Dr. MJ Bazos MD, Patient Handout
Preventing Delinquency

What does delinquency mean?

• Delinquency means antisocial or violent behaviour in young people, often involving criminal acts.
• There is a wide range in the seriousness of delinquent behaviours.
• Many young people commit crimes such as not paying on public transportation or shoplifting.
• Most young people who get involved in criminal activity simply outgrow the behaviour as they get older.

What works to prevent delinquency?

• Social development programs are the best way to prevent 'high risk' children from becoming delinquent.
• Social development programs include home visiting, and high quality child care as well as family, school and community based programs.
• They work to help parents give their children what they need for healthy development:
• A healthy physical start, enough food, safety, warmth
• An environment where they can play, learn and explore
• Encouragement and guidance from adults.
• Such programs for children and youth work best when they
• counteract more than one of the 'risk' factors for becoming delinquent
• begin early, long before the teenage years
• continue for as long as they are needed

Recognizing 'high risk' children

• Some forms of early childhood behaviour may predict later delinquent behaviour:
• attention-seeking, antisocial or aggressive behaviour
• poor problem-solving or self-control skills
• Classroom behaviour problems as early as kindergarten are often a sign of other problems in the child's life.

Making the difference in families

• Many young offenders have been abused or witnessed abuse in their homes.
• Programs that support families and parents of very young children can significantly reduce child abuse.
• These include homevisiting programs to help new mothers get used to their new roles, increase their confidence and make them feel less isolated.
• Education and training programs also help and support parents.

Making the difference in preschool settings

• The first six years of life have the greatest importance in children's healthy development.
• Studies show that for children at high risk for delinquency, high quality child care and early education programs can reduce the delinquency rate.
• These programs are associated with high rates of high school graduation and employment.

Making the difference in schools

• Teaching that involves children and encourages their success can help to prevent delinquency.
• Different kinds of learning opportunities build confidence and help children feel connected to their school.
• Helping children feel comfortable especially in primary school can make a difference.
• Difficulties in the early grades can mean later school failure or drop-out.
• Chances of getting involved in delinquent behaviour increase if children drop out of school.
• High schools that mix the usual subjects with practical skills, such as looking for a job or managing money, may help to keep students in school.

What works to prevent re-offending?

• For young people convicted of crimes, programs that include their families, schools and friends can work to prevent them from re-offending.
• These kinds of programs recognize that the young person might need help to change behaviours in different parts of his or her life.
• These programs work because they focus on peer group and family problems often linked to delinquency.

Promising Programs

• A number of new approaches involve young people, their families and their communities in seeking solutions to the problems of crime.
• Youth Justice Committees act as extensions of the usual court system.
• They are made up of a cross-section of community volunteers.
• Thinking also of the victim, they decide on a consequence for the young person which fits in with the Young Offenders Act.
• Family Group Conferencing is based on a New Zealand native model to include family, friends and neighbours of both the young person and the victim in making a plan to respond to the crime.
• This kind of meeting is an alternative to sending the young person to court.
• Sentencing Circles also involve community members in making decisions about punishment.
• Sentencing Circles take place mostly in Aboriginal communities.

What doesn't work?

• Locking up young people - keeping them in custody - is the most expensive, least effective way to prevent them from further crimes.
• Studies have shown that locking young people up to scare them away from crime does not work.
• They often respond with increased aggression, anger and rates of re-offending.
• 'Boot camps' are a type of custody based on the military training model.
• The belief is that the strict discipline will keep young people from re-offending and will increase their sense of personal responsibility.
• Overall, boot camps do not reduce the rate of re-offending.
• Custody should be reserved for youth who represent a clear risk to community safety.
• It costs about $100,000 a year to keep one young person in custody.

To think about:

"Money invested in early prevention is money saved later on remedial services in school, social, physical and mental health services for families and correctional services for juveniles and adults." R.E. Tremblay & W. Craig
"Developmental Crime Prevention" in Building a Safer Society: Strategic
Approaches to Crime Prevention, 19

"Social development is an investment in people, in communities, and in society, and helps prevent crime; it is also cost effective." H.P. Hepworth, The Economics of Crime Prevention, Focus Magazine, July, 1996

Wesites:
National Crime Prevention Council
http://www.crime-prevention.org/ncpc/