Year 1998 and Availability 
of Discretionary Program Announcements and Application Kit

AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Justice.

ACTION: Notice of final program plan for fiscal year 1998 and 
availability of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements 
and the FY 1998 OJJDP application kit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is 
publishing its Final Program Plan for fiscal year (FY) 1998 and 
announces the availability of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program 
Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP Application Kit.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eileen M. Garry, Director, Information 
Dissemination Unit, at 202-307-5911. [This is not a toll-free number.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is a component of the Office of Justice 
Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice. Pursuant to the provisions 
of Section 204(b)(5)(A) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 5601 et seq. (JJDP Act), 
the Administrator of OJJDP published for public comment a Proposed 
Comprehensive Plan describing the program activities that OJJDP 
proposed to carry out during FY 1998. The Proposed Comprehensive Plan 
included activities authorized in Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP 
Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 5651-5665a, 5667, 5667a. The public was 
invited to comment on the Proposed Plan by March 23, 1998. The 
Administrator analyzed the public comments received, and that analysis 
is provided below. Taking these comments into consideration, the 
Administrator developed this Final Comprehensive Plan describing the 
particular program activities that OJJDP intends to fund during FY 
1998, using in whole or in part funds appropriated under Parts C and D 
of Title II of the JJDP Act.
    The FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 
1998 OJJDP Application Kit are now available. They can be obtained from 
the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse by calling 800-638-8736 or by 
sending an e-mail request to [email protected]. The publications are 
also available online at OJJDP's home page, Grants and Funding section, 
at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.

Overview

    After a decade of steady increases in juvenile crime and violence, 
the trend is being reversed. The United States has experienced a 
downturn in juvenile violent crime arrests for 2 straight years (3 
years for murder arrests). Figures released in 1997 show that juvenile 
arrests for murder declined 14 percent 2 years in a row--and 3 percent 
the year before that. From 1995 to 1996, juvenile arrests for robbery 
declined 8 percent; for the previous year, they decreased 1 percent. 
The overall Violent Crime Index arrests of juveniles declined 6 percent 
in 1996, following a 3-percent drop in 1995.
    The decreases in juvenile Violent Crime Index arrests must be kept 
in perspective, however. Even with the 2-year decline, the 1996 number 
was 60 percent above the 1987 level. In comparison, adult Violent Crime 
Index offense arrests rose 24 percent over the same period.
    In the area of drug use violations, juveniles were involved in 14 
percent of all drug arrests in 1996 (compared with 13 percent in 1995). 
However, arrests of juveniles for drug abuse violations increased 6 
percent from 1995 to 1996, a smaller increase than the previous year's 
18 percent. In addition, between 1992 and 1996, juvenile arrests for 
drug abuse violations increased 120 percent, compared with a 138-
percent increase between 1991 and 1995.
    Thus, in the second half of the 1990's, juvenile violent crime and 
drug use are still significantly higher than in the late 1980's but 
beginning to show signs of trending downward. The juvenile justice 
system needs to build on the positive momentum of these recent 
decreases by continuing to focus on programs and strategies that work. 
This requires a concerted effort on the part of Federal, State, and 
local government, in partnership with private organizations and 
community agencies, to ensure that available resources are used in a 
way that maximizes their impact; decreases juvenile crime, violence, 
and victimization; and increases community safety.
    Federal leadership in responding to the problems confronting the 
Nation's juvenile justice system is vested in OJJDP. Established in 
1974 by the JJDP Act, OJJDP is the Federal agency responsible for 
providing a comprehensive, coordinated approach to preventing and 
controlling juvenile crime and improving the juvenile justice system. 
OJJDP administers State Formula Grants, State Challenge Grants, and the 
Title V Community Prevention Grants programs in States and territories; 
funds gang and mentoring programs under Parts D and G of the JJDP Act; 
funds numerous projects through its Special Emphasis Discretionary 
Grant Program and its National Institute for Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention; and coordinates Federal activities related to 
juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.
    OJJDP also serves as the staff agency for the Coordinating Council 
on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, coordinates the 
Concentration of Federal Efforts Program, and administers both the 
Title IV Missing and Exploited Children's Program and programs under 
the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 13001 et 
seq.
    In the FY 1998 Appropriations Act, Congress provided funding for 
two new OJJDP programs. These are not funded under Parts C and D of 
Title II of the JJDP Act, which are the focus of this Proposed Program 
Plan. However, mention of these new programs here, along with an 
additional program that OJJDP will administer, may help to alert those 
who work in the juvenile justice field to the existence of these new 
programs. Recognizing that, ``while crime is on the decline in certain 
parts of America, a dangerous precursor to crime, teenage drug use, is 
on the rise and may soon reach a 20-year high,'' Congress provided $5 
million in funds for the development, demonstration, and testing of 
programs designed ``to reduce drug use among juveniles'' and ``to 
increase the perception among children and youth that drug use is 
risky, harmful, and unattractive.'' Funding for the drug prevention 
program is discretionary, and the Appropriations Act directs OJJDP to 
submit a program plan for the drug prevention program by February 1, 
1998. This plan has been submitted. Twenty-five million dollars in 
funds were also provided for an underage drinking program. Much of the 
funding for the underage drinking program will be made available to the 
States and the District of Columbia through formula grants of $360,000 
each (total $18.36 million), with $5 million in discretionary funding, 
and $1.64 million for training and technical assistance to support the 
program. OJJDP will also administer the Juvenile Accountability 
Incentive Block Grants program authorized in the FY 1998 Appropriations 
Act. Of the $250 million

[[Page 33127]]

available under this new block grant program, 3 percent is available 
for research, evaluation, and demonstration activities related to the 
program and 2 percent is available for related training and technical 
assistance activities. Program Announcements have been issued for the 
Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program and for the 
Combating Underage Drinking Program. The Program Announcements are 
available from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse and online. See the 
information provided above on how to obtain copies of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcements and the FY 1998 OJJDP Application 
Kit. Further information on the Drug Prevention Program will be 
provided to the field in the near future. Solicitations for OJJDP's 
Mentoring program (Part G of the JJDP Act) and the Missing and 
Exploited Children's Program (Title IV of the JJDP Act, the Missing 
Children's Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5771 et seq.) were published 
separately.
    Cognizant of the trends in juvenile crime and violence and of its 
responsibilities and mission, OJJDP has developed a Program Plan for FY 
1998 for activities authorized under Parts C and D of Title II of the 
JJDP Act, as described below.

Fiscal Year 1998 Program Planning Activities

    The OJJDP program planning process for FY 1998 was coordinated with 
the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and 
the four other OJP program bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance 
(BJA), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the National Institute 
of Justice (NIJ), and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). The 
program planning process involved the following steps:
     Internal review of existing programs by OJJDP staff.
     Internal review of proposed programs by OJP bureaus and 
Department of Justice components.
     Review of information and data from OJJDP grantees and 
contractors.
     Review of information contained in State comprehensive 
plans.
     Review of comments made by youth service providers, 
juvenile justice practitioners, and researchers to provide OJJDP with 
input in proposed new program areas.
     Consideration of suggestions made by juvenile justice 
policymakers concerning State and local needs.
     Consideration of all comments received during the period 
of public comment on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan.

Discretionary Program Activities

Discretionary Grant Continuation Policy

    OJJDP has listed on the following pages continuation projects 
currently funded in whole or in part with Part C and Part D funds and 
eligible for continuation funding in FY 1998, either within an existing 
project period or through an extension for an additional project 
period. A grantee's eligibility for continued funding for an additional 
budget period within an existing project period depends on the 
grantee's compliance with funding eligibility requirements and 
achievement of the prior year's objectives. The amount of award is 
based on prior projections, demonstrated need, and fund availability.
    The only projects described in the Proposed Program Plan were those 
that are receiving Part C or Part D FY 1998 continuation funding and 
programs that OJJDP was considering for new awards in FY 1998.
    Consideration for continuation funding for an additional project 
period for previously funded discretionary grant programs was based 
upon several factors, including the following:
     The extent to which the project responds to the applicable 
requirements of the JJDP Act.
     Responsiveness to OJJDP and Department of Justice FY 1998 
program priorities.
     Compliance with performance requirements of prior grant 
years.
     Compliance with fiscal and regulatory requirements.
     Compliance with any special conditions of the award.
     Availability of funds (based on appropriations and program 
priority determinations).
    In accordance with Section 262 (d)(1)(B) of the JJDP Act, as 
amended, 42 U.S.C. 5665a, the competitive process for the award of Part 
C funds is not required if the Administrator makes a written 
determination waiving the competitive process:
    1. With respect to programs to be carried out in areas in which the 
President declares under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act codified at 42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq. that a 
major disaster or emergency exists, or
    2. With respect to a particular program described in Part C that is 
uniquely qualified.

Program Goals

    OJJDP seeks to focus its assistance on the development and 
implementation of programs with the greatest potential for reducing 
juvenile delinquency and improving the juvenile justice system by 
establishing partnerships with State and local governments, American 
Indian and Alaska Native jurisdictions, and public and private agencies 
and organizations. To that end, OJJDP has set three goals that 
constitute the major elements of a sound policy that assures public 
safety and security while establishing effective juvenile justice and 
delinquency prevention programs:
     To promote delinquency prevention and early intervention 
efforts that reduce the flow of juvenile offenders into the juvenile 
justice system, the numbers of serious and violent offenders, and the 
development of chronic delinquent careers. While removing serious and 
violent juvenile offenders from the street serves to protect the 
public, long-term solutions lie primarily in taking aggressive steps to 
stop delinquency before it starts or becomes a pattern of behavior.
     To improve the juvenile justice system and the response of 
the system to juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and dependent, 
neglected, and abused children.
     To preserve the public safety in a manner that serves the 
appropriate development and best use of secure detention and 
corrections options, while at the same time fostering the use of 
community-based programs for juvenile offenders.
    Underlying each of the three goals is the overarching premise that 
their achievement is vital to protecting the long-term safety of the 
public from juvenile delinquency and violence. The following discussion 
addresses these three broad goals.

Delinquency Prevention and Early Intervention

    A primary goal of OJJDP is to identify and promote programs that 
prevent or reduce the occurrence of juvenile offenses, both criminal 
and noncriminal, and to intervene immediately and effectively when 
delinquent or status offense conduct first occurs. A sound policy for 
juvenile delinquency prevention seeks to strengthen the most powerful 
contributing factor to socially acceptable behavior--a productive place 
for young people in a law-abiding society. Delinquency prevention 
programs can operate on a broad scale, providing for positive youth 
development, or can target juveniles identified as being at high risk 
for delinquency with programs designed to reduce future juvenile 
offending. OJJDP prevention programs take a risk and protective factor-
based delinquency prevention approach based

[[Page 33128]]

on public health and social development models.
    Early interventions are designed to provide services to juveniles 
whose noncriminal misbehavior indicates that they are on a delinquent 
pathway or to first-time nonviolent delinquent offenders or nonserious 
repeat offenders who do not respond to initial system intervention. 
These interventions are generally nonpunitive but serve to hold a 
juvenile accountable while providing services tailored to the 
individual needs of the juvenile and the juvenile's family. They are 
designed to both deter future misconduct and reduce the negative or 
enhance the positive factors present in a child's life.

Improvement of the Juvenile Justice System

    A second goal of OJJDP is to promote improvements in the juvenile 
justice system and facilitate the most effective allocation of system 
resources. This goal is necessary for holding juveniles who commit 
crimes accountable for their conduct, particularly serious and violent 
offenders who sometimes slip through the cracks of the system or are 
inappropriately diverted. Activities to support this goal include 
assisting law enforcement officers in their efforts to prevent and 
control delinquency and the victimization of children through community 
policing programs and coordination and collaboration with other system 
components and with child caring systems. Meeting this goal involves 
helping juvenile and family courts, and the prosecutors and public 
defenders who practice in those courts, to provide a system of justice 
that maintains due process protections. It requires trying innovative 
programs and carefully evaluating those programs to determine what 
works and what does not work. It includes a commitment to involving 
crime victims in the juvenile justice system and ensuring that their 
rights are considered. In this regard, OJJDP will continue to work 
closely with the Office for Victims of Crime to further cooperative 
programming, including the provision of services to juveniles who are 
crime victims or the provision of victims services that improve the 
operation of the juvenile justice system.
    Improving the juvenile justice system also calls for strengthening 
its juvenile detention and corrections capacity and intensifying 
efforts to use juvenile detention and correctional facilities in 
appropriate circumstances and under conditions that maximize public 
safety, while at the same time providing effective rehabilitation 
services. It requires encouraging States to carefully consider the use 
of expanded transfer authority that sends the most serious, violent, 
and intractable juvenile offenders to the criminal justice system, 
while preserving individualized justice. It necessitates conducting 
research and gathering statistical information in order to understand 
how the juvenile justice system works in serving children and families. 
Finally, the system can only be improved if information and knowledge 
are communicated, understood, and applied for the purpose of juvenile 
justice system improvement.

Corrections, Detention, and Community-Based Alternatives

    A third OJJDP goal is to maintain the public safety through a 
balanced use of secure detention and corrections and community-based 
alternatives. This involves identifying and promoting effective 
community-based programs and services for juveniles who have formal 
contact with the juvenile justice system and emphasizing options that 
maintain the safety of the public, are appropriately restrictive, and 
promote and preserve positive ties with the child's family, school, and 
community. Communities cannot afford to place responsibility for 
juvenile delinquency entirely on publicly operated juvenile justice 
system programs. A sound policy for combating juvenile delinquency and 
reducing the threat of youth violence makes maximum use of a full range 
of public and private programs and services, most of which operate in 
the juvenile's home community, including those provided by the health 
and mental health, child welfare, social service, and educational 
systems.
    Coordination of the development of community-based programs and 
services with the development and use of a secure detention and 
correctional system capability for those juveniles who require a secure 
option is cost effective and will protect the public, reduce facility 
crowding, and result in better services for both institutionalized 
juveniles and those who can be served while remaining in their 
community environment.
    In pursuing these three broad goals, OJJDP divides its programs 
into four broad categories: public safety and law enforcement; 
strengthening the juvenile justice system; delinquency prevention and 
intervention; and child abuse, neglect, and dependency courts. A fifth 
category, overarching programs, contains programs that have significant 
elements common to more than one category. Following the introductory 
section below, the programs that OJJDP proposes to fund in FY 1998 are 
listed and summarized within these five categories.

Summary of Public Comments on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan for 
Fiscal Year 1998

    OJJDP published its Proposed Comprehensive Plan for FY 1998 in the 
Federal Register (Vol. 63, No. 25) on February 6, 1998, for a 45-day 
public comment period. OJJDP received 78 letters from 84 individuals 
commenting on the Proposed Plan. (Four of the letters were signed by 
two individuals, and one was signed by three persons.) All comments 
have been considered in the development of OJJDP's Final Comprehensive 
Plan for Fiscal Year 1998.
    The majority of the letters provided positive comments about the 
overall plan or specific programs. A few letters criticized proposed 
programs or expressed concern about the failure of the plan to address 
certain program areas. The following is a summary of the substantive 
comments received and OJJDP's responses to the comments. Unless 
otherwise indicated, each comment was made by a single respondent. The 
total number of comments reported here is greater than the number of 
letters received because several letters included comments on two or 
more issues.
    Many writers not only commented on the proposed program plan but 
also indicated interest in receiving funding for programs with which 
they were associated or ones which they plan to develop. In addition to 
responding to their comments on the Proposed Plan in individual letters 
to all commenters, OJJDP informed those interested in funding that 
program announcements requesting proposals for new programs would be 
published shortly after publication of the Final Comprehensive Plan and 
that copies of the program announcements could be obtained by calling 
OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800-638-8736 or sending an e-
mail request to [email protected]. Program announcements will also be 
available online at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm. Commenters interested in 
funding were also told that most of OJJDP's funding is not provided 
under Parts C and D but is distributed to the States and territories 
through OJJDP's Formula Grants, Challenge, and Title V (Community 
Prevention) programs. These writers were provided with contact 
information for the Juvenile Justice Specialists in their States, who 
can help them explore possible sources of funding. Writers expressing 
interest in arts-related programs were also given

[[Page 33129]]

contact information for the appropriate arts agency in their States.
    Comment: Thirty-two letters were received in support of arts 
programming. Of these, 13 letters supported the Arts Programs in 
Juvenile Detention Centers, 9 supported the Arts and At-Risk Youth 
Program, and 10 supported both of the proposed programs.
    Response: Solicitations for these two art-related programs will be 
issued. The title and focus of the Arts Programs in Juvenile Detention 
Centers will be expanded to Arts Programs in Juvenile Detention and 
Corrections. It came to the attention of OJJDP during the public 
comment period that the longer stays common in correctional settings 
maximize the opportunity for arts programs to make a difference in the 
lives of young people.
    The solicitations are available in the 1998 OJJDP Discretionary 
Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. 
Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is 
provided above under Supplementary Information.
    Comment: Five of the arts-related letters mentioned above (one that 
supported both arts programs and four that supported the Arts and At-
Risk Youth Program) also indicated approval of the Youth-Centered 
Conflict Resolution Program. Another letter suggested that a social 
skills component should be included in the Conflict Resolution Program.
    Response: OJJDP will continue to fund the Youth-Centered Conflict 
Resolution (YCCR) Program in FY 1998. As the Proposed Plan stated, the 
program will be carried out by the current grantee, the Illinois 
Institute for Dispute Resolution, and no additional applications will 
be solicited this year. OJJDP recognizes the importance of social 
(interpersonal) skills training as part of an effective conflict 
resolution education (CRE) program. The goal of OJJDP's YCCR Program is 
to help schools, juvenile facilities, and other youth-serving 
organizations select and implement quality CRE programming. As such, 
YCCR recommends that a social skills component should be one of the 
features to look for in considering which conflict resolution program 
to implement.
    Comment: Thirteen letters favored the proposal for the National 
Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center. 
One of the 13 letters had 2 signatures and another one had 3.
    Response: A solicitation for the National Juvenile Defender 
Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource Center will be issued as 
part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: 
Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to 
obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under 
Supplementary Information.
    Comment: Eight letters expressed support for the truancy reduction 
program.
    Response: A solicitation will be issued for this program, which 
will be jointly funded by OJJDP and the Executive Office of Weed and 
Seed with the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of 
Justice and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program at the U.S. 
Department of Education. Information on how to obtain a copy of the 
Program Announcement containing this solicitation is provided above 
under Supplementary Information.
    Comment: One letter, signed by two individuals, called on OJJDP to 
take more of a leadership role in addressing the mental health needs of 
juveniles in the juvenile justice system.
    Response: OJJDP shares the concern about the needs of a large 
percentage of youth in the juvenile justice system who have mental 
health problems. To address these problems, OJJDP has undertaken 
several efforts. In 1995, OJJDP organized a Mental Health Task Group, 
consisting of several experts in the field, to assist in defining the 
problems and developing recommendations for action. Recommendations of 
this group to form partnerships to study mental health issues for at-
risk and juvenile justice system youth have been addressed by OJJDP. 
These recommendations are part of the background that led to the joint 
programs outlined below.
    To help to better understand the problems of youth, OJJDP has 
transferred funds to support two studies that are being conducted by 
the National Institute of Mental Health.
    The first one, Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development, 
is a large-scale prevention study involving hundreds of children and 
several elementary schools located in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods 
of Columbia, South Carolina. The Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention and the National Institute on Drug Abuse have also provided 
funding for the program. The grantee is the University of South 
Carolina. This large-scale project is designed to promote coping-
competence and reduce risk for conduct problems, aggression, substance 
use, delinquency and violence, and school failure beginning in early 
elementary school. The project also seeks to alter home and school 
climates to reduce risk for adverse outcomes and to promote positive 
youth development.
    The second study is of various treatment modalities for attention 
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Expanded followup 
will assess substance abuse and use and related factors necessary for 
evaluating changes in ADHD children's risk for subsequent substance use 
and abuse attributable to their randomly assigned treatment conditions. 
In addition, the multimodal treatment study of children with ADHD 
affords the opportunity to assess the experience of study participants 
with the legal system, e.g., contacts with the juvenile justice system, 
acts of delinquency, court referrals, and other criminal and/or 
precriminal activities.
    OJJDP staff have participated in the Federal National Partnership 
on Children's Mental Health, which was organized by the Center for 
Mental Health Services (CMHS), and the subgroups on early intervention 
and American Indian programs. As an outgrowth of this work, OJJDP has 
transferred money to CMHS to support technical assistance to the 
Comprehensive Children's Mental Health sites funded by CMHS. This 
technical assistance is designed to enhance the involvement of the 
sites with the juvenile justice system-involved youth who have mental 
health problems. Also, OJJDP has entered into a partnership with the 
National Institute of Corrections and the Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration to support technical assistance on co-
occurring disorders for juveniles in the juvenile justice system.
    OJJDP will transfer funds to CMHS to support the newly announced 
Circles of Care program that CMHS will fund this fiscal year. OJJDP 
support will permit the funding of an additional site.
    In addition, OJJDP is funding a demonstration effort to test the 
efficacy of Community Assessment Centers to determine if this approach 
will lead to more thorough and complete assessments and better service 
and more effective case management for at-risk and juvenile justice 
system-involved youth, including those with mental health and substance 
abuse disorders.
    OJJDP is working with the National Mental Health Association to 
support the survey of mental health needs of juveniles in 17 States. 
This survey will be conducted by the GAINS Center.
    On the issue of family involvement in developing policy and 
programs for their children with mental health needs in the juvenile 
justice system, OJJDP has been a strong advocate for this since the 
early 1980's when the Office developed

[[Page 33130]]

the first research and demonstration program to address juvenile 
violence. OJJDP recognizes that no program effort can be truly 
successful at turning troubled youth around unless it involves family, 
broadly defined, in the development of policy and programs.
    To support the development of a system of care for at-risk children 
and delinquents and to test the efficacy of its Comprehensive Strategy, 
OJJDP has funded the SafeFutures program in six sites. This funding, 
$1.4 million per site, includes $200,000 for the enhancement of mental 
health services for at-risk and delinquent youth.
    All of these programs represent OJJDP's commitment to addressing 
the mental health issues of at-risk and delinquent youth. OJJDP shares 
the concerns about this issue, as expressed in the letter. OJJDP 
recognizes that these programs will not take the development of policy 
and programs to the scale that will address the needs of all at-risk 
and delinquent youth. OJJDP anticipates, however, that the programs and 
studies that have been funded will help define policy and best 
practices. At the appropriate time, OJJDP will disseminate the results 
of these efforts and encourage States and localities to adopt 
progressive, family-inclusive mental health policies and programs.
    Comment: Another letter related to mental health programs discussed 
the ``lack of validity of any of the disruptive behavior disorders 
(ADHD, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) and any of the 
learning disabilities, dyslexia included, as organic/biologic; as 
diseases/medical syndromes.''
    Response: OJJDP has a strong interest in understanding all risk 
factors for delinquent behavior. Among these risk factors are mental 
disorders, both emotional and behavioral. These disorders pose a 
complex and unsolved challenge to the juvenile justice and mental 
health systems. In an effort to understand how to prevent youth with 
these disorders from ending up in the justice system and how to treat 
more effectively those who do, OJJDP has supported in the past and will 
continue to encourage research on mental health issues. A key issue is 
identification and treatment of mental health illnesses. OJJDP believes 
that its cosponsorship with the National Institute of Mental Health of 
research on ADHD and conduct disorders will greatly expand knowledge of 
the impact of these conditions and of appropriate treatment options. 
The Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of children with ADHD will be 
funded this fiscal year.
    Comment: Four individuals urged OJJDP to include the Community 
Volunteer Coordinator Program in the Comprehensive Plan.
    Response: The Community Volunteer Coordinator Program will be 
supported. The program will not provide funds for new programs, but 
will support the coordination of existing program activities. This 
program will be funded noncompetitively, and sites selected for the 
program will have underway ongoing publicly and/or privately funded 
community-based initiatives. The sites chosen also will have 
demonstrated a commitment to volunteerism and programming in nonschool 
hours, previous collaborative experience, organizational capacity, and 
an ability and willingness to collect relevant data.
    Comment: One letter from two individuals asked that OJJDP give 
funding priority to home visitation programs this year and in the 
foreseeable future as a cost-effective way of preventing child abuse 
and neglect and future criminal behavior.
    Response: OJJDP appreciates the writers' interest in home 
visitation programs as a means to help prevent child abuse and neglect 
and thus prevent future delinquency and crime. As can be seen in the 
Proposed Plan, OJJDP considers research in the area of nurse home 
visitation as being critically important. Currently, OJJDP is funding 
Dr. David Olds of the Center for Prevention Research, University of 
Colorado, to continue his groundbreaking nurse home visitation 
programming and research, which has shown positive effects on maternal 
and child health, teen pregnancy, welfare dependency and workforce 
participation, and crime and delinquency. OJJDP has partnered with the 
Executive Office of Weed and Seed to implement Dr. Olds' nurse home 
visitation program nationwide, at six Weed and Seed sites. OJJDP is 
also working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to 
evaluate the outcomes at these sites.
    OJJDP also funds the University of Utah's Strengthening America's 
Families project. This project provides national training and technical 
assistance to identify and disseminate information about model family 
strengthening programs for the prevention of delinquency and other 
problems associated with youth. Of the 25 model programs identified, 
Dr. Olds' nurse home visitation program was deemed exemplary.
    Comment: Two individuals wrote one letter expressing concern about 
``three important limitations'' in the proposed Blueprints for Violence 
Prevention: Training and Technical Assistance program. Their concerns 
are summarized as follows: (1) communities need to assess their risk 
and protective factors and then select the appropriate effective 
program; (2) the Blueprint program models as designated by the 
University of Colorado are too limited; and (3) the program should only 
be made available in communities that have taken a comprehensive 
approach to preventing juvenile violence.
    Response: OJJDP's responses are presented in order below.
    1. Communities applying for Blueprints funding will have to provide 
an assessment demonstrating that the proposed program is needed. The 
proposed application includes a feasibility component that will ensure, 
among other factors, that the Blueprint program selection and the 
target population have been matched. The feasibility component will 
help assess the need for developing a Blueprint model program and the 
capacity of the community or agency to implement the selected program 
with integrity. Several screening methods will be employed to ensure 
that communities and providers are sufficiently informed, prepared, and 
equipped to undertake a specific program implementation. A prescreening 
application adapted to each Blueprint program will determine local 
commitment and support for implementing the program. A conference call 
between community representatives will be used to provide evidence of 
community and/or institutional support. Finally, a site visit will be 
made to determine whether or not an appropriate match has been made 
between the community and the specific Blueprint program. The 
feasibility phases will look at (1) the need of the community for that 
specific Blueprint program, (2) the financial resources that have 
already been designated for conducting the program and the potential 
for additional funding in the long term, and (3) the human resources 
available for conducting the program, including qualified personnel to 
direct the program and to manage daily operations.
    2. Blueprint programs are ``gold standard'' programs that meet 
rigorous effectiveness criteria. They are the first 10 of many 
potential programs to be identified. OJJDP is not saying that they are 
the only effective programs and acknowledges there may be many more 
that have shown promising results.
    OJJDP has made a conscious decision to support these replications 
because of the high standards set for inclusion in the program. More 
than 400 delinquency, drug, and violence prevention programs were 
reviewed,

[[Page 33131]]

and an advisory board narrowed the selection to 10 programs chosen for 
Blueprint status. These programs came the closest to meeting all four 
individual criteria: strong research design, evidence of significant 
prevention or deterrent effects, sustained effects, and multiple site 
replication.
    3. OJJDP will give this suggestion serious consideration. Limiting 
the program to a select group of communities, however, could severely 
limit the potential for helping troubled children, youth, and families 
on a larger scale. OJJDP believes that these model programs are so 
effective that offering them to all communities is the wisest path to 
follow.
    Comment: One writer praised the overall plan and suggested ``an 
area which is directly related to many, if not all, of the initiatives 
outlined'': unified family court initiatives.
    Response: OJJDP appreciates the writer's thoughtful discussion of 
the work being done by the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Standing 
Committee on Substance Abuse in developing and implementing unified 
family courts. The Office is also enthusiastic about the potential of 
the unified court initiative to bring together diverse segments of the 
court and the community to collaborate on effective approaches to 
families in crisis.
    The Office of Justice Programs through the Violence Against Women 
Grants Office and the Director of OJJDP's Concentration of Federal 
Efforts Program provided support and served as faculty at the ABA 
Summit on Unified Family Courts: Exploring Solutions for Families, 
Women and Children in Crisis recently held in Philadelphia. OJJDP is 
looking forward to hearing about the outcomes of the Summit and 
learning how to possibly collaborate on providing training and 
technical assistance to the ABA's most promising sites.
    OJJDP and the State Justice Institute (SJI) are planning to 
implement a training and technical assistance project that will help 
communities involve the courts in effective teambuilding strategies. 
This may be of interest to the ABA and its work with the unified family 
court projects. SJI will be administering the program, and OJJDP will 
make sure that the ABA sites are aware of this opportunity.
    OJJDP also encourages the unified family court projects to access 
information through OJJDP's Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse on potential 
funding opportunities. The writer mentioned two specific programs that 
would be of interest to the ABA projects, the Drug Prevention Program 
and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program. Both programs will 
provide an opportunity for communities to enhance their efforts in 
reducing substance abuse among youth by addressing specific risk 
factors for substance abuse.
    OJJDP is also working with the National Institute of Justice to 
convene a 1-day meeting of leading experts in juvenile and criminal 
justice, including judges, lawyers, social service providers, 
academics, and others to discuss the issues addressed above and 
consider a plan for further improving the juvenile court. The goals of 
this meeting will be (1) to map out the numerous trends, philosophies, 
and directions apparent in the juvenile and criminal justice field, (2) 
to begin identifying common ground among various efforts in the field, 
and (3) to forge new partnerships among organizations interested in 
collaborating on juvenile justice programs and projects.
    This is a major opportunity for OJJDP to fulfill its role of 
shaping national policy regarding juvenile justice. OJJDP expects to 
have an opportunity to launch new initiatives as a result of this 
meeting and as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 
juvenile court. The ABA Standing Committee on Substance Abuse has been 
instrumental in many of these efforts, and OJJDP will continue to work 
with them in planning the national meeting and further explore 
opportunities to work with the Standing Committee on Substance Abuse.
    Comment: Five letters expressed support for or interest in funding 
for gender-specific programming for female juvenile offenders.
    Response: OJJDP will continue to provide funding for the Training 
and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific Programming 
for Female Juvenile Offenders, which will be implemented by the current 
grantee, Greene, Peters and Associates. In addition, we are exploring 
ways to build on the work being done in Cook County, Illinois. This 
work has involved developing a gender-specific needs and strengths 
assessment instrument and a risk assessment instrument for female 
juvenile offenders, providing training in implementing gender-
appropriate programming, and designing a pilot program that includes a 
community-based continuum of care with a unique case management system. 
Addressing gender-specific needs is also a focus of OJJDP's SafeFutures 
sites, which are developing comprehensive community partnerships to 
provide extensive prevention, intervention, and treatment services to 
at-risk and delinquent juveniles and their families.
    Comment: One writer asked for information about a central 
repository of information, if one exists, and suggested creating one, 
if such an entity does not exist.
    Response: OJJDP recognizes that the work of juvenile justice 
practitioners, policymakers, and the general public can be enhanced by 
a central repository of information. OJJDP supports such a resource in 
the form of the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC). A component of 
the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, JJC is OJJDP's central 
source for the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of information 
on all aspects of juvenile justice. Among its many support services, 
JJC offers toll-free telephone access to information, prepares 
specialized responses to information requests, maintains a 
comprehensive juvenile justice library--which includes videotapes, and 
administers several electronic information resources, including OJJDP's 
listserv, JUVJUST, and home page. A brochure describing the 
Clearinghouse and its functions in more detail was sent to the writer.
    Comment: One letter requested that OJJDP ``review the critical 
situation regarding information on juveniles in Federal custody and 
supervision.''
    Response: Two efforts are underway to address the increasing number 
of juveniles in Federal custody:
    1. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has convened a working 
group to address the lack of facilities available for juveniles in 
Federal custody and is also revising current program and educational 
standards for those facilities with juveniles under Federal 
jurisdiction.
    2. The majority of juveniles in Federal custody are from Indian 
tribes. Through the DOJ's Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ) and the Office 
of Justice Program's American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Affairs 
Office, OJJDP is developing a series of responses to juveniles in 
Federal custody. For example, OJJDP is working with OTJ, AI/AN Affairs 
Office, and the National Institute of Justice to develop an initiative 
in Indian country that could potentially address the critical issues 
raised in the report on juveniles in Federal custody. Also, the DOJ 
Tribal Court Project assists Indian tribes in the improvement of their 
tribal justice systems and has secured limited training and funding for 
45 Tribal Court-DOJ Partnership Projects.
    In addition to these efforts, OJJDP is enhancing the current 
training and technical assistance being provided to law enforcement to 
also include Federal

[[Page 33132]]

law enforcement officers or agents. The focus will be to increase 
consistency and understanding of Federal policies regarding juveniles 
in Federal custody. Another area of activity within DOJ is working to 
provide access to accurate information, which is a main focus of 
concern in the letter. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is working with 
several other Federal agencies to revise the Federal agency data 
collection systems. This effort includes consideration of the lack of 
information available on juveniles in Federal custody.
    OJJDP's proposed field-initiated research program provides an 
opportunity for researchers to consider the critical issues raised in 
the letter. In formulating its research priorities, OJJDP will consider 
the specific areas the writer identified as possible research topics.
    Comment: One letter commented on the Proposed Plan's ``impressive 
array of programs to assist at-risk youth, as well as those already 
involved in the criminal justice system.'' The writer also described a 
prevention initiative being spearheaded by the New York/New Jersey High 
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and provided information on the 
recently opened 168th Street Armory Youth Center.
    Response: OJJDP thanked the writer for his positive comments, asked 
to be put on the mailing list to receive a copy of the Center's 
evaluation when it is available, and referred him to the Juvenile 
Justice Specialists for New York and New Jersey for information about 
possible sources of funding.
    Comment: One writer noted that only a ``small number of our teens 
can be construed as violent teens'' and that the children and youth in 
low-income families in her area ``need opportunities to develop into 
good citizens.'' She added that she ``would encourage that we not spend 
a lot of money researching methods--we know what works.'' The writer 
would like most funds to be spent on youth development and intervention 
programming.
    Response: It is important to recognize, as the writer did in 
writing about her community, that ``the majority of our youth are 
productive, hard working and a credit to the community.'' A 1995 survey 
conducted for OJJDP's Teens, Crime, and the Community program found 
that 86 percent of the young people in this survey were willing to 
participate in helping to create solutions to problems that affect 
their lives. They expressed interest in a variety of volunteer programs 
to help reduce crime and violence in their communities, including 
communication programs (ads, posters, newsletters); youth leadership 
programs, such as tutoring or being a mentor to a younger student; 
antiviolence and antidrug programs; programs to avoid fights, such as 
conflict resolution; and local cleanup projects, neighborhood watches, 
or citizen patrols.
    OJJDP agreed that an exclusive focus on studying problems will 
never solve them, but OJJDP's focus is a comprehensive one. Those who 
work in juvenile justice and youth-serving agencies know what works in 
certain communities, but replication of programs that work has been a 
great challenge. Quality research and data are critical to ensuring the 
success of OJJDP's efforts. OJJDP's support for community prevention 
and juvenile justice intervention activities is well balanced. Funded 
programs range from research on the causes and correlates of 
delinquency, to demonstrations that pilot solutions, to evaluation of 
those pilots to check their efficacy, to training and technical 
assistance, and to formula funds that seed programs nationwide.
    Comment: Two writers wrote to support the Learning Disabilities 
Among Juveniles At-Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice 
System. One of these letters provided information about a program, 
Partnership for Learning, that ``screens first time juvenile offenders 
with learning disabilities'' in Baltimore, Maryland.
    Response: OJJDP is committed to addressing the increasing number of 
juveniles identified with learning disabilities in juvenile facilities. 
More important, OJJDP is supporting effective programs that divert 
these juveniles from entering the system for minor offenses that would 
best be addressed in the community. OJJDP will not fund a demonstration 
program this year. However, OJJDP's activities this year will include a 
focus on developing a program designed to (1) prevent delinquency and 
incarceration of youth at risk of learning disabilities through early 
assessment and intervention coordinated across school, police, court, 
probationary, and other community-based services, and (2) prevent 
recidivism by ensuring that students with learning disabilities in 
correctional settings receive appropriate, specially designed 
instructional services that address their individual needs.
    OJJDP will be working with the U.S. Department of Education's 
(ED's) Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and 
Office of Vocational and Adult Education to initiate a variety of 
activities, including plans to develop the model demonstration program. 
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, in 
conjunction with ED's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, recently 
combined site visits and focus group meetings to identify promising 
practices for safe, drug-free, and effective schools for all students. 
OJJDP will coordinate with ED to disseminate the information developed 
in these meetings.
    Comment: One writer enclosed a report on ``vertical'' prosecution 
of most juvenile firearm offenses in Seattle, Washington, which the 
writer indicated OJJDP ``might find interesting considering the content 
of the plan, especially the Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit 
program.''
    Response: The OJJDP Administrator was impressed with the project's 
vertical prosecution approach, the comprehensiveness and utility of the 
juvenile gun incident data, and the outcomes. Copies of the report were 
shared with several individuals and groups that might be able to 
include this approach in their ongoing work:
     OJJDP staff who work on gang- and prosecution-related 
projects.
     Program Manager, OJJDP's Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile 
Gun Violence Initiative.
     COSMOS Corporation, the evaluator of OJJDP's Gun Violence 
Initiative, for possible inclusion in a report COSMOS is producing for 
the U.S. Department of Justice on promising approaches to this critical 
issue.
     David Kennedy, Kennedy School of Government, a researcher 
deeply engaged in the issue of reducing youth gun violence.
     The American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), the 
grantee implementing the Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit. APRI's work 
in 1998 will include the presentation of workshops and seminars and 
development of new reference materials for prosecutors. The material in 
the report should be helpful to this group.
    OJJDP will follow up with the writer and the author of the report 
to learn more about the Seattle project and to explore ways in which 
this approach might be included in OJJDP's Gun Violence Initiative 
sites.
    Comment: One letter suggested that the Program Plan ``should 
include efforts to prevent lead poisoning because excess lead exposure 
has been found to be associated with increased risk for antisocial and 
delinquent behavior.''
    Response: OJJDP recognizes the significance of lead poisoning as 
one of the myriad risk factors linked to antisocial behavior and 
delinquency--an association discussed in the article that the writer 
enclosed with his letter. Moreover OJJDP agrees that more

[[Page 33133]]

research needs to be conducted to further unravel causality; that is, 
does lead exposure cause a child to become a delinquent and/or a 
criminal? Accordingly, OJJDP is keeping abreast of research in this 
area and notes that agencies with larger medical research budgets 
(e.g., the National Institutes of Health) are best equipped to take on 
such significantly complex research. Similarly, agencies such as the 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have initiatives to 
prevent lead exposure and by association the negative effects 
associated with lead poisoning. Nevertheless, OJJDP's Field-Initiated 
Research program could conceivably include research that might, for 
example, evaluate the effectiveness of a crime prevention program that 
integrates lead exposure prevention.
    Comment: The governor of an American Indian pueblo expressed 
concern about two specific points: (1) the Proposed Plan notes the 
coordinated effort but fails to mention ``involvement of the American 
Indian & Alaska Native Affairs office'' and (2) a discussion of 
improving the juvenile justice system does not mention ``the training 
of judges to issues specific to juvenile justice.''
    Response: OJJDP's responses are presented in order below.
    1. The reference to coordination with the Assistant Attorney 
General, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), was meant to include all of 
the various OJP components; only the four other program bureaus were 
mentioned by name. OJJDP works closely with the American Indian and 
Alaska Native (AI&AN) Affairs Office on all of its programs and 
particularly on those programs that have the greatest interest to 
American Indians and Alaska Natives. A representative from OJJDP serves 
on a U.S. Department of Justice American Indian Task Group, and the 
Director of the AI&AN Affairs Office reviews and comments on OJJDP 
programs. OJJDP staff have also consulted with the Director of the 
AI&AN Affairs Office on such programs as the Combating Underage 
Drinking Program to assure that the solicitation for funding is 
sensitive to the needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
    2. OJJDP is committed to providing the necessary resources for 
training judges in issues specific to juvenile justice. Since 1974, 
OJJDP, at the direction of Congress, has funded the National Council of 
Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) to provide comprehensive 
skill-based training and technical assistance to juvenile court judges 
throughout the country. The name of this program was listed on page 
6342 of the Proposed Plan as one of a number of programs identified for 
funding consideration by Congress. Program descriptions were not 
included for these programs.
    NCJFCJ, now in its 62d year, is dedicated to improving the Nation's 
juvenile justice system. NCJFCJ does this through an extensive effort 
toward improving the operation and effectiveness of juvenile and family 
courts through highly developed, practical, and applicable training. 
NCJFCJ conducts more than 100 training sessions a year with support 
from OJJDP and from State, local, and foundation funds. These trainings 
are provided at locations throughout the United States to make them 
accessible and cost effective for the participants. Like all OJJDP 
grantees and contractors, NCJFCJ gives careful consideration to 
requests for assistance outside the specific mandates of the award.
    Comment: One letter expressed support for several programs, 
including the Arts and At-Risk Youth Program, the Youth-Centered 
Conflict Resolution Program, and programming for female offenders. This 
support was counted with other letters of support for these programs, 
which were addressed previously. The writer also supported the program 
to combat underage drinking, the Communities In Schools--Federal 
Interagency Partnership program, and OJJDP's gang prevention/
intervention activities.
    Response: OJJDP's Proposed Plan included five programs that address 
the gang problem: the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang 
Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program; Evaluation of the 
Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, 
and Suppression Program; Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang 
Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and 
Training; Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention 
Component (Boys & Girls Clubs); and Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting 
OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach. Of these, only the last one was 
proposed as a new program for this fiscal year. The programs mentioned 
by this writer will all be funded. A solicitation for the Rural Youth 
Gang Problems program will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.
    Comment: One writer made four general points about the Proposed 
Plan, which are summarized and responded to below.
    Comment 1: Use of percentage of change conveys nothing ``without 
knowing numbers of juveniles convicted of offenses and the categories 
of offense in which they occur.''
    Response: OJJDP assumes that the writer is referring to some of the 
comparisons made in the Overview section. Although this point is valid 
in a general sense, OJJDP believes that in the context of an overview, 
the comparisons offered serve the intended purpose, that is, to give a 
sense of the relative progress being made in the effort to reduce 
juvenile crime and delinquency. OJJDP makes more detailed statistics 
available in a variety of publications, including the following:
     Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence 
(Statistics Summary)
     Juvenile Arrests 1996 (Bulletin)
     The Youngest Delinquents: Offenders Under Age 15 
(Bulletin)
     Offenders in Juvenile Court, 1995 (Bulletin)
     Person Offenses in Juvenile Court, 1986-1995 (Fact Sheet).
    These and other publications related to juvenile justice can be 
obtained from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse by calling 800-638-
8736. Most of the recent publications are also available online at 
OJJDP's Web site at http://www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.
    Another source of data is the National Juvenile Court Data Archive, 
which collects, stores, and analyzes data about young people referred 
to U.S. courts for delinquency and status offenses. The national 
delinquency estimates produced with the Archive's data files are made 
available in an easy-to-use software package, Easy Access to Juvenile 
Court Statistics. With the support of OJJDP, the Archive distributes 
this package to facilitate independent analysis of Archive data while 
eliminating the need for other analysis packages. This software can be 
ordered directly from the Archive (412-227-6950) or downloaded from 
OJJDP's Web site.
    Comment 2: ``Number arrested means nothing. Number convicted would 
be significant.''
    Response: Data from the National Juvenile Court Data Archive 
indicate that of the 122,000 robbery and aggravated assault cases 
disposed of by juvenile courts in 1994, nearly three-fourths were 
formally petitioned, and more than half were adjudicated (i.e., 
``convicted'') or waived to criminal court. Together these violent 
juvenile cases accounted for 94 percent of all

[[Page 33134]]

Violent Crime Index cases processed by juvenile courts in 1994.
    For those juveniles charged with person offenses (a broader range 
of crimes than Index offenses), more than 60 percent received some 
disposition other than ``release,'' whether processed through formal 
(petition) or informal methods. Although there is a dropoff from arrest 
to disposition for these offenses, OJJDP finds that the outcomes of 
court processing have not changed substantially over the years. 
Therefore, the trends that OJJDP is describing would be essentially the 
same whether arrest data or court data are used to describe changes.
    Comment 3: The number of juveniles who commit violent crimes is 
small.
    Response: Just \1/2\ of 1 percent of juveniles ages 10 to 17 were 
arrested for a violent crime in 1996, but these often high-profile 
crimes help to fuel public fear and concern about the threat of 
juvenile violence and influence legislative and policy decisions. 
OJJDP's programming does not focus disproportionately on the most 
violent juveniles but instead includes the entire spectrum of juvenile 
offenders and youth at risk of delinquency. OJJDP supports a 
comprehensive strategy that incorporates two principal components:
     Preventing youth from becoming delinquent by focusing 
prevention programs on at-risk youth.
     Improving the response of the juvenile justice system to 
delinquent offenders through a system of graduated sanctions, including 
a continuum of treatment alternatives that provide immediate 
intervention, intermediate sanctions, and community-based and secure 
corrections, incorporating aftercare services when appropriate.
    This comprehensive strategy also recognizes that an effective 
system of graduated sanctions must protect the public by including the 
option of transfer to the criminal justice system for those serious, 
violent, or chronic juvenile offenders who are not amenable to 
treatment in the juvenile justice system or whose criminal acts are so 
egregious as to justify transfer.
    Comment 4: Thousands of children are at risk for abuse and neglect 
and are ``more likely to be the victim of a violent crime, than to 
commit one.''
    Response: OJJDP shares the writer's concern for children and youth 
who are abused and neglected and who are victims of crime. One of the 
publications listed above, Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update 
on Violence, provides the latest statistics, not only on juvenile 
offenders, but also on juvenile victims. OJJDP supports a wide array of 
prevention programming, including family strengthening and nurse home 
visitation programs that address the problems of abuse and neglect. As 
the Proposed Plan stated: ``These programs can build the foundation for 
law-abiding lives for children and interrupt the cycle of violence that 
can turn abused or neglected children into delinquents.''
    Comment: One writer applauded OJJDP's ``efforts in addressing the 
juvenile problem'' and described a proposed Community Renaissance 
strategy and specific programs to help deter high-risk youth from 
delinquency and violence. The writer stated that he was looking to 
OJJDP as a potential partner in this venture.
    Response: It is commendable that the members of the Prisoner 
Advisory Committee want to use their experience to help young people 
avoid involvement with the justice system. OJJDP suggested that the 
most practical approach to accomplish the Committee's objectives would 
be through collaboration with a local agency or organization that works 
with at-risk or delinquent juveniles. The writer was referred to the 
Juvenile Justice Specialist for Michigan as one possible source of 
information about local programs that might be interested in working 
with the Committee.
    Comment: One letter supported the proposed programming in two 
specific areas: gender-specific programming for female juvenile 
offenders and Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention 
Component (Boys & Girls Clubs). The support for gender-specific 
programming was counted with other letters of support for this type of 
program, addressed previously.
    Response: Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention 
Component (Boys & Girls Clubs), is a continuation program, and no 
additional applications will be solicited this fiscal year. OJJDP 
expects that 10 new sites--all in rural areas--will receive gang 
prevention training and technical assistance. The Boys & Girls Clubs of 
America will choose the new sites.
    Comment: One letter expressed support for the Community Volunteer 
Coordinator Program and for the Rural Youth Gang Problems--Adapting 
OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach program, while encouraging OJJDP not to 
rely solely on Boys & Girls Clubs for some programs because they do not 
reach or serve many populations, especially in rural areas. The support 
for the Community Volunteer Coordinator Program was counted and 
responded to with other letters in favor of that program.
    Response: In regard to the comment that OJJDP should not rely 
solely on Boys & Girls Clubs for some programs, especially in rural 
areas, the writer can be assured that OJJDP has a high level of 
confidence in the Boys & Girls Clubs but is also well aware of the need 
for a variety of partners in various aspects of its mission to prevent 
delinquency and criminal behavior among juveniles. OJJDP is also 
cognizant of the special needs of rural areas. The Rural Youth Gang 
Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach program will be 
funded. A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.
    Comment: One letter made comments in four specific areas, three of 
which are listed and responded to below. The fourth area, Gender 
Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders, was responded to 
above, and this writer's interest in this type of programming was 
counted among the letters that commented on that topic.
    Comment 1: Training and Technical Assistance. The writer expressed 
the hope that the training and technical assistance activities in the 
Program Plan ``include the provision of training to people who work 
with females both at risk and within the system.''
    Response: Wherever appropriate, OJJDP-funded training and technical 
assistance programs address the specific concerns of female juveniles. 
Specifically, OJJDP will continue to provide funding for the Training 
and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific Programming 
for Female Juvenile Offenders, which will be implemented by the current 
grantee, Greene, Peters and Associates.
    Comment 2: Field-Initiated Research and Field-Initiated Evaluation. 
The writer supported both these proposed programs.
    Response: Only the Field-Initiated Research program is being funded 
this year. OJJDP believes that this type of outreach to the field can 
result in creative and innovative proposals. A solicitation will be 
issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: 
Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to 
obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under 
Supplementary Information.
    Comment 3: Introduction to Fiscal Year 1998 Program Plan. The 
writer was critical of the mention of a ``single agency with reference 
to prevention.''

[[Page 33135]]

    Response: The point about either mentioning other agencies as 
illustrative of prevention programs or mentioning none is, generally 
speaking, a valid one. Obviously, OJJDP cannot possibly list all the 
effective national programs. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America--one of 
the largest and best-known providers of afterschool programs for youth 
and an organization whose work has been evaluated and found to be 
successful--was used as a convenient reference point for readers. 
However, in response to this comment, we will use a more general 
reference in this part of the program plan.
    Comment: Another writer supported four specific program areas: 
afterschool and summer arts for at-risk youth, a planning and 
demonstration project to address issues surrounding learning 
disabilities and delinquency, a juvenile defender center, and gender-
specific programming for female juvenile offenders.
    Response: All of these programs were addressed above. The writer's 
support for these programs was counted among the letters that commented 
on those topics.
    Comment: One writer was generally pleased about the direction OJJDP 
is taking in 1998 but suggested that the Technical Assistance for State 
Legislators program should be expanded. The writer proposed that OJJDP 
establish a Technical Assistance for County Officials program.
    Response: OJJDP appreciates the writer's recognition of the 
importance of its ongoing work with the National Conference of State 
Legislatures. Through the Title V Program--popularly known as the 
Community Prevention Grants Program, OJJDP has been working closely 
with communities nationwide to provide them with the framework, tools, 
and initial funding to develop and begin to implement comprehensive, 
sustainable delinquency prevention strategies. More than 470 
communities across the Nation have embraced the rigorous community 
assessment and delinquency prevention planning process and received 
prevention grants.
    In regard to the suggestion to amend the Proposed Plan to include a 
Technical Assistance for County Officials program, OJJDP agrees that 
county-level officials are important policymakers and need to be well-
informed on management and policy issues. Indeed, over the years, OJJDP 
has worked closely with the National Association of Counties (NACO), 
with which the writer's organization is affiliated. Although OJJDP will 
not include the requested program in the 1998 Final Plan, a meeting 
will be held at OJJDP with the writer and a representation of NACO to 
talk about opportunities for future partnerships, cooperation, and 
collaboration among the parties.
    Comment: One writer praised OJJDP's information dissemination but 
expressed concern about the program goals in the Proposed Plan. 
Specifically, the writer called for ``a needs-assessment and systematic 
evaluation of court services''; more attention to ``multimodal and 
longitudinal interventions, programs that address the first time 
offender, and efforts to address the unique needs of different 
subgroups within the juvenile justice, such as the adolescent sex 
offender''; and ``development and evaluation of multicomponent 
interventions whose content is based on the results of the OJJDP-funded 
studies on the Causes and [Correlates] of Delinquency.'' The writer 
also found the field-initiated research section to be ``virtually 
nonexistent.''
    Response: OJJDP appreciates the kind words about the value of its 
information dissemination through the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse. 
It is always helpful to receive feedback on the services OJJDP 
provides.
    In regard to the concerns expressed about the program goals 
outlined in the Proposed Plan, OJJDP shares the writer's perspective on 
most of the issues raised and regrets that the writer did not find this 
agreement clearly reflected in the plan. OJJDP is involved in many 
activities that support the desired approaches described in the letter. 
The brief summaries below present examples of efforts that OJJDP 
believes are in accord with the direction the writer would like to see 
OJJDP take.
    Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency. 
This longitudinal study is being conducted by research teams (the 
University at Albany, State University of New York; the University of 
Colorado, and the University of Pittsburgh) in three sites: Rochester, 
New York; Denver, Colorado; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The three 
research teams have interviewed 4,000 participants at regular intervals 
for nearly a decade, recording their lives in detail and accumulating a 
substantial body of knowledge about delinquency and its causes. OJJDP 
has recently increased its investment in this research.
    Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile 
Offenders. The foundation for OJJDP's program planning for the past 3 
years has been the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders, which draws heavily on the findings of the 
Causes and Correlates study. The Comprehensive Strategy recognizes the 
need for coordination and collaboration among agencies and 
organizations that serve children. The Comprehensive Strategy has two 
main components: (1) prevention and (2) graduated sanctions that begin 
with early interventions within the community for first-time nonviolent 
offenders, intermediate sanctions within the community for more serious 
offenders, and secure care for the most serious, violent, and chronic 
juvenile offenders. Through training and technical assistance, OJJDP is 
supporting more than 30 communities in their efforts to create a 
continuum of care that integrates services provided by schools and 
social services with those offered by law enforcement, courts, and 
corrections. Part of this OJJDP assistance is targeted at the 
development of risk and needs assessments that can be used by the 
juvenile justice system to effectively change the nature of its service 
delivery.
    The SafeFutures program, discussed below, is another example of 
OJJDP's support for this comprehensive approach. Here, OJJDP used 
multiple funding streams and collapsed them into one program 
application as a way of encouraging the coordination and integration of 
service delivery at the community level.
    SafeFutures. The SafeFutures Initiative, a 5-year demonstration 
project currently in the second year of implementation, was 
specifically designed to address collaboration. The demonstration's 
main premise is that juvenile delinquency can be most effectively 
addressed through a combined approach of prevention, intervention, 
treatment, and sanctions. This collaborative approach takes place at 
two levels: the strategic planning level with policymakers and agency 
heads and the direct service integration level. SafeFutures sites are 
actively working to plan a continuum of services and integrate 
frontline service delivery across a multidisciplinary, interagency team 
of professionals including the court system, mental health, social 
services, probation, law enforcement, education, and housing. This 
effort is being evaluated nationally through OJJDP and through local 
evaluations in each of the six sites.
    Community Assessment Center (CAC) Program. This multicomponent 
demonstration initiative is designed to test the efficacy of the CAC 
concept of providing a 24-hour centralized, single point of intake and 
assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to come into contact 
with the juvenile justice

[[Page 33136]]

system. A CAC facilitates earlier and more efficient prevention and 
intervention service delivery at the ``front end'' of the juvenile 
justice system. OJJDP will provide an additional year's funding to 
further support the implementation of CAC enhancements and provide 
additional support to the sites awarded grants in FY 1997. This funding 
would enable these sites to begin implementing the CAC's planned for 
with OJJDP funding support or to enhance existing operations. OJJDP is 
also funding a CAC evaluation component and a technical assistance 
component.
    Study Group on the Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender. 
Originally charged with producing a report on critical areas of 
interest about these offenders, including prevention, intervention, 
gangs, and other topics, which it submitted in 1997, the Study Group is 
currently focusing on the youngest offenders and the pathways to 
delinquency. OJJDP is continuing to fund this effort, which began in FY 
1995.
    The writer is also encouraged to review the field-initiated 
research funding opportunities available through OJJDP's interagency 
agreements with the National Institute of Justice under the Juvenile 
Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program and the Bureau of Justice 
Statistics through the Statistical Analysis Centers component. 
Additionally, OJJDP still plans to fund the field-initiated research 
effort referenced in the Proposed Plan. The writer may also want to 
look for the results of OJJDP's recently funded research project on the 
development of a juvenile sex offender typology.
    Comment: One writer expressed concern about three items that he 
would like to see included in the Program Plan. These issues are 
summarized and responded to below.
    Comment 1: An initiative aimed at high-level municipal and county 
policymakers and others would consist of a collaborative strategic 
planning process that could lead to more comprehensive community 
approaches to children's victimization.
    Response: As the writer noted, this first item falls under OJJDP's 
Missing and Exploited Children's Program (MECP). One of MECP's 
priorities is the expansion and enhancement of training as it relates 
to child victimization. Goals for the coming years include the 
incorporation of results of research and demonstration programs into 
the overall training program (including the American Bar Association's 
(ABA's) study of effective community-based approaches for missing and 
exploited children); the expansion of existing training curriculums to 
focus on broader child victimization issues; the development of more 
comprehensive and integrated training programs that are based on the 
most current knowledge and information about best practices, 
approaches, and research; and continued emphasis on providing high 
level policymakers with the necessary information, tools, and 
strategies to effectively identify and address child victimization 
issues in their community. The writer was encouraged to continue to 
discuss his concerns about missing and exploited children's issues with 
the Director of OJJDP's Missing and Exploited Children's Program.
    Comment 2: The topic of criminal record screening of adults working 
or volunteering with children needs to be addressed, with research on 
how States are implementing screening laws and technical assistance to 
States.
    Response: This is another issue of interest to OJJDP. Under a 1992 
grant to the ABA Center on Children and the Law, the writer and the 
Center conducted a legal review of the laws and policies governing this 
issue. Many laws have changed since then. The National Child Protection 
Act of 1993 and laws such as Jacob Wetterling and Megan's Law have also 
impacted this field. OJJDP recently released Guidelines for the 
Screening of Persons Working With Children, the Elderly, and 
Individuals With Disabilities in Need of Support. The writer's 
suggestion of conducting further research into the implementation of 
screening laws and the development of technical assistance is a good 
one and potentially eligible for funding under the Field-Initiated 
Research Program.
    Comment 3: Programs relating to early ``status offense'' 
misbehavior by children under 12 and the operation of ``parental 
responsibility'' laws might help in the early identification of and 
intervention with predelinquent children.
    Response: Some ongoing OJJDP programs address this issue. In the 
research area, OJJDP is supporting the work of a Study Group on Very 
Young Offenders, which is focusing on the pathways to delinquency. 
Chaired by Dr. Rolf Loeber and Dr. David Farrington, the Study Group 
will examine the available research on youth who start offending before 
13, an understudied population. The goals of the research are to 
identify the prevalence of such offending and to determine how this 
offending affects later offending behavior and how society can best 
deal with these young offenders to prevent future criminality. Status 
offenders are also being studied in the context of school truancy as 
part of an evaluation of truancy interventions that include a parental 
component.
    Another program that is somewhat related to this issue is the Child 
Welfare League of America (CWLA) project entitled Assessment and 
Decisionmaking Guidelines for Dealing With Chemically Involved 
Children, Youth, and Families. This program receives funding from both 
OJJDP and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and is 
part of a larger ONDCP parent-focused initiative.
    CWLA will produce a state-of-the-art assessment instrument along 
with decisionmaking guidelines for use by frontline child welfare 
professionals who work with clients involved with alcohol and other 
drugs and their families (parents). These resource materials will 
assist child welfare professionals to determine the most appropriate 
casework approach, placement option, and permanency plan for children 
of substance abusers.
    This assessment instrument and the decisionmaking guidelines will 
be problem-solving tools derived from integrating original research, 
lessons learned from actual cases, and the training needs of child 
welfare staff. The foundation for the guidelines are basic principles 
of successful family strengthening models, such as maintaining respect 
for parents and children while working with them and promoting honesty 
and clarity regarding choices and consequences.
    Another OJJDP initiative that is expected to contribute to better 
identification of predelinquent children and help improve the response 
to their needs is the Community Assessment Center (CAC) program. This 
multicomponent demonstration initiative is designed to test the 
efficacy of the CAC concept of providing a 24-hour centralized, single 
point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to 
come into contact with the juvenile justice system. A CAC facilitates 
earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention service delivery 
at the ``front end'' of the juvenile justice system.
    Comment: One writer praised OJJDP's leadership and expressed 
support for various OJJDP programs. The writer also expressed interest 
in the new drug prevention program and suggested that OJJDP consider 
``highlighting the juvenile crime that currently exists within the 
Latino youth population and to create ethnic-specific delinquency 
prevention initiatives.''

[[Page 33137]]

    Response: OJJDP appreciates the kind words about its leadership 
role in addressing the needs of juveniles in this time of limited 
resources. The Office is also pleased to know of the writer's support 
for the prevention and intervention programs listed in the Proposed 
Plan; for OJJDP projects such as the National Youth Gang Center, 
Communities in Schools, and Family Strengthening Programs; and for the 
risk and protective factors prevention model that is incorporated in 
OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic 
Juvenile Offenders.
    OJJDP will be implementing several new alcohol and other drug 
programs this fiscal year. As stated in the Proposed Plan, two of the 
new programs being developed, Combating Underage Drinking and the Drug 
Prevention Program, will be awarded competitively. Program 
announcements can be obtained by calling OJJDP's Juvenile Justice 
Clearinghouse (JJC) at 800-638-8736 or by sending an e-mail request to 
[email protected]. Program announcements will also be available online 
at www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.
    Another program that OJJDP will be administering and that may be of 
interest to the writer is the Drug-Free Communities Support program to 
support the development and expansion of community antidrug coalitions. 
Information on this program is also available through JJC.
    In regard to the suggestion for ethnic-specific delinquency 
prevention initiatives, OJJDP programs are developed to serve the 
diversity of youth in this country. Therefore, most OJJDP-funded 
projects target youth of all races and both genders. Specifically, most 
of OJJDP's discretionary projects focus on implementing services and 
activities to address juvenile crime, violence, and abuse in their 
local communities and on efforts to improve the lives of children 
residing in abusive living environments. In identifying youth most in 
need of prevention and intervention programs, some OJJDP projects have 
targeted Latino youth. The following are brief descriptions of several 
current OJJDP discretionary projects targeting Latino youth:
    SafeFutures. The main premise of this 5-year demonstration project 
(currently in the second year of implementation) is that juvenile 
delinquency can be most effectively addressed through a combined 
approach of prevention, intervention, treatment, and sanctions. Two of 
the six demonstration sites are serving a largely Latino population.
     The Imperial County, California, SafeFutures program 
serves youth of all races, but the project predominately serves Latino 
youth because approximately 69 percent (in 1995) of the county's 
population is Latino.
     The SafeFutures project in Contra Costa County, 
California, also serves a significant number of Latino youth. The goal 
of this project is to create a continuum of care for at-risk youth in 
Contra Costa, specifically West Contra Costa County. This program also 
serves African-American, Asian, and other youth.
    Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP). The goals of this one-to-one 
mentoring program are to reduce juvenile delinquency and gang 
participation by at-risk youth, improve their school performance, and 
reduce their dropout rate.
     The Latino Mentoring Program, Family Services, Inc., in 
Providence, Rhode Island, links high-risk Latino adolescents with 
mentors from the business and education community. Priority is given to 
gang-involved youth, adjudicated delinquents, and adolescents in 
abusive or neglected home situations.
     The Mentors Matter collaborative of Tulare County, 
Community Services and Employment Training, Inc., in Visalia, 
California, is serving many students who live in a migrant labor 
settlement where Hispanic students (99 percent of the school-age 
population in the settlement) are at risk for poor academic 
achievement, dropping out of school, juvenile crime, involvement with 
gangs, and teenage pregnancy.
     Big Sisters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serves Hispanic 
females, ages 10 to 18, by helping them to develop self-esteem and 
self-confidence, exposing them to educational and career opportunities, 
and working to prevent teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, and 
delinquency.
     The George Gervin Youth Center, San Antonio, Texas, serves 
Mexican youth, most of whom live in Victoria Courts, where 
approximately 34 percent of the youth are dropouts and teen parents and 
where the largest number of crimes in the city occurred in 1993. The 
youth are introduced to the world of work, summer jobs, and other new 
experiences to motivate them to stay in school and out of gangs and 
other delinquent activities.
     The Rowland Unified School District (La Punente, 
California) JUMP program participants are 80 percent Latino and 90 
percent male.
     Valley Big Brothers Big Sisters of Phoenix, Arizona, 
serves students in grades seven and eight, most of whom are Latino.
     Service for Adolescent & Family Enrichment (Santa Barbara, 
California) serves Latino youth, mostly males between the ages of 10 
and 15.

Pathways to Success

    Aspira of Florida serves a target group of 130 Latino migrant youth 
from rural South Dade. Services provided to these youth include career 
planning and art, dance, and recreation activities.

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical 
Assistance Program (IAP)

    This is a demonstration effort in three sites: Denver, Colorado; 
Las Vegas, Nevada; and Norfolk, Virginia. The model being tested is 
designed to assist high-risk youth returning to their community from 
secure confinement. In all three sites, the target population includes 
Latino youth.

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, 
Intervention, and Suppression Program

    This program is currently being tested in five demonstration sites: 
Mesa and Tucson, Arizona; Riverside, California; Bloomington, Illinois; 
and San Antonio, Texas. Latino youth are among those being served in 
each of the sites. Some of these programs incorporate issues of 
Hispanic or Chicano heritage, and most of the programs have or have had 
Hispanic staff.

Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component 
(Boys & Girls Clubs of America)

    The programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America provide services 
to many Latino youth. OJJDP has supported the Targeted Outreach program 
for several years. The program provides training and support to local 
clubs to provide outreach to those youth at risk of gang involvement. 
Many of the Targeted Outreach programs provide services to Latino 
youth. In 1997, 45 percent of the youth served were of Hispanic origin, 
45 percent were African-American, and 10 percent were of other races 
and ethnic backgrounds.
    Latino communities are among the many areas throughout the Nation 
where OJJDP is supporting community-based projects in schools, 
neighborhoods, and the juvenile justice arena in urban, suburban, and 
rural cities and counties.

Introduction to Fiscal Year 1998 Program Plan

    An effective juvenile justice system must implement a sound 
comprehensive strategy and must

[[Page 33138]]

identify and support programs that work to further the objectives of 
the strategy. These objectives include holding the juvenile offender 
accountable; enabling the juvenile to become a capable, productive, and 
responsible citizen; and ensuring the safety of the community.
    For juveniles who come to the attention of police, juvenile courts, 
or social service agencies, a strong juvenile justice system must 
assess the danger they pose, determine what can help put them back on 
the right track, deliver appropriate treatment, and stay with them when 
they return to the community. When necessary, a strong juvenile justice 
system also must appropriately identify those serious, violent, and 
chronic juveniles offenders who are beyond its reach and ensure their 
criminal prosecution and incapacitation.
    Research has shown that what works to reduce juvenile crime and 
violence includes prevention programs that start with the earliest 
stages of life: good prenatal care, home visitation for newborns at 
risk of abuse and neglect, steps to strengthen parenting skills, and 
initiatives to prepare children for school. These programs can build 
the foundation for law-abiding lives for children and interrupt the 
cycle of violence that can turn abused or neglected children into 
delinquents.
    Prevention programs work for older children, too: opportunities for 
youth after school and on weekends, such as programs that offer a 
variety of activities and those that focus on mentoring, can reduce 
juvenile alcohol and drug use, improve school performance, and prevent 
youth from getting involved in crime and violent behavior.
    Another focal point for juvenile justice efforts is the community. 
Without healthy communities, young people cannot thrive. The key 
leaders in the community, including representatives from the juvenile 
justice, health and mental health, schools, law enforcement, social 
services, and other systems, as well as leaders from the private 
sector, must be jointly engaged in the planning, development, and 
operation of the juvenile justice system. Attempts to improve the 
juvenile justice system must be part of a broad, comprehensive, 
communitywide effort--both at the leadership and grassroots level--to 
eliminate factors that place juveniles at risk of delinquency and 
victimization, enhance factors that protect them from engaging in 
delinquent behavior, and use the full range of resources and programs 
within the community to meet the varying needs of juveniles. It is also 
important to provide increased public access to the system to ensure an 
appropriate role for victims, a greater understanding of how the system 
operates, and a higher level of system accountability to the public.
    The recent decreases in all measures of juvenile violence known to 
law enforcement (number of arrests, arrest rates, and the percentage of 
violent crimes cleared by juvenile arrests) should encourage 
legislators, juvenile justice policymakers and practitioners, and all 
concerned citizens to support ongoing efforts to address juvenile crime 
and violence through a comprehensive approach.
    Three documents published during the past 5 years provide the 
framework for a comprehensive approach to an improved, more effective 
juvenile justice system. OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, 
Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders (1993) and Guide for 
Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders (1995) were followed in 1996 by the 
Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's 
Combating Violence and Delinquency: The National Juvenile Justice 
Action Plan. The first of these publications defined the elements of 
the comprehensive strategy. The second provided States and communities 
with a more detailed explanation of what would constitute the elements 
of a comprehensive strategy, including strategic and programmatic 
information on risk and protective factor-based prevention and a system 
of graduated sanctions. The third prioritized Federal, State, and local 
activities and resources under eight critical objectives that are 
central to reducing and preventing juvenile violence, delinquency, and 
victimization.
    The OJJDP FY 1998 Program Plan is rooted in the principles of the 
Comprehensive Strategy and the objectives of the Action Plan. Like the 
OJJDP Program Plans for FY's 1996 and 1997, the FY 1998 Program Plan 
supports a balanced approach to aggressively addressing juvenile 
delinquency and violence through establishing graduated sanctions, 
improving the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to juvenile 
offending, and preventing the onset of delinquency. The Program Plan, 
therefore, recognizes the need to ensure public safety and support 
children's development into healthy, productive citizens through a 
range of prevention, early intervention, and graduated sanctions 
programs.
    Proposed new program areas were identified for FY 1998 through a 
process of engaging OJJDP staff, other Federal agencies, and juvenile 
justice practitioners in an examination of existing programs, research 
findings, and the needs of the field. In a departure from past 
practice, OJJDP presented for public comment more proposed programs 
than it expected to be able to fund with the resources available. It 
was OJJDP's intent to stimulate discussion of the best use of its FY 
1998 discretionary funding and to seek guidance from the field as to 
which programs, among the many described in the Proposed Program Plan, 
would most effectively advance the goals of promoting delinquency 
prevention and early intervention, improving the juvenile justice 
system, and preserving the public safety.
    OJJDP will provide funding for a wide variety of new programs, 
including training and technical assistance coordination for the 
SafeFutures initiative, and training and technical assistance for the 
Blueprints for Violence Prevention project and for a school safety 
program. New programs also involve OJJDP collaboration with other 
agencies to address problems such as truancy, develop arts programs 
directed toward at-risk youth and youth held in juvenile detention and 
corrections, and support the planning and development of systems of 
care for American Indian and Alaska Native youth with mental health and 
substance abuse needs. In addition, OJJDP will provide funding for 
initial planning and implementation of a Juvenile Defender Center, 
coordination of youth-related volunteer services, support for programs 
designed to build infrastructure for programming for female juvenile 
offenders and teen mothers, and support for additional work in the area 
of disproportionate minority confinement in secure juvenile facilities 
and other institutions.
    OJJDP considered, but is not funding demonstration projects 
designed to intervene early with students with learning disabilities to 
prevent delinquency and also to prevent recidivism by those students in 
correctional settings. See the Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles At 
Risk of Delinquency or in the Juvenile Justice System program 
description below for a discussion of why this program is not being 
funded.
    In addition, OJJDP has identified for FY 1998 funding a range of 
research and evaluation projects designed to expand knowledge about 
juvenile offenders; the effectiveness of prevention, intervention, and 
treatment programs; and the operation of the juvenile justice system. 
New evaluation initiatives that will be undertaken include the

[[Page 33139]]

Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile 
Offenders; the Boys & Girls Clubs of America's TeenSupreme Career 
Preparation Initiative; analysis and interpretation of juvenile 
justice-related data from nontraditional sources; and field-initiated 
research. Field-initiated evaluation, which was included in the 
Proposed Plan, will not be funded this fiscal year. See the Field-
Initiated Evaluation program description below for a discussion of why 
this program is not being funded. Combined with new OJJDP programs and 
programs being continued in FY 1998, OJJDP's new demonstration and 
evaluation programs form a continuum of programming that supports the 
objectives of the Action Plan and mirrors the foundation and framework 
of the Comprehensive Strategy.
    OJJDP's continuation activities and the new FY 1998 programs are at 
the heart of OJJDP's categorical funding efforts. For example, while 
focusing on new areas of programming such as the Juvenile Defender 
Center and the role of the arts for juveniles in detention centers and 
for at-risk youth, continuing to offer training seminars in the 
Comprehensive Strategy, and looking to the SafeFutures program to 
implement a continuum of care system, OJJDP will be supporting programs 
that reduce the likelihood of juvenile involvement in hate crimes, 
reduce juvenile gun violence, promote positive approaches to conflict 
resolution, and explore the mental health needs of juveniles. Together, 
these and other activities provide a comprehensive approach to 
prevention and early intervention programs while enhancing the juvenile 
justice system's capacity to provide immediate and appropriate 
accountability and treatment for juvenile offenders, including those 
with special treatment needs.
    OJJDP's Part D Gang Program will develop a rural gang prevention 
and intervention program and will continue to support a range of 
comprehensive prevention, intervention, and suppression activities at 
the local level, evaluate those activities, and inform communities 
about the nature and extent of gang activities and effective and 
innovative programs through OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center. 
Similarly, activities related to the identification of school-based 
gang programs and the evaluation of the Boys & Girls Clubs gang 
outreach effort, along with an evaluation of selected youth gun 
violence reduction programs, will complement existing law enforcement 
and prosecutorial training programs by supporting and informing 
grassroots community organizations' efforts to address juvenile gangs 
and juvenile access to, carriage of, and use of guns. This programming 
builds on OJJDP's youth-focused community policing, mentoring, and 
conflict resolution initiatives and programming, including the work of 
the Congress of National Black Churches in supporting local churches to 
address the prevention of drug abuse, youth violence, and hate crime.
    In support of the need to break the cycle of violence, OJJDP's Safe 
Kids/Safe Streets demonstration program, currently being implemented in 
partnership with other OJP offices and bureaus, will improve linkages 
between the dependency and criminal court systems, child welfare and 
social service providers, and family strengthening programs and will 
complement ongoing support of Court Appointed Special Advocates, Child 
Advocacy Centers, and prosecutor and judicial training in the 
dependency field, funded under the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, 
as amended.
    The Program Plan's research and evaluation programming will support 
many of the above activities by filling in critical gaps in knowledge 
about the level and seriousness of juvenile crime and victimization, 
its causes and correlates, and effective programs in preventing 
delinquency and violence. At the same time, OJJDP's research efforts 
will also be geared toward efforts that monitor and evaluate the ways 
juveniles are treated in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, 
particularly in relation to juvenile violence and its impact.
    As described below, OJJDP is also utilizing its national 
perspective to disseminate information to those at the grassroots 
level: practitioners, policymakers, community leaders, and service 
providers who are directly responsible for planning and implementing 
policies and programs that impact juvenile crime and violence. An 
additional OJJDP goal is to help practitioners and policymakers 
translate this information into action through its training and 
technical assistance providers as part of its mission to stimulate and 
assist in the replication of successful and promising strategies and 
programs.
    OJJDP will continue to fund longitudinal research on the causes and 
correlates of delinquency. Even more important, however, OJJDP will 
regularly share the findings from this research with the field through 
OJJDP's publications, Home Page on the World Wide Web, and JuvJust (an 
electronic newsletter); utilize state-of-the-art technology to provide 
the field with an interactive CD-ROM on promising and effective 
programs designed to prevent delinquency and reduce recidivism; air 
national satellite teleconferences on key topics of relevance to 
practitioners; and publish new reports and documents on timely topics. 
Some examples of these publication topics include youth action to 
prevent delinquency; family strengthening; juvenile substance abuse 
(prevention, intervention, and testing); balanced and restorative 
justice; developmental pathways in delinquent behavior, gang migration, 
capacity building for substance abuse treatment, youth gangs, 
restitution programs, school safety, and conditions of confinement.
    The various contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and 
interagency fund transfers described in the Program Plan form a 
continuum of activity designed to address youth violence, delinquency, 
and victimization. In isolation, this programming can do little. 
However, the emphasis of OJJDP's programming is on collaboration. It is 
through collaboration that Federal, State, and local agencies; American 
Indian tribes; national organizations; private philanthropies; the 
corporate and business sector; health, mental health, and social 
service agencies; schools; youth; families; and clergy can come 
together to form partnerships and leverage additional resources, 
identify needs and priorities, and implement innovative strategies. In 
the past few years, the combined efforts of these varied groups have 
brought about the beginnings of change in the prevalence of juvenile 
crime, violence, and victimization. Now is the time to strengthen old 
partnerships and forge new ones to develop support for a long-term, 
comprehensive approach to a more effective juvenile justice system.

Fiscal Year 1998 Programs

    The following are brief summaries of each of the new and 
continuation programs projected to receive funding in FY 1998, 
including ongoing projects identified for supplemental funding since 
the publication of the Proposed Plan, which are grouped under the 
heading New Supplemental Funding at the end of the program list. 
Programs that appeared in the Proposed Plan but that will not receive 
funding are also listed but are marked with asterisks. In the program 
descriptions, brief discussions are provided as to why some proposed 
programs will not be funded this fiscal year.
    As indicated above, the program categories are public safety and 
law enforcement; strengthening the juvenile

[[Page 33140]]

justice system; delinquency prevention and intervention; and child 
abuse and neglect and dependency courts. However, because many programs 
have significant elements of more than one of these program categories 
or generally support all of OJJDP's programs, they are listed in an 
initial program category, called overarching programs. The specific 
program priorities within each category are subject to change with 
regard to their priority status, sites for implementation, and other 
descriptive data and information based on grantee performance, 
application quality, fund availability, and other factors.
    A number of OJJDP programs have been identified for funding 
consideration by Congress with regard to the grantee(s), the amount of 
funds, or both. These programs, which are listed below, are not 
included in the program descriptions that follow.

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Teens, Crime, and the Community
Parents Anonymous, Inc.
Juvenile Offender Transition Program
Suffolk University Center for Juvenile Justice
Center for Crimes and Violence Against Children
Crow Creek Alcohol and Drug Program
Metro Denver Gang Coalition

    In addition, OJJDP has been directed by Congress to examine each of 
the following proposals, provide grants if warranted, and report to the 
Committees on Appropriations of both the House and the Senate on its 
intention for each proposal:

Coalition for Juvenile Justice
The Hamilton Fish National Institute on School/Community Violence
Low Country Children's Center
Vermont Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services
Grassroots Drug Prevention Program
Dona Ana Camp
Center for Prevention of Juvenile Crime and Delinquency at Prairie View 
University Project O.A.S.I.S.
KidsPeace--The National Centers for Kids in Crisis, North America
Consortium on Children, Families, and Law
New Mexico Prevention Project
No Hope in Dope Program
Study of the Link Between Child Abuse and Criminal
Behavior in Alaska
Gainesville Juvenile Assessment Center
Lincoln Council on Alcohol and Drugs
Hill Renaissance Partnership
National Training and Information Center
Culinary Arts Training Program for At-Risk Youth
Women of Vision Program for Youthful Female Offenders
Violence Institute of New Jersey
Delancy Street Foundation
Law-Related Education

Fiscal Year 1998 Program Listing

Overarching

SafeFutures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency
Evaluation of SafeFutures
Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency
OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract
Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development
Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement
OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center
Technical Assistance for State Legislatures
Telecommunications Assistance
OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice Resource 
Center
Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse
Insular Area Support
Community Assessment Centers (CAC's)
Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for SafeFutures 
Initiative

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, 
and Suppression Program
Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang 
Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program
Targeted Outreach With A Gang Prevention and Intervention Component 
(Boys & Girls Clubs)
National Youth Gang Center
Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program
The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention
Safe Start--Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP)
Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance 
Program
Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence
Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, 
and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training
Rural Youth Gang Problems: Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach
Case Studies and Evaluation Planning of OJJDP's Rural Youth Gang 
Initiative

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution
Communities In Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership
The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/
Violence Campaign (NADVC)
Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development
Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Programs
Hate Crime
Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and 
Families
Diffusion of State Risk-and Protective-Factor Focused Prevention
Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With ADHD
Evaluation of the Juvenile Mentoring Program
Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program
Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program
Arts and At-Risk Youth
Community Volunteer Coordinator Program
* Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles At Risk of Delinquency or in 
the Juvenile Justice System
Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders
Balanced and Restorative Justice Project (BARJ)
Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific 
Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies
Replication and Extension of Fagan Transfer Study
The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit
Due Process Advocacy Program Development
Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) Evaluation
Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical 
Assistance Program
Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program
Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce 
Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Ann Wysinger 
Memorial Program)
Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Management Staff
Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

[[Page 33141]]

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams 
To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding
National Program Directory
Interagency Programs on Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Residential Facility Census
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97
TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative
Technical Assistance to Native Americans
Youth Court: A Training & Technical Assistance Delivery Program
School Safety Training and Technical Assistance
Disproportionate Minority Confinement
Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections
``Circles of Care''--A Program To Develop Strategies To Serve Native 
American Youth With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Needs
National Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource 
Center
Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders
Evaluation Capacity Building
Field-Initiated Research
* Field-Initiated Evaluation
Analysis of Juvenile Justice Data
Evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders
Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Training and Technical Assistance
Teambuilding Project for Courts Evaluation of Youth-Related Employment 
Initiative

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and 
Neglect and Preventing Delinquency
National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program
Secondary Analysis of Childhood Victimization
Evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation in Weed and Seed Sites

Supplemental Funding for Programs Not Included in the Proposed Plan

    The following new or ongoing programs, which will require 
supplemental funding in FY 1998, were not included in the Proposed Plan 
because the need for funding had not been identified. No additional 
applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

GAINS Center

    OJJDP will transfer funds to the National Institute of Corrections 
to support a jointly funded effort under which the GAINS Center will 
provide training and technical assistance on juvenile offenders with 
co-occurring disorders. This is the second year of funding of a 3-year 
effort.

The Academy

    OJJDP is funding a followup study on disproportionate minority 
confinement that expands a field-initiated program study that looked at 
court decisionmaking to include examining police decisionmaking and its 
impact on the confinement of minorities.

Pathways to Success

    OJJDP provided continuation funding in FY 1998 to two sites (Aspira 
in Miami, Florida, and Stopover Services in Providence, Rhode Island) 
under the Pathways to Success program. This continuation funding will 
permit program evaluators to collect important data on the outcomes of 
the afterschool programming implemented at these two sites.

Do the Write Thing

    OJJDP will continue funding the National Campaign to Stop Violence 
to expand its Do the Write Thing program. Do the Write Thing promotes 
the development of student ideas and solutions to reduce crime and 
violence through the written word. The program is currently operating 
in 12 cities and reaches more than 5,000 children.

Evaluation of the Youth Substance Use Prevention Program

    The program evaluator (University of New Hampshire) for the Youth 
Substance Use Prevention Program, funded by the President's Crime 
Prevention Council under the Ounce of Prevention grants program, will 
receive additional funding to complete an evaluation of 10 youth-led 
substance use prevention projects.

Intergenerational Transmission of Antisocial Behavior

    This research grant, administered by the National Institute of 
Mental Health (NIMH), tracks the development of delinquent behavior 
among children of youth from Rochester, New York, who were research 
subjects under OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates 
of Delinquency, an ongoing longitudinal study in three cities. OJJDP 
will transfer funds to NIMH to support this research.

Study Group on Very Young Offenders

    The OJJDP Study Group on Very Young Offenders, funded under a grant 
to the University of Pittsburgh, will explore what is known about the 
prevalence and frequency of very young offending under the age of 13; 
whether such offending predicts future delinquent or criminal careers; 
how these youth are handled by various systems including juvenile 
justice, mental health, and social services; and what are the best 
methods of preventing very young offending and persistence of 
offending.

Standards for Juvenile Confinement Facilities

    Support will be provided to the Council of Juvenile Correctional 
Administrators to continue the Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile 
Confinement Facilities program, expanding the number of demonstration 
sites that are testing the impact of the performance-based standards 
process as a means of improving confinement conditions and treatment 
services for juvenile offenders.

San Diego Comprehensive Strategy Program

    An award to San Diego County (CA) will support the San Diego 
Comprehensive Strategy program's establishment of a coordinator 
position to facilitate implementation of the comprehensive strategy 
plan in San Diego County.

University of Michigan Data Archive

    Supplemental funding will be provided to the University of Michigan 
Data Archive to support the archiving of data sets produced by OJJDP 
grantees.

Training and Technical Assistance to Juvenile Detention and 
Corrections

    OJJDP will provide funds to the American Correctional Association 
(ACA) to support technical assistance and training to juvenile 
correctional agencies. ACA will conduct a National Forum on Juvenile 
Corrections/Detention for agency administrators, facilitate information 
exchange in the field, provide workshops on emerging issues, and 
develop and disseminate papers and monographs to the field.

National Violence Prevention Training

    OJJDP will transfer funds to the U.S. Department of Education to 
support a collaborative training project sponsored by the Harvard 
School of Public Health, the Education Development Center, Inc., the 
Prevention Institute, Inc., the Massachusetts Corporation for 
Educational Telecommunication, and several Federal agencies including 
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Maternal and Child 
Health

[[Page 33142]]

Bureau, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Injury 
Prevention, and Indian Health Service and OJJDP. This six-part 
satellite training makes use of satellite technology, the Internet, and 
hands-on facilitation and highlights an array of successful initiatives 
across the country with a particular emphasis on reduction of violence 
in schools and communities.

Overarching

SafeFutures: Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency

    OJJDP is awarding grants of up to $1.4 million annually to each of 
six communities for a 5-year project period that began in FY 1995, to 
assist in implementing comprehensive community programs designed to 
reduce youth violence and delinquency. Boston, Massachusetts; Contra 
Costa County, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri; 
Imperial County, California (rural site); and Fort Belknap, Montana 
(tribal site) were competitively selected to receive awards under the 
SafeFutures program on the basis of their substantial planning and 
progress in community assessment and strategic planning to address 
delinquency.
    SafeFutures seeks to prevent and control youth crime and 
victimization through the creation of a continuum of care in 
communities. This continuum enables communities to be responsive to the 
needs of youth at critical stages of their development through 
providing an appropriate range of prevention, intervention, treatment, 
and sanctions programs.
    The goals of SafeFutures are (1) to prevent and control juvenile 
violence and delinquency in targeted communities by reducing risk 
factors and increasing protective factors for delinquency; providing a 
continuum of services for juveniles at risk of delinquency, including 
appropriate immediate interventions for juvenile offenders; and 
developing a full range of graduated sanctions designed to hold 
delinquent youth accountable to the victim and the community, ensure 
community safety, and provide appropriate treatment and rehabilitation 
services; (2) to develop a more efficient, effective, and timely 
service delivery system for at-risk and delinquent juveniles and their 
families that is capable of responding to their needs at any point of 
entry into the juvenile justice system; (3) to build the community's 
capacity to institutionalize and sustain the continuum by expanding and 
diversifying sources of funding; and (4) to determine the success of 
program implementation and the outcomes achieved, including whether a 
comprehensive program involving community-based efforts and program 
resources concentrated on providing a continuum of care has succeeded 
in preventing or reducing juvenile violence and delinquency.
    Each of the six sites will continue to provide a set of services 
that builds on community strengths and existing services and fills in 
gaps within their existing continuum. These services include family 
strengthening; after school activities; mentoring; treatment 
alternatives for juvenile female offenders; mental health services; day 
treatment; graduated sanctions for serious, violent, and chronic 
juvenile offenders; and gang prevention, intervention, and suppression.
    A national evaluation is being conducted by the Urban Institute to 
determine the success of the initiative and track lessons learned at 
each of the six sites. OJJDP has also committed a cadre of training and 
technical assistance (TTA) resources to SafeFutures through a full-time 
TTA coordinator for SafeFutures and a host of partner organizations 
committed to assisting SafeFutures sites. The TTA coordinator also 
assists the communities in brokering and leveraging additional TTA 
resources. In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development has provided interagency support of $100,000 for training 
and technical assistance targeted to violence and delinquency 
prevention in public housing areas of SafeFutures sites. Thus, 
operations, evaluation, and TTA have been organized together to form a 
joint team at the national level to support local site efforts.
    SafeFutures activities will be carried out by the six current 
grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation of SafeFutures

    In FY 1995, OJJDP funded six communities under the SafeFutures: 
Partnerships To Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency program. The 
program sites are Boston, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, 
California; Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, Montana; Imperial 
County, California; Seattle, Washington; St. Louis, Missouri. The 
SafeFutures Program provides support for a comprehensive prevention, 
intervention, and treatment program to meet the needs of at-risk 
juveniles and their families. In total, up to $8.4 million is being 
made available for annual awards over a 5-year project period to 
support the efforts of these jurisdictions to enhance existing 
partnerships, integrate juvenile justice and social services, and 
provide a continuum of care that is designed to reduce the number of 
serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders.
    The Urban Institute received a competitive 3-year cooperative 
agreement award with FY 1995 funds to conduct Phase I of the national 
evaluation of the SafeFutures program. OJJDP agreed to consider 2 years 
of additional funding for Phase II. The evaluation addresses the 
program implementation process and measures performance outcomes across 
the six sites. The process evaluation focuses primarily on the 
development and implementation of a strategic plan designed to 
establish a continuum of care and integrated services for young people 
in high-risk communities. The evaluation will identify obstacles and 
key factors contributing to the successful implementation of the 
SafeFutures program. The evaluator is responsible for developing a 
cross-site report documenting the process of program implementation for 
use by other funding agencies or communities that want to develop and 
implement a comprehensive community-based strategy to address serious, 
violent, and chronic delinquency.
    In FY 1996, the Urban Institute developed a logic model that links 
program activities and outputs to desired intermediate and long-term 
outcomes. Their evaluator also held a cross-site cluster meeting and 
conducted site visits at each of the six SafeFutures sites.
    In FY 1997, in addition to continuing its onsite monitoring, the 
Urban Institute, in collaboration with the OJJDP SafeFutures program 
management team, developed the national evaluation plan and introduced 
it to the sites at the cluster meeting on information technology held 
in Oakland, CA, in September 1997.
    In FY 1998, the Urban Institute will continue the process 
evaluation and will conduct interviews with key stakeholders, service 
providers, and youth in order to assess the extent to which a community 
and its policy board have mobilized to implement a continuum of care 
and develop an integrated system of services over the course of 
SafeFutures program implementation. The research team will also 
complete the development of performance measures to be used by all 
sites to monitor the outcomes for targeted populations within and 
across sites. They will compile and process the results of the 
performance outcomes from the sites and provide feedback to both the 
sites and to OJJDP. Beginning in FY 1998, the national evaluator will

[[Page 33143]]

design and conduct sample surveys of youth in the community to assist 
in monitoring community-level changes in the prevalence and incidence 
of certain risk factors as well as developmental and community assets 
on levels of delinquency and violence in the targeted community. In 
addition, longitudinal samples of youth and their families will be 
followed over time to observe the extent to which multiple needs are 
identified and responded to over the course of the SafeFutures program 
interventions.
    The evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
Urban Institute. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 
1998.

Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

    Three project sites participate in the Program of Research on the 
Causes and Correlates of Delinquency (Causes and Correlates): The 
University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Pittsburgh, and 
the University at Albany, State University of New York. Results from 
this longitudinal study have been used extensively in the field of 
juvenile justice and have contributed significantly to the development 
of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic 
Juvenile Offenders and other OJJDP program initiatives.
    OJJDP began funding this program in 1986 and has invested 
approximately $10.3 million to date. Currently, OJJDP is supporting 
site data analyses under three-year project period grants awarded to 
each site in FY 1996. The Causes and Correlates program has addressed a 
variety of issues related to juvenile violence and delinquency. These 
include developing and testing causal models for chronic violent 
offending and examining interrelationships among gang involvement, drug 
selling, and gun ownership/use. To date, the program has produced a 
massive amount of information on the causes and correlates of 
delinquent behavior.
    Although there is great commonality across the Causes and 
Correlates project sites, each has unique design features. 
Additionally, each project has disseminated the results of its research 
through a broad range of publications, reports, and presentations.
    With FY 1996 funding, each site of the Causes and Correlates 
program was provided funds to further analyze the longitudinal data. 
Among the numerous analyses conducted were risk factors for teenage 
fatherhood, patterns of illegal gun carrying among young urban males, 
and factors associated with early sexual activity among urban 
adolescents. Two publications were developed as part of the newly 
launched Youth Development Series of OJJDP Bulletins.
    In FY 1997, the sites continued both their collaborative research 
efforts and site-specific research. The cross site analysis was on the 
early onset and co-occurrence of persistent serious offending. Site 
specific analyses were produced on victimization, over time changes in 
delinquency and drug use, impact of family changes on adolescent 
development, and neighborhood, individual, and social risk factors for 
serious juvenile offending.
    In FY 1998, at least one major cross site analysis will be 
undertaken as well as three site specific analyses per study site.
    This program will be implemented by the current grantees: Institute 
of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder; Western 
Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh; and 
Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, University at Albany, State 
University of New York. No additional applications will be solicited in 
FY 1998.

OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

    OJJDP's Management Evaluation Contract was competitively awarded in 
1995 for a period of 3 years. Its purpose is to provide OJJDP with an 
expert resource capable of performing independent program evaluations 
and assisting the Office in implementing evaluation activities. The 
management evaluation contract currently provides the following types 
of assistance to OJJDP:(1) assists OJJDP staff in the determination of 
evaluation needs of programs, program areas, or projects to assist the 
agency in determining when to invest its evaluation resources; (2) 
develops evaluation designs that OJJDP can use in defining requirements 
for a grant or contract to implement the evaluation; (3) provides 
technical assistance with regard to evaluation techniques to other 
jurisdictions involved in the evaluation of programs to prevent and 
treat juvenile delinquency; (4) responds to the needs of OJJDP by 
providing evaluations based on available data or data that can be 
readily developed to support OJJDP decisionmaking under whatever 
schedule is required by the decisionmaking process. Evaluations under 
this contract are program evaluations, that is, evaluations of either 
individual grants or contracts or groups of grants or contracts that 
are designed to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the 
program; (5) conduct a full-scale evaluation research project; and (6) 
provide training to OJJDP program managers and other staff on 
evaluation-related topics such as the different kinds of evaluation 
data and their uses, planning for program or project information 
collection and evaluation, and the role of evaluation in the agency 
planning process.
    Under this contract, evaluations may be conducted on OJJDP-funded 
action programs, including demonstrations, tests, training, and 
technical assistance programs and other programs, not funded by OJJDP, 
designed to prevent and treat juvenile delinquency. Evaluations are 
carried out in accordance with work plans prepared by the contractor 
and approved by OJJDP. Because the evaluations vary in terms of program 
complexity, availability of data, and purpose of the evaluation, the 
time and cost of each varies. Each evaluation is defined by OJJDP and 
costs, method, and time are determined through negotiations between 
OJJDP and the contractor. Because the purpose of many evaluations is to 
inform management decisions, the completion of an evaluation and 
submission of a report may be required in a specific and, often, short 
time period.
    This contract will be implemented by the current contractor, 
Caliber Associates. A new competitive contract solicitation will be 
issued during FY 1998, and a new contract awarded in FY 1999.

Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development

    The Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development (SSD) 
program was competitively awarded in FY 1990 to the National Center for 
Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) to improve national, State, and local 
statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders. Over the last seven 
years, through continuation funding, the project has focused on three 
major tasks: (1) assessing how current information needs are being met 
with existing data collection efforts and recommending options for 
improving national level statistics; (2) analyzing data and 
disseminating information gathered from existing Federal statistical 
series and national studies; and (3) providing training and technical 
assistance for local agencies in developing or enhancing management 
information systems.
    Under the second task, OJJDP released the seminal analysis Juvenile 
Offenders and Victims: A National Report in September 1995, Juvenile 
Offenders and Victims: 1996 Update on Violence in March 1996, and 
Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence in

[[Page 33144]]

October 1997. A training curriculum, Improving Information for Rational 
Decisionmaking in Juvenile Justice, was drafted for pilot testing, and 
future documents will be produced based on this effort.
    In FY 1998, NCJJ will: (1) complete a long-term plan for improving 
national statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders, including 
constructing core data elements for a national reporting program for 
juveniles waived or transferred to criminal court; (2) update the 
Compendium of Federal Statistical Programs on juvenile victims and 
offenders and work with the Office of Justice Programs' Crime 
Statistics Working Group and other Federal interagency statistics 
working groups; (3) provide technical support to OJJDP in enhancing the 
availability and accessibility of statistics on the OJJDP web site; (4) 
make recommendations to fill information gaps in the areas of juvenile 
probation, juvenile court and law enforcement responses to juvenile 
delinquency, violent delinquency, and child abuse and neglect; and (5) 
produce a second edition of Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National 
Report.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCJJ. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement

    The Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) is 
replacing the biennial Census of Public and Private Juvenile Detention, 
Correctional, and Shelter Facilities, known as the Children in Custody 
census. This newly designed census will collect detailed information on 
the population of juveniles who are in juvenile residential placement 
facilities as a result of contact with the juvenile justice system. 
Over the past 3 years, OJJDP and the Bureau of the Census, with the 
assistance of a Technical Advisory Board, have developed the CJRP to 
more accurately represent the numbers of juveniles in residential 
placement and to describe the reasons for their placement. A new method 
of data collection, tested in FY 1996, involves gathering data in a 
roster-type format, often by electronic means. The new methods are 
expected to result in more accurate, timely, and useful data on the 
juvenile population, with less reporting burden for facility 
respondents.
    In FY 1997, OJJDP funded initial implementation of the CJRP, 
including form preparation, mailout, and processing of census forms. In 
October 1997, the first census using the revised methodology was 
conducted.
    OJJDP will continue funding this project in FY 1998 to clean the 
data files, allowing the production of new data products based on the 
1997 census.
    This program will be implemented through an existing interagency 
agreement with the Bureau of the Census. No additional applications 
will be solicited in FY 1998.

OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center

    The National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training 
and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) was established in FY 1995 
under a competitive 3-year project period award to Community Research 
Associates. NTTAC serves as a national training and technical 
assistance clearinghouse, inventorying and coordinating the integrated 
delivery of juvenile justice training/technical assistance resources 
and establishing a data base of these resources.
    In FY 1995, work involved organization and staffing of the Center, 
orientation for OJJDP training/technical assistance providers regarding 
their role in the Center's activities, and initial data base 
development.
    NTTAC's funding in FY 1996 provided services in the form of 
coordinated technical assistance support for OJJDP's SafeFutures and 
gang program initiatives, continued promotion of collaboration between 
OJJDP training/technical assistance providers, developed training/
technical assistance materials, and completed and disseminated the 
first OJJDP Training and Technical Assistance Resource Catalog. In 
addition, NTTAC assisted State and local jurisdictions and other OJJDP 
grantees with specialized training, including the development of 
training-of-trainers programs. NTTAC continued to evolve as a central 
source for information pertaining to the availability of OJJDP-
supported training/technical assistance programs and resources.
    In FY 1997, NTTAC completed the first draft of the jurisdictional 
team training/technical assistance packages for gender-specific 
services and juvenile correctional services; provided training/
technical assistance in support of OJJDP's SafeFutures and Gangs 
programs; updated and disseminated the second Training and Technical 
Assistance Resource Catalog; created a Web site for the Center and a 
ListServe for the Children, Youth and Affinity Group; held three focus 
groups on needs assessments; and coordinated and provided 38 instances 
of technical assistance in conjunction with OJJDP's training/technical 
assistance grantees and contractors.
    In FY 1998, NTTAC will finalize, field test, and coordinate 
delivery of the jurisdictional team training/technical assistance 
packages on critical needs in the juvenile justice system, update the 
resource catalog, facilitate the annual OJJDP training/TA grantee and 
contractor meeting, continue to update the repository of training/TA 
materials and the electronic data base of training/TA materials, and 
continue to respond to training/TA requests from the field.
    The current grantee, Community Research Associates, will complete 
its work under the award in FY 1998. A solicitation will be issued as 
part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: 
Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to 
obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under 
Supplementary Information.

Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

    Since FY 1995, OJJDP has awarded annual grants to the National 
Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to provide relevant and timely 
information on comprehensive approaches in juvenile justice that are 
geared to the legislative environment. The purpose of this project is 
to aid State legislators in improving State juvenile justice systems 
when crafting legislative responses to youth violence. State 
legislatures have a unique role and responsibility in establishing 
State policy and approaches and appropriating funds for juvenile 
justice. Nearly every State has enacted, or is considering, statutory 
changes affecting the juvenile justice system. Historically, State 
legislatures have lacked the information needed to comprehensively 
address juvenile justice issues. Experience with this project indicates 
that policymakers find it has helped them understand the ramifications 
and nuances of juvenile justice reform.
    Since OJJDP began funding this project, NCSL has conducted three 
invitational Legislator's Leadership Forums; sponsored sessions on 
juvenile justice reform at the NCSL annual meetings; expanded 
clearinghouse and juvenile justice enactment reporting; and produced 
and distributed a publication, Legislator's Guide to Comprehensive 
Juvenile Justice. The invitational meetings were attended by more than 
100 legislators and additional legislative staff from 34 States 
selected as key decisionmakers on juvenile justice reform. Meeting 
sessions and information services reached at least 500 legislators or 
legislative staff in all

[[Page 33145]]

States. In addition, project publications were distributed to more than 
2,000 legislative members, staff, and agencies to provide for further 
broad distribution of information central to comprehensive strategies 
in juvenile justice to a State legislative audience throughout the 
States.
    The grant has improved capacity for the delivery of information 
services to legislatures, with the number of information requests 
handled for legislators and staff having increased to about 500 per 
year. It is expected that the Children and Families and Criminal 
Justice programs will respond to another 500 information requests in FY 
1998.
    In FY 1998, NCSL will further identify, analyze, and disseminate 
information to assist State legislatures to make more informed 
decisions about legislation affecting the juvenile justice system. A 
complementary task involves supporting increased communication between 
State legislators and State and local leaders who influence 
decisionmaking regarding juvenile justice issues. NCSL will provide 
intensive technical assistance to four States, continue outreach 
activities, and maintain its clearinghouse function. Additionally, NCSL 
will assist in the production of a live satellite videoconference 
directed primarily to State legislators.
    The project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCSL. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Telecommunications Assistance

    Developments in information technology and distance training have 
expanded and enhanced OJJDP's capacity to disseminate information and 
provide training and technical assistance. The advantages of these 
technologies include increased access to information and training for 
professionals in the juvenile justice system, reduced travel costs to 
conferences, and reduced time attending meetings away from one's home 
or office. OJJDP uses this cost-effective medium to share with the 
field the salient elements of the most effective or promising 
approaches to various juvenile justice issues. The field has responded 
positively to these live satellite teleconferences and has come to 
expect them at regular intervals.
    OJJDP selected Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) through a 
competitive program announcement in FY 1992 to conduct a feasibility 
study on using this technology in its programming. In FY 1995, EKU was 
awarded a competitive grant to undertake production of live satellite 
videoconferences. Since the inception of this grant in FY 1995, EKU has 
produced 13 live satellite teleconferences, with an average of 360 
downlink sites participating in each. The project produced four 
teleconferences in FY 1995 (Juvenile Boot Camps, Reducing Youth Gun 
Violence, Youth Out of the Education Mainstream, and Conflict 
Resolution for Youth), four in FY 1996 (Community Collaboration, 
Effective Programs for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile 
Offenders, Youth-Oriented Community Policing, Leadership Challenges for 
Juvenile Detentions and Corrections), and five in FY 1997 (Has the 
Juvenile Court Outlived Its Usefulness?, Youth Gangs in America, 
Preventing Drug Abuse Among Youth, Mentoring for Youth, and Treating 
Drug-Involved Youth).
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue the cooperative agreement with EKU 
in order to provide program support and technical assistance for a 
variety of information technologies, including audioconferences, fiber 
optics, and satellite teleconferences, producing four to five 
additional live national satellite teleconferences. The grantee will 
also continue to provide technical assistance to other grantees 
interested in using this technology and explore linkages with key 
constituent groups to advance mutual information goals and objectives.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, EKU. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--Juvenile Justice 
Resource Center

    This contract provides technical assistance and support to OJJDP, 
its grantees, and the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention in the areas of program development, evaluation, 
training, and research. OJJDP extended the current contract until a new 
contract can be competitively awarded. Applications have been solicited 
and received, and the new contract is expected to be awarded shortly.
    This contract will be implemented by the current contractor, Aspen 
Systems Corporation, until a new contract is awarded.

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

    A component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service 
(NCJRS), the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) is OJJDP's central 
source for the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of information 
on all aspects of juvenile justice, including research and evaluation 
findings; State and local juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment 
programs and plans; availability of resources; training and educational 
programs; and statistics. JJC serves the entire juvenile justice 
community, including researchers, law enforcement officials, judges, 
prosecutors, probation and corrections staff, youth-service personnel, 
legislators, the media, and the public.
    Among its many support services, JJC offers toll-free telephone 
access to information; prepares specialized responses to information 
requests; produces, warehouses, and distributes OJJDP publications; 
exhibits at national conferences; maintains a comprehensive juvenile 
justice library and data base; and administers several electronic 
information resources. Recognizing the critical need to inform juvenile 
justice practitioners and policymakers on promising program approaches, 
JJC continually develops and recommends new products and strategies to 
communicate more effectively the research findings and program 
activities of OJJDP and the field. The entire NCJRS, of which the 
OJJDP-funded JJC is a part, is administered by the National Institute 
of Justice (NIJ) under a competitively awarded contract to Aspen 
Systems Corporation.
    This program will continue to be implemented by the current 
contractor, Aspen Systems Corporation, until the new contract is 
awarded. NIJ has issued a new competitive solicitation, and a new 
contract will be awarded during FY 1998.

Insular Area Support

    The purpose of this program is to provide support to the U.S. 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust Territory of the 
Pacific Islands (Palau), and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands. Funds are available to address the special needs and problems 
of juvenile delinquency in these insular areas, as specified by Section 
261(e) of the JJDP Act of 1974, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 5665(e).

Community Assessment Centers (CAC's)

    The Community Assessment Center (CAC) program is a multicomponent 
demonstration initiative designed to test the efficacy of the Community 
Assessment Center concept. CAC's provide a 24-hour centralized point of 
intake and assessment for juveniles who have or are likely to come into 
contact with the juvenile justice system. The main purpose of a CAC is 
to facilitate earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention 
service delivery at the ``front end'' of the juvenile justice

[[Page 33146]]

system. In FY 1997, OJJDP funded two planning grants and two 
enhancement grants to existing assessment centers for a 1-year project 
period, a CAC evaluation project, and a technical assistance component.
    The planning grants were awarded to the Denver Juvenile Court in 
Denver, Colorado, and to the Lee County Sheriff's Office in Fort Myers, 
Florida, to support a 1-year intensive planning process for the 
development and implementation of a CAC in each community. In Denver, 
community leaders are assessing the feasibility of a CAC and building 
on existing infrastructure developed with support from the Center for 
Substance Abuse Treatment's Juvenile Justice Integrated Treatment 
Network program. In Fort Myers, community leaders are completing an 
initial planning process and are planning to open their CAC in the near 
future. Planning in this site will continue after implementation and 
will focus on enhancing the CAC in Fort Myers to become more consistent 
with the CAC concept and on developing linkages with the community's 
Comprehensive Strategy initiative.
    The enhancement component of the CAC program is designed to 
increase the effectiveness and efficiency of existing assessment 
centers by supporting various and specific program enhancements and to 
provide support to existing assessment centers in an effort to create 
consistency with OJJDP's CAC concept.
    Also in FY 1997, two communities received 1-year awards to help 
existing assessment centers provide enhanced services and to 
demonstrate the effectiveness of the CAC concept overall. Jefferson 
Center for Mental Health in Jefferson County, Colorado, and Human 
Service Associates, Inc., in Orlando, Florida, were competitively 
selected to receive awards under the CAC program on the basis of their 
demonstrated commitment to specifically implement an enhancement that 
makes the existing CAC more consistent with the CAC concept. The 
Jefferson Center for Mental Health is developing improved case 
management procedures and an improved management information system. 
Human Services Associates, Inc., is creating an intensive integrated 
case management system for high-risk youth referred to the CAC, an 
enhancement also consistent with the OJJDP CAC concept.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide additional funding to support the 
full and continued implementation of selected CAC enhancements and 
additional support to the sites awarded planning grants in FY 1997. 
This funding will enable these sites to begin implementing the CAC's 
planned for with OJJDP funding support or to enhance existing 
operations.
    The CAC initiative evaluation component, being conducted by the 
National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and the technical assistance 
component, being delivered by the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse 
Association, were funded in FY 1997 for 2-year project periods and will 
not require additional funds in FY 1998.
    These programs will be implemented by the current grantees, 
Jefferson Center for Mental Health, Human Service Associates, Inc., 
Denver Juvenile Court, and Lee County Sheriff's Office. No additional 
applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training and Technical Assistance Coordination for SafeFutures 
Initiative

    OJJDP will provide funding for long-term training and technical 
assistance (TA) for the remaining 3 years of the SafeFutures 
initiative. The purpose of this TA effort will be to build local 
capacity for implementing and sustaining effective continuum of care 
and systems change approaches to preventing and controlling juvenile 
violence and delinquency in the six SafeFutures communities. Project 
activities will include assessment, identification, and coordination of 
the implementation of training and TA needs at each SafeFutures site 
and administration of cross-site training.
    OJJDP will continue funding under a grant for the provision of 
training and technical assistance coordination to the six SafeFutures 
sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, 
Intervention, and Suppression Program

    This program supports the implementation of a comprehensive gang 
program model in five jurisdictions. The program was competitively 
awarded with FY 1994 funds under a 3-year project period. The 
demonstration sites implementing the model, which was developed by the 
University of Chicago with OJJDP funding support, are Bloomington, 
Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, California; San Antonio, Texas; and 
Tucson, Arizona. Implementation of the comprehensive gang program model 
requires the mobilization of the community to address gang-related 
violence by making available and coordinating social interventions, 
providing social/academic/vocational and other opportunities, and 
supporting gang suppression through law enforcement, probation, and 
other community control mechanisms.
    During the past year, the demonstration sites began full-scale 
implementation of the program model and began serving gang-involved 
youth in the targeted areas. In each site, a multidisciplinary team has 
been established to coordinate the services that project youth receive. 
Teams are made up of various community institution representatives, 
including police, probation, outreach or street workers, court 
representatives, service providers, and others. The services provided 
through this team--or recommended by them--include social interventions 
such as outreach, case management, counseling, substance abuse 
treatment, anger management, life skills, cultural awareness, 
controlled recreation activities, access to educational, social, and 
economic opportunities such as GED attainment, school reintegration, 
vocational training, and job development and placement. Also included 
in the service mix is accountability or social control. This is 
provided through traditional suppression from law enforcement and 
probation, and also accountability through the schools, community-based 
agencies, parents, families, and community members. The team meets 
regularly to go over progress with each youth, so that each team member 
is aware of prevailing risks and positive developments and can use this 
information to be supportive of the youth when contacted in the field 
by providing additional services, modifying ``treatment plans,'' or 
invoking accountability measures ranging from values clarification and 
general motivational support to arrest and prosecution. In addition to 
core team members, other agencies also support the programs, such as 
the faith community, local Boys & Girls Clubs, and alternative and 
mainstream schools.
    In some sites, prevention components have been established to work 
hand-in-hand with the intervention and suppression program. For 
example, in one site a mentoring program has been established for youth 
who are younger siblings of gang members targeted in the intervention 
components.
    The demonstration sites also participated in training and technical 
assistance activities, including cluster conferences sponsored by OJJDP 
and site-specific consultations on issues such as information sharing 
and outreach activities.

[[Page 33147]]

    In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide a fourth year of funding to selected 
demonstration sites to target up to 200 youth prone to gang violence in 
each site through continuing implementation of the program model and 
work with the independent evaluator of this demonstration program.
    This project will be implemented by the current demonstration 
sites. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang 
Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program

    The University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, 
received a competitive cooperative agreement award in FY 1995. This 4-
year project period award supports the evaluation of OJJDP's 
Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, 
and Suppression Program. The evaluation grantee assisted the five 
program sites (Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Riverside, 
California; San Antonio, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona) in establishing 
realistic and measurable objectives, documenting program 
implementation, and measuring the impact of a variety of gang program 
strategies. It has also provided interim feedback to the program 
implementors.
    In FY 1997, following 2 years of program development and evaluation 
design, the grantee trained the local site interviewers; gathered and 
tracked data from police, prosecutor, probation, school, and social 
service agencies; collected individual gang member interviews from both 
the program and comparison areas; provided onsite technical assistance 
to the local sites; consulted with local evaluators on development and 
implementation of local site parent/community resident surveys; and 
coordinated ongoing efforts with local researchers.
    In FY 1998, the grantee will continue to gather and analyze data 
required to evaluate the program; monitor and oversee the quality 
control of data; provide assistance for completion of interviews; and 
provide ongoing feedback to project sites.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component 
(Boys & Girls Clubs)

    This program is designed to enable local Boys & Girls Clubs to 
prevent youth from entering gangs, intervene with gang members in the 
early stages of gang involvement, and divert youth from gang activities 
into more constructive programs. In FY 1997, Boys & Girls Clubs of 
America provided training and technical assistance to 30 existing gang 
prevention and 4 intervention sites and expanded the gang prevention 
and intervention program to 23 additional Boys & Girls Clubs. A 
national evaluation of this program, through Public/Private Ventures, 
was also started in FY 1997 under this award.
    In FY 1998, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America will provide training 
and technical assistance to 20 existing gang prevention sites, 3 
existing intervention sites, and OJJDP's gang and SafeFutures 
demonstration sites. The national evaluation of the Targeted Outreach 
program will continue in FY 1998. The Targeted Outreach program will 
also provide training and technical assistance to up to 10 new rural 
Targeted Outreach sites and will consider implementing two new pilot 
programs: Targeted Reintegration, which involves working with youth 
coming out of institutional placements, and another developmental pilot 
project with the Violence Impact Forums of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation 
(TKF). The latter project is a collaborative effort of OJJDP, the 
Office for Victims of Crime, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, TKF, 
and other organizations.
    This program will be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys & 
Girls Clubs of America. No additional applications will be solicited in 
FY 1998.

National Youth Gang Center

    The proliferation of gang problems in large inner cities, smaller 
cities, suburbs, and even rural areas over the past two decades led to 
the development by OJJDP of a comprehensive, coordinated response to 
America's gang problem. This response involved five program components, 
one of which was the implementation and operation of the National Youth 
Gang Center (NYGC). The NYGC was competitively awarded in FY 1995 for a 
3-year project period. The NYGC was created to expand and maintain the 
body of critical knowledge about youth gangs and effective responses to 
them.
    In FY 1997, NYGC continued to assist state and local jurisdictions 
to collect, analyze and exchange information on gang-related 
demographics, legislation, literature, research and promising program 
strategies. It also supported the work of the National Gang Consortium, 
a group of federal agencies, gang program representatives and 
researchers. A major activity was a survey of all federal agencies and 
the presentation of data on their programs, planning cycles and other 
resources. It continued to promote the collection and analysis of gang 
related data and published the results of its first National Youth Gang 
Survey of 2,000 law enforcement agencies.
    OJJDP will extend the project an additional year and provide FY 
1998 funds to NYGC to conduct more indepth analyses of the first and 
second National Youth Gang Survey results that track changes in the 
nature and scope of the youth gang problem. NYGC, through its Focus 
Group on Data Collection and Analysis, will continue its efforts to 
foster integration of gang-related items into other relevant surveys 
and national data collection efforts. NYGC will also provide technical 
assistance to OJJDP's new Rural Gang program sites.
    Fiscal year 1998 funds will support an additional year of funding 
to the current grantee, the Institute for Intergovernmental Research. 
No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation of the Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence 
Program

    COSMOS Corporation received a competitive award in FY 1997. This 3-
year project period award supports OJJDP's Evaluation of the 
Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence Program. The program will 
document and evaluate the process of community mobilization, planning, 
and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, collaborative 
approach to reducing gun violence involving juveniles in four sites. 
The sites are Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California: Shreveport, 
Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York.
    In FY 1997, the grantee conducted onsite technical assistance 
workshops with partner organizations and assisted the sites in planning 
and developing local Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence.
    In FY 1998, the grantee will develop data collection protocols, 
conduct a process evaluation, and continue to provide onsite technical 
assistance to the sites. In addition to the four sites listed above, 
the grantee will also identify additional promising/effective programs 
underway in communities across the country and evaluate a select

[[Page 33148]]

number of these programs. With an expanded base of youth gun violence 
programs, there is greater opportunity to identify sites that are 
employing similar strategies with different targeted populations.
    This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, COSMOS 
Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention

    The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention's primary goal is the 
development of a citywide, accelerated, long-term effort to reduce 
violence in Chicago. In addition, the Chicago Project serves to 
demonstrate a comprehensive, citywide violence prevention model. 
Overall project objectives include reductions in homicide, physical 
injury, disability and emotional harm from assault, domestic abuse, 
sexual abuse and rape, and child abuse and neglect.
    The Chicago Project is a partnership among the Chicago Department 
of Public Health, the Illinois Council for the Prevention of Violence, 
the University of Illinois, and Chicago communities. The project began 
in January 1995 with joint funding from OJJDP and the Centers for 
Disease Control and prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury 
Prevention and Control (NCIPC), the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and 
the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The project currently 
provides technical assistance to a variety of community-based and 
citywide organizations involved in violence prevention planning. The 
majority of the technical assistance supports community level efforts 
and agencies working to directly support the community plan.
    In FY 1996, technical assistance was provided to the central 
planning group for the Austin community-based coalition, leadership and 
staff of the Westside Health Authority in the Austin community, and to 
other selected groups involved in the Austin plan for the development 
of their components (e.g., to Northwest Austin Council for the 
development of the afterschool and drug treatment components of the 
Austin plan). These groups are members of the violence consortium in 
Austin.
    In FY 1997, the Chicago Project further refined the violence 
prevention strategy developed in the Austin community, began 
implementation of the strategy, and continued to provide technical 
assistance to the Logan Square and Grand Boulevard communities as they 
developed their violence prevention strategies.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue funding the project, which will 
complete the strategic planning process with Logan Square and Grand 
Boulevard and continue to work with Austin in implementing its 
strategy.
    The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention will be implemented by 
the current grantee, the University of Illinois, School of Public 
Health. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Safe Start--Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP)

    The Child Development-Community-Oriented Policing (CD-CP) program, 
an innovative partnership between the New Haven Department of Police 
Services and the Child Study Center at the Yale University School of 
Medicine, addresses the psychological burdens on children, families, 
and the broader community of increasing levels of community violence. 
In FY 1993, OJJDP provided support to document Yale--New Haven's child-
centered, community-oriented policing model. The program model consists 
of interrelated training and consultation, including a child 
development fellowship for police supervisors; police fellowship for 
clinicians; seminars on child development, human functioning, and 
policing strategies; a 15-hour training course in child development for 
all new police officers; weekly collaborative meetings and case 
conferences that support institutional changes in police practices; and 
establishment of protocols for referral and consultation to ensure that 
children receive the services they need.
    In FY 1994, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, using community 
policing funds, joined with OJJDP to support the first year of a 3-year 
training and technical assistance grant to replicate the CD-CP program 
nationwide. In each of FY's 1995, 1996, and 1997, OJJDP provided grants 
of $300,000 to the Yale Child Study Center to replicate the model 
through training of law enforcement and mental health providers in 
Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and 
Portland, Oregon.
    The CD-CP program has provided a wide range of coordinated police 
and clinical responses in the four replication sites, including round-
the-clock availability of consultation with a clinical professional and 
a police supervisor to patrol officers who assist children exposed to 
violence; weekly case conferences with police officers, educators, and 
child study center staff; open police stations located in neighborhoods 
and accessible to residents for police and related services; community 
liaison and coordination of community response; crisis response; 
clinical referral; interagency collaboration; home-based followup; and 
officer support and neighborhood foot patrols. In the CD-CP program's 
last 4 years of operation in the New Haven site, more than 450 children 
have been referred to the consultation service by officers in the 
field. It is anticipated that these results can be obtained in the 
replication sites.
    In FY 1997, through a partnership between OJJDP, Violence Against 
Women Grants Office, and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), $700,000 
($300,000 from OJJDP, $300,000 from the Violence Against Women Grants 
Office, and $100,000 from OVC) was allocated to CD-CP to expand the 
program under a new Safe Start Initiative designed to support the 
following activities:
     Development of a training and technical assistance center 
in New Haven consisting of a team of expert practitioners who provide 
training for law enforcement, prosecutors, mental health professionals, 
school personnel, and probation and parole officers to better respond 
to the needs of children exposed to community violence including but 
not limited to family violence, gang violence, and abuse or neglect.
     Plan for expansion of program sites from the original 
four. Future sites, the total number of which are yet to be determined, 
will be selected competitively based upon each site's capacity to 
establish a core police/mental health provider team concerned with 
child victimization.
     Further research, data collection, analysis, and 
evaluation of CD-CP in the program sites.
     The development of a casebook for practitioners, which 
will detail intervention strategies and various aspects of the CD-CP 
collaborative process.
    In FY 1998, this project will be continued by the current grantee, 
the Yale University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the New 
Haven Department of Police Services. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Juvenile Justice Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance 
Program

    Juvenile crime and victimization present major challenges to law 
enforcement and other practitioners who are responsible for prevention, 
intervention, and enforcement efforts. Violent crime committed by 
juveniles,

[[Page 33149]]

juvenile involvement in gangs and drugs, and decreasing fiscal 
resources are a few of the challenges facing juvenile justice 
practitioners today.
    OJJDP is committed to helping Federal, State, local, and tribal 
agencies, organizations, and individuals face these challenges through 
a comprehensive program of training and technical assistance that is 
designed to enhance the juvenile justice system's ability to respond to 
juvenile crime and delinquency. This assistance targets many audiences, 
including law enforcement representatives, social service workers, 
school staff and administrators, prosecutors, judges, corrections and 
probation personnel, and key community and agency leaders.
    In FY 1997, a contract was awarded to John Jay College of Criminal 
Justice (John Jay) for the Law Enforcement Training and Technical 
Assistance program. Since the program's inception in March 1997, John 
Jay has trained approximately 700 State, local, and tribal workshop 
participants and provided requested onsite technical assistance to 16 
communities.
    Fiscal year 1998 funds will support the continuation of seven 
regional training workshops: the Chief Executive Officer Youth Violence 
Forum; Managing Juvenile Operations (MJO); Gang, Gun, and Drug Policy; 
School Administrators for Effective Operations Leading to Improved 
Children and Youth Services (SAFE Policy); Youth Oriented-Community 
Policing; Tribal Justice Training and Technical Assistance; and the 
Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP).
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence

    OJJDP will award continuation grants of up to $200,000 to each of 
four competitively selected communities that initially received funds 
in FY 1997 to help them increase the effectiveness of existing youth 
gun violence reduction strategies by enhancing and coordinating 
prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies and strengthening 
linkages between community residents, law enforcement, and the juvenile 
justice system. Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oakland, California; 
Shreveport, Louisiana; and Syracuse, New York, were competitively 
selected to receive 3-year awards.
    The goals of this initiative are to reduce juveniles' illegal 
access to guns and address the reasons they carry and use guns in 
violence exchanges. Each of the sites is required to address five 
objectives: (1) reduce illegal gun availability to juveniles; (2) 
reduce the incidence of juveniles' illegally carrying guns; (3) reduce 
juvenile gun-related crimes; (4) increase youth awareness of the 
personal and legal consequences of gun violence; and (5) increase 
participation of community residents and organizations in public safety 
efforts.
    To accomplish the goals and objectives, each site will complete the 
development of a comprehensive plan and incorporate the following seven 
strategies in the target area:
    (1) Positive opportunity strategies for young people, such as 
mentoring, job readiness, and afterschool programs.
    (2) An educational strategy in which students learn how to resolve 
conflicts without violence, resist peer pressure to possess or carry 
guns, and distinguish between real violence and television violence.
    (3) A public information strategy that uses radio, local 
television, and print outlets to broadly communicate to young people 
the dangers and consequences of gun violence and present information on 
positive youth activities taking place in the community.
    (4) A law enforcement/community communication strategy that expands 
neighborhood communication; community policing, such as a program that 
notifies neighborhood residents when particular incidents or concerns 
have been addressed; and community supervision to educate at-risk and 
court-involved juveniles on the legal consequences of their involvement 
in gun violence.
    (5) A grassroots community involvement and mobilization strategy 
that engages neighborhood residents, including youth, in improving the 
community.
    (6) A suppression strategy that reduces juvenile access to illegal 
guns and illegal gun trafficking in communities by developing special 
gun units, using community allies to report illegal gun trade, 
targeting gang members and illegal gun possession cases for 
prosecution, and increasing sanctions.
    (7) A juvenile justice system strategy that applies appropriate 
treatment interventions to respond to the needs of juvenile offenders 
who enter the system on gun-related charges. Interventions may include 
specialized gun courts, family counseling, victim impact awareness 
classes, drug treatment, probation, or intensive community supervision, 
including aftercare. The approach should focus on addressing the 
reasons juveniles had access to, carried, and used guns illegally.
    A national evaluation is being conducted by COSMOS Corporation to 
document and understand the process of community mobilization, 
planning, and collaboration needed to develop a comprehensive, 
collaborative approach to reducing juvenile gun violence.
    The Partnerships To Reduce Juvenile Gun Violence program will be 
carried out by the four current grantees. No additional applications 
will be solicited in FY 1998.

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, 
Intervention, and Suppression Technical Assistance and Training

    Since 1995, OJJDP has provided funding to five communities to 
implement and test a comprehensive program model for gang prevention, 
intervention and suppression, known as the Spergel model. In 1997, the 
sites were awarded continuation funding for the third year of a 3-year 
project period grant to continue program implementation. OJJDP will 
provide a fourth year of funding for this program.
    To support the ongoing implementation and a potential fourth year 
of operations (being proposed elsewhere in this Program Plan), OJJDP 
will provide funding to the University of Chicago for enhanced 
technical assistance and training services. This award will be made to 
the University's Gang Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance 
(GRETA) program, through the School of Social Service Administration. 
Technical assistance and training to be provided through this award may 
include technical assistance and training to law enforcement, 
probation, and parole on their role in the model; technical assistance 
to community and grassroots organizations on their role in the model; 
and technical assistance on team development, information sharing, 
information systems, and data collection and on issues of 
sustainability and organizational and systems change to better deal 
with the community's youth gang problem. Other training and technical 
assistance services to be provided may include the development of 
relevant materials for onsite use, such as a manual on the model being 
implemented (in response to the national evaluation advisory board's 
recommendations), a manual on youth

[[Page 33150]]

outreach and a ``lessons learned'' publication or other materials, 
including audiovisual and electronic media. Training and technical 
assistance services provided under this project will be limited to 
OJJDP's comprehensive gang demonstration sites in Mesa and Tucson, 
Arizona; Riverside, California; Bloomington, Illinois; and San Antonio, 
Texas, and other selected OJJDP grantees.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
University of Chicago. No additional applications will be solicited in 
FY 1998.

Rural Youth Gang Problems: Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach

    In 1996, OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) completed its 
first annual nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies regarding 
gang problems experienced in their jurisdictions. This survey 
represents the largest number of small law enforcement agencies in 
rural counties ever surveyed. Among the findings of this survey is that 
half of the 2,007 gang survey respondents reporting youth gang problems 
in 1995 serve populations under 25,000, confirming that youth gangs are 
not just a problem for large cities and metropolitan counties. Youth 
gangs are emerging in new localities, especially smaller and rural 
communities. Many of the agencies in smaller and rural communities had 
no personnel assigned to deal with youth gangs or gang units.
    OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, 
and Suppression (Spergel Model) is currently being implemented and 
tested in multiple jurisdictions. The communities implementing the 
model are mainly suburban and urban in nature, with areas of dense 
population within the community.
    In light of the rural gang problems exposed by the nationwide gang 
survey, OJJDP will fund a new initiative to assist rural communities in 
implementing the fully adaptable Comprehensive Approach in a way that 
is appropriate to rural community needs, through a comprehensive and 
systematic problem assessment and program design process. Upon 
completion of the problem assessment using law enforcement-based gang 
incident, census, and other data, communities would engage in a process 
of adapting and eventually applying the Comprehensive Approach in a way 
that responds to the gang problems identified.
    OJJDP will award funds to up to four rural communities to conduct a 
rural youth gang planning and assessment project and will also award 
funds for related evaluations and provide technical assistance services 
to funded sites.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Case Studies and Evaluation Planning of OJJDP's Rural Youth Gang 
Initiative

    OJJDP will award a competitive grant for a 1-year process 
evaluation to document the strategies used by the Rural Youth Gang 
Problems--Adapting OJJDP's Comprehensive Approach initiative 
demonstration sites to assess their local youth gang problems and plan 
for the adaptation and implementation of this comprehensive approach in 
rural communities. This documentation will subsequently be disseminated 
to the field for use by other rural communities that want to replicate 
the comprehensive approach to rural gang problems.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution

    In FY 1995, OJJDP funded the Illinois Institute for Dispute 
Resolution (IIDR) to implement the Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution 
(YCCR) program under a competitively awarded 3-year cooperative 
agreement. The purpose of this program, which began in October 1995, is 
to integrate conflict resolution education (CRE) programming into all 
levels of education in the Nation's schools, juvenile facilities, and 
youth-serving organizations.
    During the first 2 years, IIDR provided training and technical 
assistance through a number of mechanisms. In year one, activities 
included participation in the development of a satellite teleconference 
on CRE, a presentation on the YCCR program at the National Institute 
for Dispute Resolution annual conference, and three regional training 
conferences for teams from schools, communities, and juvenile 
facilities. IIDR also completed the project's first major resource 
document, Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing 
Programs in Schools, Youth-Serving Organizations, and Community and 
Juvenile Justice Settings. Second-year activities included followup 
training and intensive technical assistance including onsite work with 
the Washington, DC, school system. In the second project year, with 
additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, IIDR 
developed a pilot curriculum and conducted a series of 10 training 
sessions to assist arts program staff and administrators in infusing 
conflict resolution skills and principles into art programs for at-risk 
youth. Additional funding this year will allow the project to conduct 
another series of trainings.
    Activities planned for FY 1998 include State training conferences, 
onsite technical assistance to SafeFutures, Weed and Seed, and other 
sites, increased followup support, and a survey of gang intervention 
programs to identify those that use conflict resolution techniques as 
part of their efforts.
    Also, IIDR will expand the level of support that project staff 
provide to schools, communities, and youth-serving organizations, 
including training provided in partnership with national organizations 
such as Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Juvenile 
Detention Association. Efforts will also be undertaken to facilitate 
peer-to-peer mentoring among youth education and youth-serving 
organizations. Special emphasis will be placed on disseminating 
information about effective conflict resolution programs and 
implementation issues through print and electronic media. Project staff 
will also work with staff in State departments of education and offices 
of State Attorneys General to promote replication of local conflict 
resolution programs and to partner with State agencies to establish 
``training of trainers'' institutes or programs to build local capacity 
to implement successful CRE programs for youth.
    OJJDP has entered into a partnership with the U.S. Department of 
Education to expand this project. The project will be implemented by 
the current grantee, IIDR. No additional applications will be solicited 
in FY 1998.

Communities In Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership

    This program is a continuation of a national school dropout 
prevention model developed and implemented by Communities In Schools 
(CIS), Inc. CIS, Inc., provides training and technical assistance to 
CIS programs in States and local communities, enabling them to

[[Page 33151]]

adapt and implement the CIS model. The model brings social, employment, 
mental health, drug prevention, entrepreneurship, and other resources 
to high-risk youth and their families in the school setting. Where CIS 
State organizations are established, they assume primary responsibility 
for local program replication during the Federal Interagency 
Partnership.
    The Federal Interagency Partnership program is based on the 
following strategies: (1) to enhance CIS, Inc., training and technical 
assistance capabilities; (2) to enhance the organization's capability 
to introduce selected initiatives to CIS youth at the local level; (3) 
to enhance the CIS, Inc., information dissemination network capability; 
and (4) to enhance the CIS, Inc., capability to network with Federal 
agencies on behalf of State and local CIS programs.
    In FY 1997, the CIS--Federal Interagency Partnership (1) performed 
extensive research and compilation of conference materials and other 
resources outlining trends and activities related to family 
strengthening and parent participation initiatives; (2) produced a 
quarterly issue of Facts You Can Use; (3) formed a committee 
responsible for developing a description of the Family Service Center 
site strategy; (4) formulated a plan for providing training and 
technical assistance to SafeFutures sites; (5) advanced activities 
under the Youth Entrepreneurship Program by implementing the second 
phase of the minigrant process and by providing technical assistance; 
(6) developed a violence prevention resource directory and offered 
training on violence prevention; (7) provided program-level liaison and 
coordination to facilitate access by State and local CIS organizations 
to Federal agency products; and (8) added new features to the CIS web 
site to increase local and State program access to Federal resources.
    OJJDP will continue funding this project in FY 1998. The program 
will be implemented by the current grantee, Communities In Schools, 
Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/
Violence Campaign (NADVC)

    OJJDP will award continuation funding to the Congress of National 
Black Churches (CNBC) for its national public awareness and 
mobilization strategy to address the problems of juvenile drug abuse, 
violence, and hate crime in targeted communities. The goal of the CNBC 
national strategy is to summon, focus, and coordinate the leadership of 
the black religious community, in cooperation with the Department of 
Justice and other Federal agencies and organizations, to mobilize 
groups of community residents to combat juvenile drug abuse and drug-
related violence.
    The CNBC National Anti-Drug Abuse/Violence Campaign (NADVC) is a 
partner in the Education Development Center's (EDC) Juvenile Hate Crime 
Initiative. NADVC has used EDC's hate crime curriculum to focus on 
prevention through the networks and resources in the faith community to 
address the impact and roles of juveniles and youth in engaging in and 
preventing hate crimes. Two regional conferences were held during the 
past year in Columbus, South Carolina, and Memphis, Tennessee. 
Approximately 80 participants, representing more than 20 burned 
churches from black and white congregations, attended.
    In FY 1997, the program expanded through NADVC's Regional Hate 
Crime Prevention Initiative, the Campaign's model for anti-drug/
violence strategies, and NADVC's faith community network. NADVC has 
assisted in the development of programs in 87 sites, whose activities 
vary depending on their stage of development. The smallest of these 
alliances consists of 6 congregations and the largest has 134. The 
NADVC program involves approximately 2,220 clergy and affects 1.5 
million youth and the adults who influence their lives. NADVC also 
provides technical support to four statewide religious coalitions.
    NADVC's technical assistance, consultations, and training have 
helped sites to leverage more than $15 million in funds from 
corporations, foundations, and Federal, State, and local government. 
CNBC receives frequent requests for its NADVC model for the development 
of prevention programs in the faith community. The model is easily 
tailored to the local community's assessment of its drug, delinquency, 
violence, and hate crime problems.
    NADVC has contributed to many agency conferences, workshops, and 
advisory committees on the issues of violence, substance abuse 
prevention, policing, and high-risk youth services. The Campaign has 
also produced a National Training and Site Development Guide and a 
video to assist sites in implementing the NADVC model.
    NADVC will continue to support the expansion of new sites in FY 
1998, seek new partnerships, and enhance efforts to address hate crime 
and family violence intervention issues.
    The program will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
Congress of National Black Churches. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development

    The Risk Reduction Via Promotion of Youth Development program, also 
known as Early Alliance, is a large-scale prevention study involving 
hundreds of children and several elementary schools located in lower 
socioeconomic neighborhoods of Columbia, South Carolina. This program 
is funded through an interagency agreement with the National Institute 
of Mental Health(NIMH). NIMH's grantee is the University of South 
Carolina. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse have also provided funding for the 
program.
    This large-scale project is designed to promote coping-competence 
and reduce risk for conduct problems, aggression, substance use, 
delinquency and violence, and school failure beginning in early 
elementary school. The project also seeks to alter home and school 
climates to reduce risk for adverse outcomes and to promote positive 
youth development. Interventions include a classroom program, a 
schoolwide conflict management program, peer social skills training, 
and home-based family programming. The sample includes African American 
and Caucasian children attending schools located in lower income 
neighborhoods. There is a sample of high-risk children (showing early 
aggressive behavior at school entry), and a second sample consisting of 
lower risk children (residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged 
neighborhoods). The interventions begin in first grade, and children 
are being followed longitudinally throughout the 5 years of the 
project.
    Funded initially in FY 1997 through a fund transfer to NIMH under 
an interagency agreement, support will be continued for an additional 4 
years. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Programs

    Prevention, early intervention, and effective crisis intervention 
are critical elements in a community's family support system. In many 
communities, one or more of these elements may be missing or programs 
may not be coordinated. In addition, technical assistance and training 
are often not available to community organizations

[[Page 33152]]

and agencies providing family strengthening services. In response to 
these needs, OJJDP awarded a 3-year competitive cooperative agreement 
in FY 1995 to the University of Utah's Department of Health Education 
(DHE) to provide training and technical assistance to communities 
interested in establishing or enhancing a continuum of family 
strengthening efforts.
    In the first program year, the grantee completed initial drafts of 
a literature review and summaries of exemplary programs; conducted a 
national search for, rated, and selected family strengthening models; 
planned 2 regional training conferences to showcase the selected 
exemplary and promising family strengthening programs; convened the 
first conference for 250 attendees in Salt Lake City, Utah; and 
developed an application process for sites to receive followup training 
on specific program models.
    In the second program year, DHE completed a second draft of the 
literature review and model program summaries; convened a second 
regional conference in Washington, DC; conducted program-specific 
workshops; produced user and training-of-trainers guides; and 
distributed videos of several family strengthening workshops.
    In the third program year, DHE will coordinate technical assistance 
and training of agencies that are in the process of implementing the 
identified model programs. In addition, the grantee will establish a 
minigrant supplement program to provide stipends to a minimum of 10 
sites to ensure program implementation. DHE will also update and 
publish its literature review and develop program-specific bulletins to 
be distributed by OJJDP and also made available on the OJJDP Web site. 
The grantee's technical assistance delivery system and the overall 
impact of the project will also be assessed.
    This program will be implemented in FY 1998 by the current grantee, 
the University of Utah's DHE. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Hate Crime

    In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide continuation funding to the 
Education Development Center (EDC) to expand their hate crime 
prevention efforts. EDC has produced and published a multipurpose 
curriculum, entitled Healing the Hate, for hate crime prevention in 
middle schools and other classroom settings. The curriculum has been 
disseminated to 20,000 law enforcement, juvenile justice professionals, 
and educators throughout the country.
    Because of increased racial, ethnic, and religious tensions and 
hate crimes in various regions of the country, OJJDP expanded this 
grant to allow EDC to provide training and technical assistance to 
youth, educators, juvenile justice and law enforcement professionals 
and representatives of local public/private community agencies and 
organizations and the faith community. The recipients of this training/
technical assistance obtained the knowledge and skills necessary to 
establish prejudice reduction and violence prevention programs to 
decrease bias crimes by youth in their schools and communities. During 
the past year, EDC conducted training/technical assistance at three 
sites in different regions of the country (Boston, Massachusetts; 
Chicago, Illinois; and Miami, Florida). Dissemination of products was 
achieved through national educational, advocacy, and justice networks 
and at 15 other national conferences. In FY 1997, additional Hate 
Crimes project activities were funded through an interagency agreement 
with the U. S. Department of Education.
    In FY 1998, EDC project work will include training, technical 
assistance, networking among practitioners and policymakers, and 
continued partnership training with the Congress of National Black 
Churches. EDC will conduct one regional, multidisciplinary training, 
which will incorporate both hate crime prevention and response for 
practitioners, and two trainings for trainers on hate crime prevention 
and response. For policymakers and youth practitioners, 10 hate crime 
prevention and response training sessions will be held at national and 
statewide conferences targeting policymakers in the core disciplines 
(education, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and youth-serving 
programs) and youth. EDC will provide technical assistance through 
outreach, response to requests, remote and onsite consultation, and 
facilitation of networking.
    EDC will also develop and disseminate a hate crime prevention and 
response guide for communities; a hate crime prevention and response 
guide for juvenile justice, criminal justice, and the judiciary; and 
articles and bulletins for selected publications for practitioners and 
policymakers in the core disciplines (education, juvenile justice, 
criminal justice, and youth-serving programs). In addition, EDC will 
develop a hate crime prevention World Wide Web site and translate and 
produce a Spanish language version of Healing the Hate: A National Bias 
Crime Curriculum for Middle Schools.
    EDC will create an expert advisory council to increase 
collaboration and networking among practitioners and policymakers in 
the core disciplines (education, juvenile justice, criminal justice, 
and youth-serving programs).
    EDC will continue its partnership with the Congress of National 
Black Churches, Inc., by conducting joint training sessions and 
technical assistance efforts to prevent church burnings.
    The project will be implemented, in partnership with the U.S. 
Department of Education, by the current grantee, Education Development 
Center. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Strengthening Services for Chemically Involved Children, Youth, and 
Families

    The abuse of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) is inextricably linked 
with both personal and economic adversity and crime in society. Alcohol 
and drug abuse exact a devastating toll, especially on the most 
vulnerable--young children and adolescents. Recognizing that the U. S. 
Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services are both servicing the same pool of children affected by 
parental substance use/abuse, the two Departments have initiated a 
joint program.
    OJJDP will administer this training and technical assistance 
program, using funds transferred to OJJDP by the Substance Abuse and 
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), through a cooperative 
agreement to the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). To achieve 
maximum effectiveness in aiding chemically involved families, child 
welfare professionals must be able to address entrenched family 
problems caused by alcohol and other drug abuse, while simultaneously 
delivering services that protect and promote the health and well-being 
of children. These professionals need information, resource materials, 
and training to increase their knowledge of the link between chemical 
dependency and a host of related conditions that negatively affect 
child and family well-being.
    CWLA, a nonprofit organization, will carry out the required 
activities of this interagency agreement by assisting child welfare 
personnel to provide appropriate intervention services for AOD-impacted 
children and their caregivers. Through collaboration between the CWLA 
program, policy specialists in chemical dependency,

[[Page 33153]]

child protective services, family support services, foster care, 
kinship care, and a cadre of other agencies, CWLA will produce a state-
of-the-art comprehensive assessment tool and decisionmaking guidelines 
that frontline child welfare workers and supervisors can use in 
determining: (1) how alcohol and drugs are impacting child safety and 
family functioning and (2) the most appropriate intervention options 
for each child victim.
    CWLA will also conduct training for trainers to facilitate 
effective use of this guide by child welfare workers.
    CWLA's assessment instrument and decision-making guidelines for 
chemically-involved children and families will direct the vital first 
steps for child welfare professionals toward achieving increased safety 
to AOD-involved children and families. This instrument will not only 
outline a culturally competent, strengths-based substance abuse 
assessment tool, but also suggest new approaches to engaging families 
and addressing their needs. The casework, placement, and permanency 
planning options outlined in the guidelines will advance participatory 
decisionmaking models that result in family strengthening. Case plans 
that emphasize flexible options, encourage parents as partners in 
decisionmaking, involve extended family in caregiving, can promote the 
best interest of children and families.
    Training and technical assistance to child welfare professionals 
supported by this agreement will help to develop innovative and 
effective approaches to meeting the needs of children in the child 
welfare system whose parents are AOD abusers. The activities funded by 
this agreement will focus on developing, expanding, or enhancing 
initiatives that raise public awareness and educate child welfare 
workers and policymakers on the most appropriate services for children 
of substance abusing parents to prevent these children and youth from 
becoming AOD abusers.
    OJJDP funds will enable CWLA to produce a guidebook for top-level 
officials that describes current practices, models of innovation, and 
the policy choices faced in linking child welfare service agencies and 
their substance abuse counterparts. Also under consideration is 
increasing the number of sites in which CWLA will conduct training-of-
trainer sessions from the four sites and 100 workers approved under the 
cooperative agreement, to eight sites and 200 workers.
    This jointly funded project will be implemented by CWLA. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Diffusion of State Risk- and Protective-Factor Focused Prevention

    OJJDP is providing funds to the National Institute on Drug Abuse 
(NIDA), through an interagency agreement, to support this 5-year 
evaluation program. Fiscal year 1997 funds were used to begin this 
diffusion study of the natural history of the adoption, implementation, 
and effects of the public health approach to prevention, focusing on 
risk and protective factors for substance abuse at the State and 
community levels. The study seeks to identify phases and factors that 
influence the adoption of the public health approach and assess the 
association between the use of this approach for community prevention 
planning and the levels of risk and protective factors and substance 
abuse among adolescents.
    The study will also examine State substance abuse data gathered 
from 1988 through 2001 and use key informant interviews conducted in 
1997, 1999, and 2001 to identify and describe the process of 
implementing the epidemiological risk-and protective-factor approach in 
seven collaborating States: Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Maine, Oregon, 
Utah, and Washington.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Social 
Development Research Group at the University of Washington, School of 
Social Work. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With ADHD

    OJJDP will transfer funds under an interagency agreement with the 
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to fund this study. OJJDP's 
participation in this NIMH-sponsored research is designed to enhance 
and expand the project to include analysis of justice system contact on 
the part of the subjects. The study began in 1992, studying the long-
term efficacy of stimulant medication and intensive behavioral and 
educational treatment for children with attention deficit/hyperactivity 
disorder (ADHD). Originally funded for 5 years, this new round of 
funding would continue the six study sites for another 5 years, to 
2003. Given this continuation, many of the children involved in the 
study will reach the age at which children normally begin antisocial 
behavior. To date, no extensive study has examined the relationship 
between delinquency and ADHD.
    This expanded study, principally funded by NIMH, will follow the 
original study families and include a comparison group. With OJJDP 
support, the project sites are beginning to look at the subjects' 
delinquent behavior and legal system contact. This second funding cycle 
will include studies of substance use and antisocial behavior.
    OJJDP will support this study through an interagency agreement with 
the National Institute of Mental Health. No additional applications 
will be solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation of the Juvenile Mentoring Program

    The overall goals of the Part G Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) 
are the reduction of delinquency, gang participation, violence, and 
substance abuse and related behavior and the enhancement of educational 
opportunity, academic achievement, investments in school, and 
contribution to one's community. Translating these impact goals to 
outcome goals, the evaluation grantee will assess and measure the 
relative probability that JUMP mentees will reflect reductions in 
delinquency, gang participation, and associated negative behaviors and 
show improvements in school attendance, school completion, and academic 
performance.
    The evaluation objectives include assessing and measuring the 
extent to which the quality of the mentor-mentee relationship generates 
attitudes, values, and intermediary behavior that increase the 
probability of the positive outcomes cited as goals. A second objective 
includes assessing and measuring the attributes of mentor 
characteristics and behaviors that contribute most to the attainment of 
mentee results. Other objectives include ensuring that the evaluation 
instrument is optimally designed, worded, and configured; providing 
ongoing assistance to JUMP program grantees; implementing quality 
assurance for raw data received from JUMP grantees and assuring proper 
entry into the management information data base; preparing appropriate 
data analysis for each JUMP grantee; generating analyses of site-
specific findings; and preparing an aggregate analysis of 
implementation results and outcome data from all sites with special 
focus on attributable program effects and implications for replication.
    This evaluation is being conducted by Information Technology 
International under a 2-year grant that was competitively awarded in FY 
1997. The primary focus of the initial award is the original 41 JUMP 
program sites. OJJDP will extend the project period in FY 1998 with 
Part G funds for an additional 2 years in order to continue the 
original evaluation sites and expand the ongoing

[[Page 33154]]

evaluation to the 52 JUMP grants awarded to new sites in FY 1997. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

    Truancy often leads to dropping out of school, delinquency, and 
drug abuse. For many youth, truancy may be a first step to a lifetime 
of unemployment, crime, and incarceration.
    OJJDP is engaging in a joint funding effort with the U.S. 
Department of Education and the Executive Office for Weed and Seed to 
award competitive discretionary funds for jurisdictions to address the 
problem of truancy. OJJDP will be looking for schools and school 
districts to apply jointly with law enforcement, other juvenile justice 
system agencies, or community-based programs (such as Weed and Seed 
sites) to develop and implement a collaborative program designed to 
reduce truancy in their jurisdictions.

Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Program

Evaluation of Truancy Reduction Demonstration Program

    OJJDP will award a competitive grant for the first year of a 
proposed 3\1/2\-year evaluation process that will support 
implementation and assess the effect of a variety of truancy reduction 
programs. The evaluation will determine how community collaboration can 
impact truancy and lead to systemic reform and assist OJJDP in 
developing a community collaborative truancy reduction program model 
and identify the essential elements of that model.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Arts and At-Risk Youth

    The need for afterschool programs for youth at risk of delinquency 
is well-known. The opportunity to join an afterschool arts program that 
helps students develop their talents and abilities has been shown to 
help youth stay in school; receive higher grades; develop self-esteem; 
and resist peer pressure to engage in negative behaviors, such as 
substance and alcohol use, and other delinquent acts. Unfortunately, 
juveniles who are at greatest risk of delinquency are the ones who 
often have the least opportunity to join such programs because they are 
not available in their schools, neighborhoods, or communities. These 
youth have limited experiences both in the world of work and in job 
training skills. In addition, lack of conflict resolution skills makes 
it difficult for youth to retain jobs once they are employed because 
they are not well equipped to handle conflicts that may arise.
    OJJDP will be funding an afterschool and summer arts program that 
combines the arts with job training and conflict resolution skills. 
This project will include summer jobs or paid internships to enable 
youth to put into practice the job and conflict resolution skills they 
are learning. By combining the arts with practical life experiences, 
at-risk youth are able to gain valuable insights into their own 
abilities and the possibilities that await them in the world of work if 
they continue to attend school, study, and graduate.
    OJJDP is collaborating with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the 
Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program of the U.S. Department of Education, 
the National Endowment for the Arts, and the U.S. Department of Labor 
for this 2-year pilot project. OJJDP will award up to two competitive 
grants to develop and implement a strategy based on research, implement 
process evaluation, and create reports on the strengths and weaknesses 
of the pilot program.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Community Volunteer Coordinator Program

    OJJDP will fund noncompetitively the establishment of ``volunteer 
coordinators'' in three to five ongoing community-based initiative 
sites for the purpose of expanding the quality, sustainability, and 
number of safe and positive activities for young people during 
nonschool hours. Building on the work of the ``Presidents'' Summit for 
America's Future,'' OJJDP will seek partnerships with other Federal 
agencies to provide support to identified collaboratives that have 
demonstrated a clearly articulated plan for increasing volunteerism and 
representation from schools, law enforcement, city or county 
government, youth groups, and community-based organizations. Small 
grants will support the hiring of an individual in the community who 
will be responsible for inventorying programs; planning; and 
recruiting, connecting, and training volunteers to participate in a 
range of programs that provide youth services (mentoring, tutoring, 
neighborhood restoration, counseling, recreational activities, 
mediation services, media outreach, and other forms of community 
service for youth).

Learning Disabilities Among Juveniles at Risk of Delinquency or in 
the Juvenile Justice System

    Some researchers have concluded that children who have difficulties 
in school often become frustrated because of constant failure. Studies 
have shown that youth who have a learning disability (LD) are very 
likely to become truant or drop out of school rather than face the 
ridicule of their peers. The relationship between an LD and juvenile 
delinquency is complex.
    A learning disability is a neurological condition that impedes a 
person's ability to store, process, or produce information. Learning 
disabilities can affect the ability to read, write, speak, or compute 
math and can impair socialization skills. Individuals with LD's are 
generally of average or above average intelligence, but the disability 
creates a gap between ability and performance.
    School failure associated with learning disabilities is an 
important risk factor for juvenile delinquency. Whatever the presenting 
problem (e.g., abuse or neglect, truancy, or delinquency), a large 
percentage of children who come before the court have some specific 
learning disability that may have contributed, either directly or 
indirectly, to the behavior that led to their presence in court. A 
child with an LD is much more likely to come into contact with the 
juvenile justice system than one without an LD. The prevalence of LD in 
a population of juvenile delinquents is extremely high: approximately 
35 percent of all children in the juvenile justice system have an 
identified LD.
    To better address the needs of these youth, greater attention needs 
to be paid at a much younger age to the nature of learning 
disabilities, their impact on learning and the processing of 
information in and out of the classroom setting, and their relationship 
to dropping out and delinquency. Parents, schools, and the juvenile 
courts need to be more aware of this hidden handicap. These children 
could be helped if their disabilities were properly diagnosed and 
treated. Professionals who directly interact with the learning disabled 
need to share knowledge on how to identify and treat learning 
disabilities with juvenile justice system practitioners in order to 
reduce the number of system-

[[Page 33155]]

involved juveniles who are learning disabled and to retain them in the 
education mainstream.
    Although committed to addressing the increasing number of juveniles 
identified with learning disabilities, the Office will not fund a 
demonstration program in FY 1998 as described in the Proposed Plan. 
OJJDP will instead work with the U.S. Department of Education's Office 
of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services and the Office of 
Vocational and Adult Education to initiate a variety of activities, 
including development of a model demonstration program. Other 
activities this fiscal year will include a focus on developing programs 
designed to (1) prevent delinquency and incarceration of youth with 
learning disabilities through early assessment and intervention 
coordinated across school, police, court, probation, and other 
community-based services, and (2) reduce recidivism by juvenile 
offenders by ensuring that students with learning disabilities in 
correctional settings receive appropriate, specially designed 
instructional services that address individual needs.

Advertising Campaign--Investing in Youth for a Safer Future

    OJJDP will continue its support of the Crime Prevention Coalition 
of America ad campaign, ``Investing in Youth for A Safer Future,'' 
through the transfer of funds to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) 
under an Intra-agency Agreement. OJJDP and BJA are funding through a 
cooperative agreement the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) to 
produce, disseminate, and support public service advertising and 
related media that are designed to inform the public of effective 
solutions to juvenile crime and to motivate young people and adults to 
get involved and support these solutions. The featured solutions 
include effective prevention programs and intervention strategies.
    The program will be administered by BJA through its existing grant 
to NCPC. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Development of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders

    In FY 1995, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) 
and Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. (DRP), completed Phases I 
and II of a collaborative effort to support the development and 
implementation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, 
and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. This effort involved assessing existing 
and previously researched programs in order to identify effective and 
promising programs that can be used in implementing the Comprehensive 
Strategy. A series of reports were combined into the Guide for 
Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The effort also included convening the 
forum ``Guaranteeing Safe Passage: A National Forum on Youth 
Violence,'' holding two regional training seminars for key leaders on 
implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, and disseminating the Guide at 
national conferences.
    In FY 1996, Phase II work included two regional training seminars; 
the delivery of intensive training and technical assistance to three 
pilot sites--Lee County, Florida; Ducal County, Florida; and San Diego 
County, California; and the delivery of technical assistance to five 
States and selected local jurisdictions implementing the Comprehensive 
Strategy.
    In FY 1997, the project continued its targeted dissemination of 
OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic 
Juvenile Offenders at several national conferences and additional 
regional training seminars and continued providing the five States with 
intensive training for implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, 
providing individualized technical assistance to individual 
jurisdictions interested in implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, 
and continuing developmental work on Comprehensive Strategy training 
materials.
    In FY 1998, this project will continue the implementation efforts 
and expand to up to two additional States. In each of the new States, 
up to six jurisdictions will be identified to receive Comprehensive 
Strategy implementation training and technical assistance.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantees, NCCD and 
DRP. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Balanced and Restorative Justice Project (BARJ)

    Based on research showing that properly structured restitution 
programs can reduce recidivism, OJJDP has supported development and 
improvement of juvenile restitution programs since 1977. The BARJ 
project sprang from OJJDP's RESTTA (Restitution, Education, Specialized 
Training, and Technical Assistance) Project. In FY 1992, Florida 
Atlantic University (FAU) was awarded a competitive grant to enhance 
the development of restitution programs as part of systemwide juvenile 
justice improvement using balanced approach concepts and restorative 
justice principles. In subsequent years, the project developed a BARJ 
program model. The model was initially described in a 1994 OJJDP 
Program Summary entitled Balanced and Restorative Justice, which became 
a reference source for BARJ training.
    The BARJ project currently provides intensive training, technical 
assistance, and guideline materials to three selected sites that over 
recent years have been implementing major systemic change in accordance 
with the BARJ model. The three sites are Allegheny County, 
Pennsylvania; Dakota County, Minnesota; and West Palm Beach County, 
Florida. In addition, the BARJ Project has continuously offered 
technical assistance and training to other jurisdictions nationwide. 
Project staff have also provided training at regional roundtables and 
at professional conferences dealing with juvenile justice system 
improvement. In 1997, the project published another reference document 
entitled Balanced and Restorative Justice for Juveniles: A Framework 
for Juvenile Justice in the 21st Century. The project also compiled a 
BARJ Implementation Guide.
    In FY 1998, the BARJ Project will produce additional reference and 
training materials and will offer further training and technical 
assistance.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, FAU. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-
Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

    The 1992 Amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act addressed, for the first time, the issue of gender-
specific services. The Amendments require States participating in the 
JJDP Act's Part B State Formula Grants program to conduct an analysis 
of gender-specific services for the prevention and treatment of 
juvenile delinquency, including the types of services available, the 
need for such services, and a plan for providing needed gender-specific 
services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.
    In FY 1995, OJJDP's Gender-Specific Services program focused on 
providing training and technical assistance directly to States and 
promoting the

[[Page 33156]]

establishment of gender-specific programs at the State level. Training 
and technical assistance were provided to a broad spectrum of 
policymakers and service providers regarding services available for 
juvenile female offenders under direct grants, sponsorship of national 
conferences, and inclusion of a gender-specific service component in 
the OJJDP-funded comprehensive SafeFutures program.
    In FY 1996, building upon these past efforts, OJJDP awarded a 3-
year competitive grant to Greene, Peters and Associates (GPA) to 
provide a comprehensive framework for assisting policymakers, service 
providers, educators, parents, and the general public in addressing the 
complex needs of female adolescents who are at risk for delinquent 
behavior. The project's objectives are to develop and test a training 
curriculum for policymakers, advocacy organizations, and community-
based youth-serving organizations that conveys the need for effective 
gender-specific programming for juvenile females and the elements of 
such programs; to develop, test, and deliver a technical assistance 
package on the development of gender-specific programs; to inventory 
female-specific programs, identifying those program models designed to 
build upon the gender-specific needs of girls and preparing a monograph 
suitable for national dissemination; to design and test a curriculum 
for line staff delivering services to juvenile females; to design and 
implement a public education initiative on the need for gender-specific 
programming for girls; and to design and conduct training for trainers. 
In FY 1997, the training curriculum for policymakers, advocacy 
organizations, and community leaders was developed and pilot-tested at 
three sites, and a final draft of the monograph was completed.
    In FY 1998, GPA will develop a needs assessment for State Advisory 
Groups, develop a technical assistance package, and develop and test a 
curriculum for practitioners based on the monograph findings.
    This program will be implemented by the current grantee, GPA. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies

    In FY 1995, OJJDP competitively awarded two extensive studies of 
the increasing juvenile transfer phenomenon. Most States have passed 
new legislation either permitting or requiring the transfer of alleged 
juvenile offenders to criminal court under certain circumstances. 
However, studies of the impact of criminal court prosecution of 
juveniles have yielded mixed conclusions. Solid research on the 
intended and unintended consequences of transfer of juveniles to 
criminal court will enable policymakers and legislatures to develop 
statutory provisions and policies and improve judicial and 
prosecutorial waiver and transfer decisions. Preliminary findings from 
these two studies (along with other efforts started over the past 2 
years) have provided a wealth of information. The study undertaken in 
Florida has extensively examined the records of juveniles transferred 
to adult court along with similar juveniles who were not transferred, 
including case attribute information. Through this data collection, the 
research is bringing to light the differences in case handling and how 
these differences affect the outcome of the specific case. The 
differences in dispositions will naturally be a concern for many 
interested in the subject.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will increase the understanding of the transfer 
issues by expanding the Florida study to include a greater number of 
cases and to include some basic recidivism measures. The Florida study 
has relied mainly on paper records for the case information. Such 
records require considerable time and effort to review. As such, the 
number of cases included in the first phase of this study was 
relatively small. Expansion of this study will allow the researchers to 
examine a greater number of cases in the a wider range of jurisdictions 
in Florida resulting in a greater understanding of the issue based on 
how the dynamics of jurisdictions may differ. Also, by expanding the 
tracking of the case subjects to include arrests and court cases 
following transfer to adult court, the researchers will provide insight 
on the recidivism that follows transfer of jurisdiction.
    This project will be carried out by the current grantee, the 
Juvenile Justice Advisory Board of the State of Florida. No new 
applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Replication and Extension of Fagan Transfer Study

    The ``Comparative Impact of Juvenile Versus Criminal Court 
Sanctions on Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony Offenders: A 
Replication and Extension'' project will continue in FY 1998, building 
on the past work of Dr. Jeffrey Fagan. In FY 1997, OJJDP awarded a two-
year project period grant to Columbia University to build on Dr. 
Fagan's seminal study of 1986 transfers in New York and New Jersey. The 
earlier study was the first of its kind to compare four contiguous 
counties with similar social, economic, and criminogenic factors and 
offender cohorts with essentially identical offense profiles. It was 
also the first such study to go beyond comparing sentences to studying 
the deterrent effects of the sanction and court jurisdiction on 
recidivism rates in juvenile versus criminal court.
    The replication and extension research project will be able to 
answer questions about how case processing decisions have changed in 
the last decade. The new study will compare case attribute information 
and case dispositional outcomes in 1981-82 with those cases processed 
in 1993-94, a time period following sustained growth in the rates of 
youth violence. In addition, a study component under the direction of 
Dr. Barry Feld will explore whether there are factors being considered 
by prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys that explain the 
variation in sentences/dispositions and recidivism between groups of 
offenders handled in different systems. This component will provide an 
analysis of the organizational, contextual, or systemic factors 
involved in the decision processes affecting both jurisdiction and 
punishment. The study will also conduct interviews with selected 
offenders processed in different systems to gain a perspective on the 
impact of criminal versus juvenile system handling of such cases on 
further experiences with the justice system. The project will also 
collaborate with the other research conducted under OJJDP's Juvenile 
Transfers to Criminal Court Studies program in sharing data collection 
instruments and in planning appropriate joint analyses.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Columbia 
University. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

    OJJDP has historically supported prosecutor training through the 
National District Attorneys Association (NDAA). This training has 
increased the involvement and leadership of elected and appointed 
prosecutors in juvenile justice systems issues, programs, and services. 
To continue that progress, OJJDP funded a 3-year project period grant 
in FY 1996 to the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), the 
research and technical assistance affiliate of NDAA, to promote 
prosecutor training. Under this award, APRI established a Juvenile 
Justice Prosecution Unit (JJPU). The JJPU holds workshops on juvenile-
related policy,

[[Page 33157]]

leadership, and management for chief prosecutors and juvenile unit 
chiefs and also provides prosecutors with background information on 
juvenile justice issues, programs, training, and technical assistance.
    The project solicits planning and other advisory input from 
prosecutors familiar with juvenile justice system and prosecutor needs. 
It draws on the expertise of working groups of elected or appointed 
prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs to support project staff in 
providing technical assistance, juvenile justice-related research, 
program information, and training to practitioners nationwide. In FY 
1997, for example, APRI held two executive seminars for prosecutors and 
sponsored a National Invitational Symposium on Juvenile Justice. The 
Symposium provided a forum for prosecutors to exchange ideas on 
programs, issues, legislation, and practices in juvenile justice. APRI 
has also produced materials focused on juvenile prosecution-related 
issues for the benefit of prosecutors nationally.
    In FY 1998, APRI will present additional workshops and seminars and 
will develop new reference materials for prosecutors. Included in the 
documents expected to be developed will be a compendium of juvenile 
justice programs conducted by prosecutors offices, technical assistance 
packages related to significant juvenile justice programs and issues of 
interest to prosecutors, and newsletters updating developments in the 
juvenile prosecution field.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, APRI. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Due Process Advocacy Program Development

    In FY 1993, OJJDP competitively funded the American Bar Association 
(ABA) to determine the status of juvenile defense services in the 
United States, develop a report, and then develop training and 
technical assistance. The ABA-- along with its partners, the Youth Law 
Center of San Francisco, California, and the Juvenile Law Center of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--conducted an extensive survey of public 
defender offices, court-appointed systems, law school clinics, and the 
literature. These data were then analyzed and a report, entitled A Call 
for Justice, was developed and published in December 1995.
    The ABA has also developed and delivered specialized training to 
juvenile defenders in several jurisdictions, such as the State of 
Maryland, the State of Tennessee, Baltimore County, Maryland, and 
several other States and localities, to assist in increasing the 
capacity of juvenile defenders to provide more effective defense 
services. In October 1997, the ABA and its partners organized and 
implemented the first Juvenile Defender Summit at Northwestern 
University in Chicago, Illinois. The Summit brought together public 
defenders, court-appointed lawyers, law school clinic directors, 
juvenile offender services representatives, and others for a 2\1/2\-day 
meeting to examine the issues related to juvenile defense services and 
recommend strategies for improving these services. A report is 
forthcoming on the Summit and the recommendations that emerged from the 
seven working groups.
    OJJDP will fund the establishment of a Juvenile Defender Training, 
Technical Assistance, and Resource Center in FY 1998, to be operational 
in early FY 1999. To ensure that training and technical assistance 
continue in the interim and into 1999 and to provide for the transition 
to the new Juvenile Defender Center, OJJDP will continue the Due 
Process Advocacy grant for an additional year.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
American Bar Association. No new applications will be solicited in FY 
1998.

Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) Evaluation

    In FY 1997, OJJDP funded an impact evaluation of the Quantum 
Opportunities Program (QOP)through an interagency fund transfer to the 
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). QOP was designed by the Ford Foundation 
and Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America as a career 
enrichment program using a model providing basic education. Personal 
and cultural development, community service, and mentoring. The purpose 
of the OJJDP funding for the evaluation is to determine whether QOP 
reduces the likelihood that inner-city youth at educational risk will 
enter the criminal justice system, including the juvenile justice 
system. The QOP impact evaluation is designed to measure the impact of 
QOP participation on such outcomes as high school graduation and 
enrollment in postsecondary education and training. Other student 
outcomes to be examined include academic achievement in high school; 
misbehavior in school; self-esteem and sense of control over one's 
life; educational and career goals; and personal decisions such as 
teenage parenthood, substance abuse, and criminal activity. Data on 
criminal activity is being collected from individual student 
interviews.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue this enhancement to the DOL-funded 
evaluation to provide for the collection of analogous data from the 
juvenile justice system, thus allowing estimates of the impact of the 
QOP program on the likelihood of program youth becoming involved in the 
criminal justice system. Attention would be focused on identifying the 
appropriate governmental agencies responsible for the data, dealing 
with confidentiality requirements, determining the feasibility of 
collecting such information, preparing data collection protocols for 
each site, and preparing a report outlining the data collection design 
for implementation.
    This program will be implemented through an interagency agreement 
with the U.S. Department of Labor. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical 
Assistance Program

    This initiative is designed to support implementation, training and 
technical assistance, and an independent evaluation of an intensive 
community-based aftercare model in four jurisdictions that were 
competitively selected to participate in this demonstration program. 
The overall goal of the intensive aftercare model is to identify and 
assist high-risk juvenile offenders to make a gradual transition from 
secure confinement back into the community. The Intensive Aftercare 
Program (IAP) model can be viewed as having three distinct, yet 
overlapping segments: (1) prerelease and preparatory planning 
activities during incarceration; (2) structured transitioning involving 
the participation of institutional and aftercare staffs both prior to 
and following community reentry; and (3) long-term reintegrative 
activities to ensure adequate service delivery and the required level 
of social control.
    In FY 1995, the Johns Hopkins University received a competitively 
awarded 3-year grant to test its intensive community-based aftercare 
model in four demonstration sites: Denver (Metro area), Colorado; Clark 
County (Las Vegas), Nevada; Camden and Newark, New Jersey; and Norfolk, 
Virginia.
    The Johns Hopkins University has contracted with California State 
University at Sacramento to assist in the implementation process by 
providing training and technical assistance and by making OJJDP funds 
available through

[[Page 33158]]

contracts to each of the four demonstration sites.
    Each of the sites developed risk assessment instruments for use in 
selecting high-risk youth who need this type of intensive aftercare, 
hired and trained staff in the intensive aftercare model, identified 
existing and needed community support (intervention) services, and 
identified and collected data necessary for the independent evaluation 
of the intensive community-based aftercare program. In accordance with 
a strong experimental research design, each of the sites uses a system 
of random assignment of clients to the program.
    The Johns Hopkins University and California State University at 
Sacramento have provided continuing training and technical assistance 
to administrators, managers, and line staff at the intensive community-
based aftercare sites. Staff have been fully trained in the theoretical 
underpinnings of the IAP model and in its practical applications, such 
as techniques for identifying juveniles appropriate for the program. 
Training and technical assistance in this model have also been made 
available to other States and OJJDP grantees on a limited basis.
    This effort is the first attempt to implement an intensive, 
integrated approach to aftercare with the necessary transition and 
reentry components. One more year of program operation and data 
collection would provide the information and data needed for analysis 
of the effectiveness of the IAP model. The National Council on Crime 
and Delinquency is performing an evaluation under a separate grant.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide a fourth year of funding to the 
Johns Hopkins University to provide ongoing training and technical 
assistance to three of the four selected sites. (One of the four sites, 
New Jersey, has discontinued its participation in the demonstration.) 
This fourth year of funding will also expand aftercare technical 
assistance services to include jurisdictions participating in the 
OJJDP/Department of the Interior Youth Environmental Service (YES) 
initiative, OJJDP's six SafeFutures program sites, and other programs, 
including the New York State Division for Youth's Youth Leadership 
Academy in Albany, New York. In addition, the grantee will work with 
selected States that plan to implement the IAP model with State funds.
    The IAP project will be implemented by the current grantee, the 
Johns Hopkins University. No additional applications will be solicited 
in FY 1998.

Evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program

    In FY 1995, OJJDP competitively awarded a 3-year grant to the 
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) to perform a process 
evaluation and design an outcome evaluation of the Intensive Community-
Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance program. In FY 
1997, the project was extended an additional year to begin the outcome 
evaluation.
    The purpose of the outcome evaluation is to answer the following 
key research questions: (1) To what extent is the nature of supervision 
and services provided Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Program (IAP) 
youth different from that given to ``regular'' parolees? (2) To what 
extent does IAP have an impact on the subsequent delinquent or criminal 
involvement of program participants? (3) To what extent does the IAP 
have an impact on the specific areas of youth functioning that it 
targets for intervention? These intermediate outcomes include, for 
example, reduction of substance abuse, improved family functioning, 
improved peer relationships, improved self-concept, and reduced 
delinquent or criminal behavior. (4) To what extent is IAP cost-
effective?
    To obtain the answers to these questions, NCCD is (1) using a true 
experimental design that will involve random assignment of IAP-eligible 
youth to either the experimental or control conditions; (2) using a 
series of measures to compare differences between the two groups in 
terms of services delivered, prepost changes in selected areas of youth 
functioning, and the extent and nature of recidivism; and (3) 
estimating the per-participant costs for the IAP and control groups.
    Data collection is being accomplished using several methods, 
including use of a series of forms developed to capture data on youth 
and program characteristics and a battery of standardized testing 
instruments administered before and after institutional commitment and 
IAP to measure the changes in youth functioning. The grantee is also 
conducting searches of State agency and State police records to measure 
recidivism and analyzing State agency and juvenile court data to 
estimate costs.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCCD. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To 
Reduce Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Ann 
Wysinger Memorial Program)

    National data and studies have shown that minority children are 
overrepresented in secure juvenile and criminal justice facilities 
across the country. Since the 1988 reauthorization of the JJDP Act, 
State Formula Grants program plans have addressed the disproportionate 
confinement of minority juveniles. This is accomplished by gathering 
and analyzing data to determine whether minority juveniles are 
disproportionately confined and, if so, designing strategies to address 
this issue. A competitive Special Emphasis discretionary grant program 
was developed in FY 1991 to demonstrate model approaches to addressing 
disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) in five State pilot sites 
(Arizona, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and Oregon). Funds were also 
awarded to a national contractor to provide technical assistance to 
assist both the pilot sites and other States, evaluate their efforts, 
and share relevant information.
    In FY's 1994 and 1995, OJJDP made additional Special Emphasis 
discretionary funds available to nonpilot States that had completed 
data gathering and assessment in order to provide initial funding for 
innovative projects designed to address DMC.
    These efforts to address DMC have yielded an important lesson: that 
systemic, broad-based interventions are necessary to address the issue. 
In recognition of the continued need to improve the ability of States 
and local jurisdictions to address DMC, OJJDP issued a competitive 
solicitation in FY 1997 for innovative proposals to implement a 3-year 
national training, technical assistance, and information dissemination 
initiative focused on the disproportionate confinement of minority 
youth.
    In FY 1997, through a competitive selection process, OJJDP awarded 
a 3-year contract to implement the DMC training program to Cygnus 
Corporation, Inc. Project objectives for the first year were (1) to 
disseminate to States, localities, OJJDP staff, and key OJJDP grantees 
a review and synthesis of the existing knowledge base and research on 
DMC that includes State and local practices designed to address DMC; 
(2) to develop a training curriculum for policymakers, decisionmakers, 
and practitioners in the juvenile justice system; (3) to develop and 
deliver technical assistance to OJJDP grantees

[[Page 33159]]

and to incorporate DMC issues, practices, and policies; (4) to develop 
and begin the process of assisting DMC grantees to implement and 
institutionalize their DMC programs; (5) to collaborate with OJJDP's 
Formula Grants program technical assistance contractor, Community 
Research Associates, and OJJDP staff to help States improve their DMC 
compliance plans and their strategic planning as it addresses DMC; (6) 
to plan, develop, and implement a national dissemination and education 
effort to facilitate development of effective DMC efforts at the State 
and local levels; and (7) to convene an advisory group to support the 
project team on current DMC policy, practice and progress.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Cygnus 
Corporation, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 
1998.

Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Management Staff

    This training program for juvenile corrections and detention 
management staff began in FY 1991 under a 3-year interagency agreement 
with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). The program offers a 
core curriculum for juvenile corrections and detention administrators 
and midlevel management personnel in such areas as leadership 
development, management, training of trainers, legal issues, cultural 
diversity, the role of the victim in juvenile corrections, juvenile 
programming for specialized-need offenders, and managing the violent or 
disruptive offender. Because of the continuing need for the executive 
level training NIC provides, the agreement was renewed for an 
additional 3-year term in FY 1994 and renewed again in FY 1997 for a 2-
year term. In FY 1997, NIC conducted 8 training seminars, 2 workshops, 
1 satellite video conference and made 14 technical assistance awards, 
reaching more than 6,000 participants.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will continue to support the development and 
implementation of a comprehensive training program for juvenile 
corrections and detention management staff through the interagency 
agreement with NIC. It is anticipated that in FY 1998 the project will 
provide 6 seminars to more than 150 executives and management staff and 
technical assistance related to training to a number of juvenile 
corrections and detention agencies. The training is conducted at the 
NIC Academy and regionally.
    The program will be implemented by the current grantee, NIC. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

    Training is a cost-effective tool for helping to improve conditions 
of confinement and services for youth detained or confined in 
residential facilities. In FY 1994, the National Juvenile Detention 
Association (NJDA) was awarded a competitive 3-year project period 
grant to establish a training program to meet the needs of the more 
than 38,000 line staff serving juvenile detention and corrections 
facilities. In FY 1995 and FY 1996, NJDA developed eight training 
curriculums, including a corrections careworker curriculum and a train-
the-trainer curriculum. In addition, NJDA conducted 42 separate 
trainings, developed lesson plans, and provided technical assistance to 
juvenile justice agencies.
    In FY 1997, NJDA received its final year of funding under the grant 
to provide training and technical assistance services to State agencies 
and organizations in 16 States, assist regional groups and local 
organizations, directly train nearly 700 line staff, and respond to 
telephone requests for technical assistance services. NJDA also 
established Web site connections with OJJDP, the American Correctional 
Association, and other organizations. A community college in Michigan 
is adapting two of the NJDA curriculums, Juvenile Detention Careworker 
Curriculum and Juvenile Corrections Careworker Curriculum, for academic 
credit.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will award a grant to NJDA under the new Juvenile 
Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program. This project, 
Accountability-Based Training for Staff in Juvenile Confinement 
Facilities, will emphasize accountability, competency development, and 
community protection and restoration in its curriculums. These goals 
are driving forces behind the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, 
Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders and the Balanced and 
Restorative Justice Model in current juvenile justice policy. 
Accountability-based interventions can change juvenile offenders 
through healthy relationships with healthy adults. Staff training 
remains the most cost-effective strategy of integrating these 
principles within juvenile confinement and custody facilities.
    In formal partnership with the National Association of Juvenile 
Correctional Agencies, Juvenile Justice Trainers Association, and the 
School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, NJDA's goals 
for FY 1998 include the delivery of line staff training and technical 
assistance, conducting training evaluation in conjunction with the 
National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) protocols, 
providing pilot training for trainers, developing action plans for two 
new curriculums, drafting line staff professional development models, 
and disseminating training materials and services through the NTTAC and 
the Internet.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NJDA. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional 
Teams To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

    The Conditions of Confinement: Juvenile Detention and Correctional 
Facilities Research Report (1994), completed by Abt Associates under an 
OJJDP grant, identified overcrowding as the most urgent problem facing 
juvenile corrections and detention facilities. Overcrowding in juvenile 
facilities is a function of decisions and policies made at the State 
and local levels. The trend toward increased use of detention and 
commitment to State facilities, which has been seen in many 
jurisdictions, has been reversed when key decisionmakers, such as the 
chief judge, chief of police, director of the local detention facility, 
head of the State juvenile correctional agency, and others who affect 
the flow of juveniles through the system, agree to make decisions 
collaboratively and modify existing practices and policies. In some 
instances, modification has occurred in response to court orders. 
Compliance with court orders can be improved with the support of 
enhanced interagency communication and planning among those agencies 
impacting the flow of juveniles through the system.
    In addressing the problem of overcrowded facilities, OJJDP 
considered the recommendations of the Conditions of Confinement study 
regarding overcrowding, the data on overrepresentation of minority 
youth in confinement, and other information that suggests crowding in 
juvenile facilities is a national problem. Policymakers can address 
this issue by increasing capacity, where necessary, or by taking other 
steps to control crowding.
    This project, competitively awarded to the National Juvenile 
Detention Association (NJDA) (in partnership with the San Francisco 
Youth Law Center) in FY 1994 for a 3-year project period,

[[Page 33160]]

provides training and technical assistance materials for use by State 
and local jurisdictional teams. After information collection and 
preparation of training and technical assistance materials in FY's 1994 
and 1995, NJDA selected three jurisdictions in FY 1996 for onsite 
development, implementation, and testing of procedures to reduce 
crowding. The sites are Camden, New Jersey; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 
and the Rhode Island Juvenile Corrections System. In FY 1997, project 
accomplishments included the following: (1) development of a resource 
guide, Juvenile Detention and Training School Crowding: Court Case 
Summaries, and a training tool, ``Crowding in Juvenile Detention 
Centers: A Problem-Solving Manual'' (in draft); (2) delivery of 
comprehensive technical assistance to two detention centers and limited 
technical assistance to two State juvenile corrections systems; and (3) 
training presentations to the National Council of Juvenile and Family 
Court Judges and other groups.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will award continuation funding to NJDA to 
continue efforts to reduce overcrowding in facilities where juveniles 
are held, through systemic change within local juvenile detention 
systems or statewide juvenile corrections systems. Among the specific 
activities planned for FY 1998 are (1) publication of a special edition 
of the NJDA Journal for Juvenile Justice and Detention focused 
exclusively on jurisdictional teamwork to reduce overcrowding in 
juvenile detention and corrections (jurisdictional teams consist of 
designated NJDA/Youth Law Center project staff working with key 
juvenile justice officials in the sites selected for technical 
assistance); (2) completion of a strategy to deliver comprehensive 
technical assistance to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Agency; 
(3) identification of additional sites for comprehensive training and 
technical assistance; (4) development of a desktop guide on juvenile 
facility overcrowding; (5) further refinement of the jurisdictional 
team training and technical assistance package; (6) development of a 
national videoconference on crowding issues; (7) education and 
information dissemination to the juvenile justice community; and (8) 
exploration of public/private partnerships.
    This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NJDA. No 
additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

National Program Directory

    In FY 1998, OJJDP proposes to support the maintenance of this 
directory that identifies and categorizes juvenile justice agencies, 
facilities, and programs in the United States to allow for routine 
statistical data collections covering these agencies and programs. The 
directory project has developed lists of juvenile detention, 
correctional, and shelter facilities. This list, which includes all 
public and private facilities that can hold juveniles who are in the 
juvenile justice system in a residential setting (i.e., with sleeping, 
eating, and other necessary facilities), has served as the frame for 
OJJDP's Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement and would serve as 
the frame for OJJDP's Juvenile Residential Facility Census. The 
directory project has also begun development of a list of juvenile 
probation offices to serve as the frame for OJJDP's Survey of Juvenile 
Probation.
    Beyond developing the computer structure, this project developed 
the actual sampling frame or address list. The development of complete 
frames for any segment of the juvenile justice system required many 
different approaches. The Census Bureau used contacts with professional 
organizations to compile a preliminary list of juvenile facilities, 
courts, probation offices, and programs. The Census Bureau will seek 
contacts in each State for further clarification of the lists, 
following up until a complete list of all programs of interest has been 
compiled.
    This program will be continued in FY 1998 through an interagency 
agreement with the Census Bureau. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Interagency Programs on Mental Health and Juvenile Justice

    In October 1996, OJJDP convened a Mental Health/Juvenile Justice 
Working Group to discuss the mental health needs of juveniles and to 
suggest funding priorities for OJJDP. In the 1997 program planning 
process, OJJDP determined that with the minimal resources available it 
would be cost effective to support several ongoing programs funded by 
other Federal agencies that were consistent with the recommended areas 
of activity. OJJDP therefore transferred funds to three Federal 
agencies to support the enhancement of juvenile justice components or 
research on at-risk youth in the mental health area.
    First, OJJDP transferred funds to the Center for Mental Health 
Services (CMHS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to 
support a 3-year effort to provide technical assistance to the 31 
existing CMHS Child Mental Health sites. The project period began on 
October 1, 1997, and will end on September 30, 2000. These funds will 
be used to strengthen the capacity of the existing sites by providing 
technical assistance on mental health services for juveniles in the 
juvenile justice system and by including them in the continuum of care 
that is being created in the sites.
    OJJDP also transferred funds to the National Institute of 
Corrections (NIC), which, along with the Substance Abuse and Mental 
Health Services Administration, supports a program to provide technical 
assistance with regard to programming and services for juvenile 
offenders with co-occurring disorders. This is also a 3-year project 
period that began on October 1, 1997, and will end on September 30, 
2000. NIC will supplement the existing technical assistance provider, 
the GAINS Center, to enable it to devote technical assistance resources 
to support improved treatment and services programs for juvenile 
offenders with co-occurring disorders in the juvenile justice system. 
Previously, the focus of the grant had been on the provision of 
technical assistance to the adult system.
    Finally, OJJDP transferred funds to the National Institute of 
Mental Health (NIMH) to partially support additional costs associated 
with the conduct of an expanded and extended followup study of various 
treatment modalities for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) 
in children. The expanded followup will assess substance abuse and use 
and related factors necessary for evaluating changes in ADHD children's 
risk for subsequent substance use and abuse attributable to their 
randomly assigned treatment conditions. In addition, the multimodal 
treatment study of children with ADHD affords the opportunity to assess 
the experience of study participants with the legal system, e.g., 
contacts with the juvenile justice system, acts of delinquency, court 
referrals, and other criminal and/or precriminal activities.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will transfer additional funds to support 
continuation of the NIC and CMHS technical assistance and the training 
and research of NIMH. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Juvenile Residential Facility Census

    In 1998, OJJDP will fund the development and testing of a new 
census of juvenile residential facilities.

[[Page 33161]]

This census will focus on those facilities that are authorized to hold 
juveniles based on contact with the juvenile justice system. During FY 
1997, the project conducted an extensive series of interviews with 
facility administrators and facility staff onsite at 20 locations. The 
subjects covered in these interviews included education, mental health 
and substance abuse treatment, health services, conditions of custody, 
staffing, and facility capacity. From these interviews, the project 
staff have produced an extensive and detailed report for OJJDP 
discussing how best to capture information on these topics and has 
produced a draft questionnaire based on these results.
    In FY 1998, the project staff will refine the draft instrument and 
test it through a series of cognitive interviews onsite at 
approximately 25 facilities. After another round of revision and 
comment, the questionnaire will be tested for feasibility by conducting 
a sample survey of 500 facilities. Again, the questionnaire will go 
through a round of revision based on the test results before being 
finalized.
    This project will be conducted through an interagency agreement 
with the Bureau of the Census, Governments Division and Statistical 
Research Division. No new applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97

    OJJDP will support the second round of data collection under the 
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 (NLSY97) through an 
interagency agreement with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In 
1994, BLS began its design and development work for a new National 
Longitudinal Survey of Youth, similar to the ongoing National 
Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Under the NLSY97, a nationally 
representative sample of 10,000 youth ages 12 to 17 years old was 
selected in order to study the school-to-work transition. However, BLS 
has acknowledged the importance of collecting additional data on the 
involvement of these youth in antisocial and other behavior that may 
affect their successful transition to productive work careers.
    The breadth of topics covered by this survey provides a rich and 
complementary source of information about risk and protective factors 
that are also related to the initiation, persistence and desistance of 
delinquent and criminal behavior. This interagency agreement 
supplements the data collection by asking questions about delinquency, 
guns, drug sales, and violent behavior. In addition to generating the 
first national, cross sectional, estimates of self-reported delinquency 
since the late National Youth Survey of the early 1980's, this new 
longitudinal survey will also provide an opportunity to determine the 
generalizability of the findings from OJJDP's Program of Research on 
the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency and other city-specific 
longitudinal studies across a nationally representative population of 
youth.
    The program will be implemented by the BLS under an interagency 
agreement. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative

    In FY 1998, OJJDP, in partnership with the U.S. Department of 
Labor's (DOL's) Employment and Training Administration, will provide 
funding support to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for demonstration 
and evaluation of the TeenSupreme Career Preparation Initiative. DOL 
will provide $2.5 million to support the program, and OJJDP will 
provide $250,000 to support the initial costs of the evaluation. This 
initiative will provide employment training and other related services 
to at-risk youth through local Boys & Girls Clubs with TeenSupreme 
Centers. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America currently has 41 TeenSupreme 
Centers in local clubs around the country and may consider expanding 
the number of centers in 1998. DOL funds will support program staffing 
in the existing 41 TeenSupreme Centers and provide intensive training 
and technical assistance to each site. These funds will also be used by 
the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide administrative and 
staffing support to this program from the national office. OJJDP funds 
will be used to support the evaluation component of the program. Boys & 
Girls Clubs of America will contract with an independent evaluator to 
evaluate the program.
    This jointly funded Department of Labor and OJJDP initiative will 
be implemented by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. No additional 
applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Technical Assistance to Native Americans

    American Indian programs for juveniles are facing increasing 
pressures because of the growing number of youth who are involved in 
drug abuse, gang activity, and delinquency. Many reservations are 
experiencing the problems that plague communities nationwide: gang 
activity, violent crime, use of weapons, and increasing drug and 
alcohol abuse.
    From FY 1992 to FY 1995, OJJDP funded four American Indian sites to 
support the development of community-based programs to deal with these 
problems. These sites were the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona; 
the Navajo Nation Chinle District in Arizona; the Red Lake Ojibwe in 
Minnesota; and the Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico. Each of these 
communities implemented programs specifically designed to meet the 
needs of the tribe. For example, in Gila River, an alternative school 
was developed and implemented. The Navajo Nation expanded the Peace 
Maker program to accommodate additional delinquent offenders, an 
approach that was adopted by the Red Lake and Pueblo of Jemez 
communities. Additional programming, such as job skills development, 
was also initiated in some of these communities to meet the needs of 
tribal youth. Although these programs were well received, the sites 
also needed to expand programming options such as gang and drug 
prevention and intervention programs.
    In FY 1997, American Indian Development Associates (AIDA) was 
selected to implement OJJDP's national technical assistance program for 
tribes and urban tribal programs across the country. This 3-year 
program will support the development of additional program options for 
the four tribes previously funded and extend technical assistance to 
tribal communities and urban tribal programs nationwide. AIDA initially 
developed a needs assessment instrument and provided other technical 
assistance to Juvenile Detention Facilities in Indian Country under an 
agreement to support the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Corrections 
Program Office's project with the Gila River and Yankton Tribes. AIDA 
also facilitated team learning activities during the Arizona Indian 
Youth Gang Prevention Conference, coordinated the First Native American 
Juvenile Justice Summit, and provided technical assistance to Indian 
tribes on behalf of OJJDP, the Office of Tribal Justice, and the OJP 
Indian Desk.
    In FY 1998, AIDA will continue to provide technical assistance to 
American Indian and Alaskan Native communities. Technical assistance 
will enable the tribes to further develop alternatives to detention, 
specifically targeting juveniles who are first or nonviolent offenders; 
design guidebooks for the tribal peacemaking process to be used in 
addressing juvenile delinquency issues that are reported to Family 
District Court systems; design and

[[Page 33162]]

implement juvenile justice needs assessments to assist tribes in 
responding to juvenile detention and alternatives to detention needs; 
develop protocols to implement State Children's Code provisions that 
affect Native American Children; establish sustainable, comprehensive 
community-based planning processes that focus on the needs of tribal 
youth; plan and conduct juvenile justice training seminars; and assist 
John Jay College of Criminal Justice to design and develop a Tribal 
Justice Training and Technical Assistance Workshop under OJJDP's Law 
Enforcement Training Contract. The workshop will emphasize juvenile 
probation, serious habitual offenders, and tribal youth gangs.
    This program will be implemented by the current grantee, American 
Indian Development Associates. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Youth Court: A Training and Technical Assistance Delivery Program

    OJJDP considers teen courts, also called peer or youth courts, to 
be a promising mechanism for holding juvenile offenders accountable for 
their actions while promoting avenues for positive youth development. 
Teen courts are included as a promising early intervention program in 
OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic 
Juvenile Offenders.
    To encourage the use of teen court programs to address problems 
associated with delinquency, substance abuse, and traffic safety, OJJDP 
provided funding in FY 1996 to supplement the existing Teen Court 
Program of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The NHTSA grant was awarded 
in FY 1994 for a 3-year project period to the American Probation and 
Parole Association (APPA) to develop a teen court guide and provide 
training and technical assistance to develop or enhance teen court 
programs. This NHTSA grant was supplemented with OJJDP FY 1996 and FY 
1997 funds to support the development of the joint publication Peer 
Justice and Youth Empowerment: An Implementation Guide for Teen Court 
Programs and to provide an expanded technical assistance capacity.
    The national response to APPA's training and technical assistance 
and to the Guide has been very enthusiastic. A second printing of the 
Guide will be available later this year. NHTSA and OJJDP have received 
numerous requests to provide additional training seminars and technical 
assistance based on the Guide.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP is collaborating with NHTSA, HHS, and the 
Department of Education, to enhance the training seminars with 
information on the possibility of teen courts being used as an integral 
part of balanced and restorative justice initiatives and to help 
address the growing problem of children who are being suspended and 
expelled from school because of misbehavior, including misbehavior 
related to learning problems. These activities will complement current 
training on the use of teen courts to address youth possession and use 
of alcohol and marijuana, issues of particular interest to these 
agencies. Technical assistance will be provided to selected 
jurisdictions with site-specific strategic planning for the program 
organizers on developing, implementing, or enhancing teen court 
programs, particularly in school-related areas. OJJDP will award a 
competitive grant under the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block 
Grants program to implement a 2-year training and technical assistance 
program.

School Safety Training and Technical Assistance

    Since 1984, OJJDP and the U.S. Department of Education have 
provided joint funding to the National School Safety Center to promote 
safe schools--free of crime and violence through training and technical 
assistance and the dissemination of information. This initiative has 
focused national attention on cooperative solutions to problems that 
disrupt the educational process. Because an estimated 3 million 
incidents of crime occur in America's schools each year, it is clear 
that this problem continues to plague many schools, threatening 
students' safety and undermining the learning environment. OJJDP will 
continue this partnership with the Department of Education by issuing a 
competitive solicitation for a cooperative agreement with a private 
nonprofit organization to provide training and technical assistance to 
communities and school districts across the country. It is expected 
that these activities will be closely coordinated with the ongoing 
review of literature, research, and evaluation of school-based 
demonstration efforts being undertaken by the Hamilton Fish National 
Institute on School and Community Violence with OJJDP FY 1998 funding 
support.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Disproportionate Minority Confinement

    OJJDP is interested in exploring additional work in the area of 
disproportionate minority confinement in secure detention or 
correctional facilities, adult jails and lockups, and other secure 
institutional facilities. The proposed work will include a variety of 
activities, including--but not limited to--demonstration programs, 
national education efforts, and local program evaluations.
    Disproportionate minority representation in secure juvenile 
facilities and other institutions is a major problem facing the 
juvenile justice system. While minorities represent 32 percent of the 
juvenile population ages 12 to 17, they represent 68 percent of the 
confined juvenile population.
    OJJDP has previously funded programs designed to assist and enable 
States to identify strategies to address the overrepresentation of 
minority juveniles, including an evaluation of a county juvenile 
court's efforts to reduce minority overrepresentation. Similar efforts, 
particularly those that offer conceptual, indepth, capacity-building 
will help to ensure that minority juvenile offenders receive 
appropriate treatment at all stages of the juvenile justice system 
process. OJJDP will join the Rockefeller Foundation, Annie E. Casey 
Foundation, Open Society Institute, California Wellness Foundation, and 
the Bureau of Justice Assistance in making funds available to the Youth 
Law Center to support the initiative Building Blocks For Youth, a 3-
year effort to promote a comprehensive approach to addressing the 
problem of disproportionate incarceration of minority youth in the 
juvenile justice system. The initiative provides a five-pronged 
strategy based on research and targeted at policies and attitudes that 
contribute to differential treatment of minority youth. It supports the 
Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce 
Disproportionate Minority Confinement program being implemented by 
Cygnus Corporation and OJJDP's Formula Grants technical assistance 
provider and its ongoing efforts to reduce DMC.

Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections

    OJJDP will provide support for arts programs for youth in juvenile 
detention centers and corrections facilities through the establishment 
of artist-in-residence programs. This initiative will increase 
awareness of opportunities to

[[Page 33163]]

establish visual, performing, media, and literacy artist-in-residence 
programs in juvenile detention centers and corrections facilities.
    OJJDP will encourage the development of these programs by convening 
interested arts organizations and juvenile justice agencies for the 
purpose of providing training in arts program development to one 
demonstration site and three enhancement sites.
    OJJDP will be collaborating with the NEA and will issue a 
competitive solicitation in FY 1998. The awarded grantees will receive 
training and technical assistance support over the duration of the 
grant through a provider selected by NEA and OJJDP.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

``Circles of Care''--A Program To Develop Strategies To Serve 
Native American Youth With Mental Health and Substance Abuse Needs

    The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse 
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is developing a 
Guidance for Federal Applicants that will result in the funding of a 3-
year program to 6-8 sites to plan and develop systems of care for 
American Indian youth who are seriously emotionally disturbed and/or 
substance abusers. The grantees will engage in a structured process to 
plan, develop, and test a system of care that achieves the outcomes 
developed by American Indian, Alaskan Native, or urban nonprofit 
organizations serving populations of American Indian or Alaskan Native 
youth.
    OJJDP will provide resources, including grant funds and technical 
assistance, where appropriate, to assure that American Indian/Alaskan 
Native youth who are in the juvenile justice system and who are 
seriously emotionally disturbed or substance abusers are planned for 
and made part of the service system. OJJDP will transfer funds to CMHS/
SAMHSA to assist with the development and implementation of this 
program.

Juvenile Defender Training, Technical Assistance, and Resource 
Center

    In FY 1993, OJJDP competitively funded the American Bar Association 
(ABA) to determine the status of juvenile defense services in the 
United States, develop a report, and provide training and technical 
assistance. The ABA--along with its partners, the Youth Law Center of 
San Francisco, California, and the Juvenile Law Center of Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania--conducted an extensive survey of public defender offices, 
court-appointed systems, law school clinics, and the literature. These 
data were then analyzed and a report, entitled A Call for Justice, was 
developed and published in December 1995.
    The ABA has also developed and delivered specialized training to 
juvenile defenders in several jurisdictions, such as the State of 
Maryland, the State of Tennessee, Baltimore County, Maryland, and 
several other States and localities, to assist in increasing the 
capacity of juvenile defenders to provide more effective defense 
services. In October 1997, the ABA and its partners organized and 
implemented the first Juvenile Defender Summit at Northwestern 
University in Chicago, Illinois. The Summit brought together public 
defenders, court-appointed lawyers, law school clinic directors, 
juvenile offender services representatives, and others for a 2\1/2\-day 
meeting to examine the issues related to juvenile defense services and 
recommend strategies for improving these services.
    This work has served as a catalyst for the development of a more 
permanent structure to support training and technical assistance and to 
serve as a clearinghouse and resource center for juvenile defenders in 
this country. Recognizing that a lack of training, technical 
assistance, and resources for juvenile defenders weakens the juvenile 
justice system and results in a lack of due process for juvenile 
offenders, OJJDP will provide seed money in FY 1998 to fund the initial 
planning and implementation of a Juvenile Defender Center. The grantee 
is expected to establish a broad-based partnership of public and 
private organizations to help ensure long-term financial support for a 
permanent Center. The Center will be designed to provide both general 
and specialized training and technical assistance to juvenile defenders 
in the United States. The design will also incorporate a resource 
center for purposes such as serving as a repository for the most recent 
litigation on key issues, a brief bank, and information on expert 
witnesses. OJJDP anticipates that this program will be a 5-year effort.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Gender-Specific Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

    In 1996, one in four juvenile arrests was of a female, and 
increases in arrests between 1992 and 1996 were greater for juvenile 
females than juvenile males in most offense categories. Yet programs to 
address the unique needs of female delinquents have been and remain 
inadequate in many jurisdictions. The risk factors that females face 
are not identical with those facing males. Major risk factors for girls 
include abuse and exploitation, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and 
parenting, low or damaged self-esteem, and truancy or dropping out of 
school. Communities and their juvenile justice systems need to develop 
programs designed to help female offenders overcome these risk factors.
    Cook County, for example, used an FY 1995 competitive grant to 
build a network of support for juvenile female offenders in Cook 
County. The County's work in this area involved developing a gender-
specific needs and strengths assessment instrument and a risk 
assessment instrument for juvenile female offenders, providing training 
in implementing gender-appropriate programming, and designing a pilot 
program that includes a community-based continuum of care with a unique 
case management system.
    In FY 1998, OJJDP will provide continuation funding to the Cook 
County gender-specific program. In addition, Cook County will provide 
technical assistance and support to the State of Connecticut in 
planning for systemic change and modifications in policies and 
procedures that will facilitate more effective handling of female 
juvenile offenders and establish a hierarchy of sanctions with an 
emphasis on pregnant girls and girls who are mothers. Cook County will 
share lessons learned and help Connecticut develop specialized programs 
for girls from prevention to detention; identify and utilize a range of 
support services to augment the program; incorporate changes in program 
components that work with pregnant girls and girls who are mothers; and 
develop outreach initiatives and planning. Additional technical 
assistance for this effort will be provided by Greene, Peters, and 
Associates, OJJDP's gender-specific training and technical assistance 
grantee. Connecticut will use the FY 1998 funds to conduct a 1-year 
planning grant to plan for statewide systemic

[[Page 33164]]

change to provide gender-specific services, programs, and case 
management for female juvenile offenders, including those who are 
pregnant and mothers.
    The project will be implemented, in partnership with the Bureau of 
Justice Assistance, by the current grantee, the Cook County Bureau of 
Public Safety and Judicial Coordination, and the State of Connecticut's 
Office of Alternative Sanctions. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation Capacity Building

    The question of ``what works'' pervades discussions of juvenile 
justice. To find answers, program administrators and agency personnel 
need to conduct rigorous evaluations of programs of interest. OJJDP has 
determined that a strong, cooperative arrangement between OJJDP and 
State agencies responsible for juvenile justice and delinquency 
prevention programming can most effectively provide answers to this 
question. To that end, OJJDP will provide funding in FY 1998 for an 
assessment of the current capacity of State and local agencies to 
evaluate juvenile justice programs, to conduct regional training 
workshops and provide technical assistance in response to the needs 
assessment, and to design a project that identifies programs proven by 
evaluation to be effective. A goal of this program is to build the 
capacity of State formula grants agencies to conduct rigorous 
evaluations of juvenile justice programs and projects funded in their 
states with JJDP Act funds. OJJDP will then take the lead in 
disseminating evaluation results and information to the field.
    This project will be implemented by the Justice Research and 
Statistics Association (JRSA), using the model developed under a grant 
from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to enhance the criminal justice 
evaluation capacity of States and localities.

Field-Initiated Research

    OJJDP's efforts to address the problems of juvenile offending are 
enriched most through the thoughtful and dedicated efforts of 
researchers in the field. Through the work of agencies, individuals, 
and organizations, OJJDP has benefited from innovative thinking and new 
directions. To encourage such innovative research in juvenile offending 
and juvenile justice, OJJDP is considering offering grants in FY 1998 
for research initiated by researchers in the field. Through this series 
of grants, OJJDP would expect to learn new alternatives and options for 
various problems facing the juvenile justice system.
    OJJDP is particularly interested in research that opens new avenues 
of inquiry regarding youth criminality, the prevention of juvenile 
crime, interventions with youthful offenders, and juvenile justice 
system policy and practice.

Field-Initiated Evaluation

    OJJDP has decided not to fund a field-initiated evaluation program 
in FY 1998. Although OJJDP understands that such evaluations are 
important and that there is a need for knowledge of ``what works'' in 
the juvenile justice field, limited resources preclude funding this 
program in FY 1998. However, OJJDP will support a Juvenile 
Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program Research and Evaluation 
program and continue the numerous evaluations already underway and 
referenced in this Program Plan. OJJDP is making $1.95 million 
available through a competitive solicitation issued by the National 
Institute of Justice for topical research or evaluation projects and 
researcher-practitioner partnerships. The deadline for submission of 
proposals under this program is July 14, 1998. For a copy of the 
solicitation, forms, and guidelines, contact NCJRS at 800-851-3420 or 
the Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421-6770.

Analysis of Juvenile Justice Data

    Funding for this new program will provide for the analysis and 
interpretation of diverse sources of data and information on juvenile 
offending and the juvenile justice system, beyond that currently funded 
for the analysis of OJJDP data sets. This project will provide a source 
for identifying and reporting important information from nontraditional 
sources. The project will develop OJJDP's capacity to use and analyze 
data collections covering such related areas as health, education, and 
employment. It will provide a means for routinely publishing 
specialized reports that assimilate such data sources. It will also 
support the management and direction of OJJDP efforts through the 
contribution of analyses directed towards the Office's priorities and 
initiatives.
    A solicitation will be issued as part of the FY 1998 OJJDP 
Discretionary Program Announcement: Discretionary Grant Program: Parts 
C and D. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Program 
Announcement is provided above under Supplementary Information.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and 
Chronic Juvenile Offenders

    In FY 1998, OJJDP will begin a multiyear, multisite evaluation of 
the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile 
Offenders. The evaluation will first look at the lessons learned from 
the Comprehensive Strategy training and technical assistance process 
that was provided in three pilot communities: Fort Myers and 
Jacksonville, Florida, and San Diego, California. The evaluation will 
then look at the effect of the 2-year training and technical assistance 
process that is currently being provided in 5 States and 26 local 
jurisdictions and is about to commence in up to two additional States. 
The training and technical assistance process is designed to transfer 
the knowledge, skills, tools, and practices necessary to develop a 
comprehensive strategic plan in each community. The evaluation will 
document the effectiveness of the training and technical assistance 
process in a sample of communities. The evaluation will also look at 
the crime and delinquency outcomes and the level of services being 
provided in each of the jurisdictions that have successfully completed 
the training and technical assistance process and are implementing 
their comprehensive strategic plan. In the first year, the evaluation 
will also document baseline data in the States and local communities. 
This project will be implemented by Caliber Associates under OJJDP's 
current evaluation contract. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

Blueprints for Violence Prevention: Training and Technical 
Assistance

    In a 1994 survey, more than half of the respondents identified 
crime and violence as the most important problem facing this country, 
and violence was unanimously identified as the ``biggest problem'' 
facing the Nation's public schools. Many communities are ready to take 
meaningful action to combat these problems, but are struggling in 
determining both ``what works'' and how to implement those effective 
strategies and programs. As a result, many jurisdictions are moving 
forward with insufficient knowledge on how to be successful in both of 
these areas of focus.
    To address this issue, OJJDP will award a cooperative agreement to 
the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the 
University of Colorado. CSPV has completed a study, begun in 1996, of 
10 violence

[[Page 33165]]

prevention programs that met a rigorous scientific standard of program 
effectiveness and replicability--programs that could be documented in 
``blueprints'' that could be utilized for further replication. Under 
this grant, CSPV will provide technical assistance to community 
organizations and program providers to ensure quality replication of 
Blueprint model programs that have been demonstrated to be effective in 
reducing adolescent violence, crime, and substance abuse.
    The specific goal of this project will be to assist in the 
replication of these blueprint programs by (1) determining the 
feasibility of program development for each community or agency request 
for technical assistance in terms of a needs assessment and the 
capacity for the community/agency to implement the program with 
integrity and (2) providing training and technical assistance to 
communities/agencies that are ready to begin the implementation 
process. CSPV will both monitor and assist the program during its first 
year of operation.
    This project will be implemented by the Center for the Study and 
Prevention of Violence because of its unique status as the developer of 
the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project and previous research in 
this specific area. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 
1998.

Teambuilding Project for Courts

    OJJDP, in conjunction with the State Justice Institute (SJI), will 
support projects to (1) explore emerging issues that will affect 
juvenile courts as they enter the 21st century, and (2) develop and 
test innovative approaches for managing juvenile courts, securing 
resources required to fully meet the responsibilities of the judicial 
branch, and institutionalizing long-range planning processes across the 
multiple disciplines in the juvenile justice system. This joint effort 
will test innovative programs and procedures for providing clear and 
open communications between the judiciary, other branches of 
government, and juvenile justice practitioners.
    The primary goal will be to develop and implement a teambuilding 
project designed to facilitate better coordination and information 
sharing and foster innovative, efficient solutions to problems facing 
juvenile courts. Activities may include (1) preparing and presenting 
educational programs to foster development of effective 
multidisciplinary teams; (2) delivering onsite technical assistance to 
develop a team or enhance an existing partnership; (3) providing 
information on teambuilding through a national resource center; and (4) 
preparing manuals, guides, and other written and visual products to 
assist in the development and operation of effective teams.
    A competitive assistance award will support the demonstration 
project. Funds will be transferred to SJI to administer the program 
through a cooperative agreement under the new Juvenile Accountability 
Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program.

Evaluation of Youth-Related Employment Initiative

    OJJDP is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to 
support youth employment and training programs that will result in the 
reintegration of juvenile offenders into society. DOL will provide 
funding for three different demonstration programs: large-scale model 
community demonstration programs in high-crime areas; an education and 
training youth offenders initiative that will provide comprehensive 
school to work education and training within juvenile corrections 
facilities and followup services and job placement as part of community 
aftercare; and communitywide coordination projects to small-and medium-
sized communities to develop linkages among various agencies that 
support prevention and recovery services for youthful offenders. OJJDP 
will fund a 3-year evaluation of the education and training of youthful 
offenders within juvenile corrections facilities and the community 
aftercare component of this initiative.
    A competitive solicitation will be issued for this evaluation as 
part of the FY 1998 OJJDP Discretionary Program Announcement: 
Discretionary Grant Program: Parts C and D. Information on how to 
obtain a copy of the Program Announcement is provided above under 
Supplementary Information.

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and 
Neglect and Preventing Delinquency

    Reports of child victimization, abuse, and neglect in the United 
States continue to be alarming. For example, in 1996 alone, an 
estimated 3.1 million children were reported to public welfare agencies 
for abuse or neglect. Nearly 1 million of those children were 
substantiated as victims. Usually, abuse is inflicted by someone the 
child knows, frequently a family member.
    Numerous studies cite the connection between abuse or neglect of a 
child and later development of violent and delinquent behavior. 
Acknowledging this correlation and the need to both improve system 
response and foster strong, nurturing families, several offices and 
bureaus of the Office of Justice Programs joined in FY 1996 to develop 
a coordinated program response. The resulting initiative, a 5\1/2\ year 
demonstration program designed to foster coordinated community 
responses to child abuse and neglect, was titled Safe Kids/Safe 
Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and 
Preventing Delinquency. (An accompanying evaluation program, Evaluation 
of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program, was also developed.)
    The purpose of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program is to break the 
cycle of early childhood victimization and later juvenile or adult 
criminality and to reduce child and adolescent abuse and neglect and 
resulting child fatalities. It strives to do this by providing fiscal 
and technical support for efforts to restructure and strengthen State 
and local criminal and juvenile justice systems to be more 
comprehensive and proactive in helping children and adolescents and 
their families. The program also has as a goal to implement or 
strengthen coordinated management of abuse and neglect cases by 
improving the policy and practice of the criminal and juvenile justice 
systems and the child welfare, family services, and related systems. 
These goals require communities to develop, implement, and/or expand 
cross-agency strategies.
    OJJDP, the administering agency for the Safe Kids/Safe Streets 
program, awarded competitive cooperative agreements in FY 1997 to five 
demonstration sites and to a national evaluator. Funds are provided by 
OJJDP, the Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Violence Against 
Women Grants Office (VAWGO). Recipients of the awards are the National 
Children's Advocacy Center, Huntsville, Alabama; the Sault Ste. Marie 
Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; Heart of 
America United Way of Kansas City, Missouri; Toledo Hospital Children's 
Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio; and the Community Network for Children, 
Youth and Family Services of Chittenden County, Vermont. The national 
evaluator is Westat, Inc., of Rockville, Maryland.
    Four of the five funded demonstration sites are in the process of 
developing implementation plans. The fifth is in the initial stages of 
implementing its plans to improve the coordination of prevention, 
intervention, and treatment services and to improve cross-agency 
coordination. The national evaluator has

[[Page 33166]]

begun the process of assessing site needs and developing measurement 
variables. Each award has been made under a 5\1/2\ year project period.
    In FY 1998, Safe Kids/Safe Streets grantees will continue to 
implement their plans. Continuation awards will be made to each of the 
current demonstration sites. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

National Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets Program

    To evaluate the Safe Kids/Safe Streets grant program, OJJDP 
competitively awarded a grant to Westat, Inc. in FY 1997. The purpose 
of the evaluation is to document and explicate the process of community 
mobilization, planning, and collaboration that has taken place before 
and during the Safe Kids/Safe Streets awards; to inform program staff 
of performance levels on an ongoing basis; and to determine the 
effectiveness of the implemented programs in achieving the goals of the 
Safe Kids/Safe Streets program. The initial 18-month grant will begin a 
process evaluation and determine the feasibility of an impact 
evaluation. If it is determined that an impact evaluation is feasible, 
additional funds may be awarded to implement such an evaluation in FY 
1998.
    The goals for Phase I of the Evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe 
Streets program are (1) to understand the process of implementation of 
the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program in order to strengthen and refine 
the program for future replication; (2) to identify factors that 
contribute to or impede the successful implementation of the program; 
(3) to help develop or improve the capability and utility of local data 
systems that track at-risk youth, including victims of child neglect or 
abuse; (4) to build an understanding of the general effectiveness of 
the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program approach and its program components; 
and (5) to help develop the capacity of Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites to 
evaluate what works in their communities.
    The objectives of this initial phase of the evaluation are (1) to 
develop a detailed design, including data collection instruments, for a 
process evaluation of the Safe Kids/Safe Streets program for 
implementation in collaboration with all sites; (2) to develop 
templates for capturing the data necessary for the national process 
evaluation and to make those templates available for implementation at 
the sites; and (3) to provide evaluation training and technical 
assistance for, and to collaborate with, grantees at each of the sites 
in implementing a process evaluation of the development and 
implementation of each Safe Kids/Safe Streets program site.
    This evaluation will be implemented by the current grantee, Westat, 
Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Secondary Analysis of Childhood Victimization

    In FY 1997, OJJDP awarded a two-year grant to the University at 
Albany, State University of New York, to support secondary analysis of 
data that were collected on 1,200 individuals as part of a National 
Institute of Justice research project that began in 1986. The data set 
includes extensive information on psychiatric, cognitive, intellectual, 
social, and behavioral functioning. It also contains information on 
documented and self-reported criminal and runaway behavior in a large 
sample of unsubstantiated cases of early childhood physical and sexual 
abuse and neglect and matched controls. The data base includes 
information from archival juvenile court and probation department 
records and law enforcement records and interview information on a 
range of topics, including psychiatric assessment, intelligence, and 
reading ability.
    The initial set of secondary analyses, during the first year of the 
OJJDP award, focused on childhood victimization as a precursor to 
running away and subsequent delinquency. Initial research questions 
focused on whether running away puts a child at increased risk for 
becoming a violent offender and repeat violent offender as a juvenile 
and whether abused and neglected children who run away are at greater 
risk than children who have not been abused.
    In FY 1998, the research will look at several other outcomes such 
as out-of-home placements and drug use by children who run away. Gender 
differences will also be explored. This research will also explore the 
differential impact of childhood victimization by race/ethnicity.
    This project is being conducted by Cathy Spatz Widom, principal 
researcher, under a grant to the University at Albany, State University 
of New York. No additional applications will be solicited in FY 1998.

Evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation in Weed and Seed Sites

    OJJDP will administer an evaluation of Nurse Home Visitation 
programs in six Weed and Seed sites across the Nation with funds 
transferred to OJJDP from the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services. Six Weed and Seed sites, one of which is a SafeFutures site, 
are providing nurse home visitation services. These sites have been 
designated for evaluation in order to determine the impact of the 
specific program model of nurse home visitation implemented within 
normal operating environments in communities. Nurse home visitation has 
been found to be effective in reducing welfare dependency, increasing 
employment, decreasing or delaying repeat childbearing, reducing the 
incidence of child maltreatment, and reducing crime and delinquency 
within the context of randomized clinical trials.
    The project will be implemented by the University of Colorado 
Prevention Research Center. No additional applications will be 
solicited in FY 1998.

    Dated: June 10, 1998.
Shay Bilchik,
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
[FR Doc. 98-15832 Filed 6-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P