Delinquency Prevention

Liza Chowdhury

Delinquency prevention refers to intervening in the lives of youth to deter involvement in unlawful acts. It includes programs or policies that involve daycare providers, nurses, teachers, social workers, recreation, youth mentors, parents, faith-based groups, and criminal and juvenile justice agencies. Delinquency prevention is important to understanding race and crime because many youth who are at risk for delinquency are members of minority groups that are overrepresented in juvenile justice. This entry presents a brief history of delinquency prevention and identifies different approaches to prevention, including those representing public health and developmental perspectives. The history of the prevention of juvenile delinquency in the United States parallels the history of juvenile justice in the United States. Preventing delinquency has been of interest since the first houses of refuge that opened in the early 1800s. More recent developments, including passage of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, continued ...

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