Several of the programs identified in this report are consid- ered to be “model” programs by the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The Blueprints project is a national violence prevention initiative to identify violence prevention programs that are effective. It is operated by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV).
The Blueprints project began in 1996 with initial funding from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The project was conceived as an effort to identify model violence prevention programs and implement them within the State of Colorado. With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the project expanded into a much broader initiative, not only identifying effective programs, but also supporting their rep- lication in sites across the country.
After reviewing more than 600 programs, the Blueprints initiative identified 11 model programs that effectively pre- vented violence and drug use (see Figure 6.2). While the Blueprints Advisory Board considers many criteria when reviewing program effectiveness, three factors are considered most important:
• Evidence of a deterrent effect with a strong research design,
• Demonstration of a sustained effect, and • Multiple site replication.110
Programs meeting all three of these criteria are classified as “model” programs, whereas programs meeting at least the first criterion but not all three are considered “promising.”
Of the 11 model Blueprints programs, 8 have been described in this report. Given the original conceptualiza- tion of the Blueprints project and the project’s location at the University of Colorado, the 3 other model Blueprints programs may be of interest to readers. Each is a school- based, universal prevention program. Although evaluations of these programs have not necessarily demonstrated that they prevent criminal behavior per se, they have been shown to reduce risk factors for delinquency such as substance abuse.
Therefore, each program is briefly described below using excerpts from CSPV’s Blueprints Model Program Descriptions Fact Sheet.111
Figure 6.2. Blueprints for Violence Prevention Model
Programs
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Functional Family Therapy The Incredible Years Life Skills Training
Midwestern Prevention Project Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Multisystemic Therapy
Nurse-Family Partnership
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Project Towards No Drug Abuse
What Works
Midwestern Prevention Project
This community-based program targets adolescent drug use. The program uses five intervention strategies designed to combat the community influences on drug use: mass media, school, parent, community organization, and health policy change. The primary intervention channel is the school.
Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND)
Project TND is a drug abuse prevention program that tar- gets high school age youth at traditional and alternative high schools. The curriculum, taught by teaches or health educa-
tors, contains twelve 40-minute interactive sessions, and focuses on motivations to use drugs, social skills, and cogni- tive processing skills.
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies
Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) is an elementary school-based intervention designed to promote emotional competence, including the expression, under- standing and regulation of emotions.
1 McCord, J., Widom, C.S., and Crowell, N. (2001). Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice. National Research Council. National
Academies Press, Washington, DC. Page 66. Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 37.
2 Przybylski, R. (Summer 1996). With higher numbers of children entering their crime-prone years, more needs to be done
to address increasing rates of juvenile violence. The Compiler. Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Chicago, IL. Page 6.
3 McCord, Widom, and Crowell (2001).
4 Office of the Surgeon General. (2001). Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Public Health Services, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC. Chapter 4. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/ library/youthviolence/toc.html.
5 Farrington, D.P., and B. Welsh. (2007). Saving Children From a Life of Crime, Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions.
Oxford University Press: New York, NY. Page 7.
6 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 105.
7 Greenwood, P.W., Model, K.E., Rydell, C.P., and Chiesa, J. (1996). Diverting Children from a Life of Crime, Measuring
Costs and Benefits. Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Page 6.
8 Fagan, A., and Najman, J. (2003). The Gendered and Long-Term Relationship Between Family Practices and Children’s
Aggression and Delinquency. Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardians, Issue Papers. Brisbane,
Queensland, AU. Available at http://www.childcomm.qld.gov.au/pdf/publications/issues/issue_two_paper.pdf.
9 Widom, C.S., and Maxfield, M.G. (February 2001). An Update on the “Cycle of Violence”. Research in Brief. National
Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
10 Greenwood et al. (1996), for example, reported that women in poverty, single parenthood and youthful mothers are at
higher risk of being an ineffective or abusive parent.
11 The NFP program was originally called the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program.
12 The benefit cost ratio differences between the Aos et al. and Karoly et al. estimates are due to differences in the types of
programs analyzed. The Karoly et al. estimate is based on an NFP program delivered to high-risk families, whereas the Aos et al. estimate is based on NFP programs delivered to high-risk as well as low-risk families.
13 See http://www.iik.org.
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105Effective Early Prevention Programs
15 See http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ps/nursehome/NHVPfactsheet.pdf. 16 Farrington and Welsh (2007).
17 In Chicago, McCord and Ensminger (1997) found that low IQ at age 6 predicted arrests for violent crimes up to age
32. Schweinhart et al. (1993) found that low intelligence at age 4 predicted arrests up to age 27. See Farrington and Welsh (2007).
18 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 106.
19 Yoshikawa, H. (Winter 1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on social outcomes and delinquency. Future
of Children, 5, 51-75.
20 Fifty-eight of the children were assigned to the Perry Preschool program, and 65 were assigned to a control group. 21 Of the original study participants, 97% of those who were still living were interviewed at age 40.
22 There also are versions of the High/Scope model for infants and toddlers, for elementary school students, and for adolescents. 23 The program’s child to teacher ratio is about 17 to 2 in preschool and 25 to 2 in kindergarten.
24 Reynolds, A.J. Temple, J.A., Suh-Run, O., Robertson, D.L., Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J.W., and Niles, M.D. (2007). Effects
of a School-Based, Early Childhood Intervention on Adult Health and Well-being, A 19-Year Follow-up of Low-Income Families. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 161, 730-739.
25 For example, the comparison group was chosen from randomly selected schools, and selection and attrition analyses using
propensity score, econometric methods, and latent-variable structural modeling have consistently indicated that program estimates are robust to alternative analyses.
26 Reynolds, A.J., Temple, J.A., Robertson, D.L. and Mann, E.A. (2001). Long-term Effects of an Early Childhood
Intervention on Educational Achievement and Juvenile Arrest: A 15-Year Follow-up of Low-Income Children in Public Schools. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2339 - 2346.
27 Reynolds, A. J., and Robertson, D.L. (2003). School-Based Early Intervention and Later Child Maltreatment in the
Chicago Longitudinal Study. Child Development, 74, 3-26.
28 Abuse and neglect referrals are made to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Petitions are made to the
juvenile court.
29 Reynolds et al. (2007).
30 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 75.
31 Lipsey, M.W., and Derzon, J.H. (1998). Predictors of violent or serious delinquency in adolescence and early adulthood.
In R. Loeber and D.P. Farrington (eds.), Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders:Risk Factors and Successful Interventions. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
32 Webster-Stratton, C., and Hooven, C. (1998). Parent Training for Child Conduct Problems. University of Washington. Page
186. Available at http://www.incredibleyears.com/library/items/parent-training-for-child-conduct-problems_98.pdf.
33 Eddy, J.M., and Reid, J.B. (2001). The Antisocial Behavior of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A
Developmental Perspective. Oregon Social Learning Center. Eugene, OR.
34 Ibid.
35 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 122.
36 Duncan, G., and Magnuson, K. (2004). Individual and Parent-based Intervention Strategies for Promoting Human Capital
and Positive Behavior. Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston IL. Available at http://www.north-
What Works
37 Kazdin, A.E. (2005). Parent Management Training: Treatment for Oppositional, Aggressive, and Anti-Social Behavior in
Children and Adolescents. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Page 179.
38 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 136. 39 Ibid. Page 127.
40 Forgatch, M.S., Patterson, G.R., and DeGarmo, D.S. (2005). Evaluating Fidelity: Predictive Validity for a Measure of
Competent Adherence to the Oregon Model of Parent Management Training. Behavior Therapy, 36, 3-13.
41 ISII also has been contracted to train professionals on the use of PMTO in the Netherlands and Iceland, and planning for
the implementation of PMTO in Mexico is currently taking place.
42 Patterson, G.R., DeGarmo, D. and Forgatch, M.S. (2004). Systematic Changes in Families Following Prevention Trials.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 621-633.
43 DeGarmo, D.S., and Forgatch, M.S. (2005). Early development of delinquency within divorced families: evaluating a ran-
domized preventive intervention trial. Developmental Science, 8, 229-239.
44 Webster-Stratton, C. (June 2000). The Incredible Years Training Series. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Page 1.
45 Ibid. Page 18.
46 For an excellent review of the research pertaining to “our abilities to alter the destinies of vulnerable children,” see Lisbeth
B. Schorr’s (1988) Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage. Anchor Books, New York, NY. Page xvii.
47 See summary at http://www.incredibleyears.com. 48 See http://www.iik.org.
49 Http://www.iik.org/incredible_years.
50 Haggerty, K., Kosterman, R., Catalano, R.F., and Hawkins, J.D. (1999). Preparing for the Drug Free Years. U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC. Page 1.
51 Haggerty et al. (1999) reported that PDFY has even been delivered to parents in prison.
52 Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J. D., Spoth, R., Haggerty, K. P., and Zhu, K. (1997). Effects of a preventive parent-training
intervention on observed family interactions: Proximal outcomes from Preparing for the Drug Free Years. Journal of
Community Psychology, 25, 337-352; Mason, W. A, Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J. D., Haggerty, K. P., and Spoth, R. L.
(2003). Reducing adolescents’ growth in substance use and delinquency: Randomized trial effects of a parent-training pre- vention intervention. Prevention Science, 4, 203-212.
53 Browning, K. and Loeber, R. (1999). Highlights of Findings From the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
54 A considerable body of research supports their thesis. See for example Pratt, T.C. and Cullen, F.T. (2000). The empirical
status of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime: A meta-analysis. Criminology, 38, 931-964.
55 In their recent review of early risk factors for delinquency, Farrington and Welsh (2007) concluded that both impulsive-
ness and low empathy are important predictors of offending.
56 Wilson, D.B., Gottfredson, D.C., and Najaka, S.S. (2001). School-Based Prevention of Problem Behaviors: A Meta-
Analysis. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 17, 247-272.
57 Farrington and Welsh (2007). Page 156.
58 School and discipline management interventions typically involve a comprehensive, schoolwide effort to change the