What Works (and What Does Not) in Youth Violence Prevention: Rethinking the Questions and Finding New Answers

Dramatic rises in youth violence in the United States beginning in the 1980s coupled with high visibility acts such as school shootings have resulted in a corresponding proliferation of programs designed to prevent aggression and violence in children and youth. Parallel with this increasing programmatic expansion, there have been repeated calls for rigorous evaluations of programs and identification of “best practices” that merit dissemination and implementation. Still, in spite of extensive efforts to document effective practices in youth violence prevention, there remains a somewhat confusing array of evidence for effectiveness and lack of effectiveness, as well as a broad range of interpretations of this evidence. On the one hand, there are clear indications that individual programs can have an impact on preventing or reducing aggression and related behaviors, and positive evaluations of specific programs abound (Farrell, Meyer, and White, 2001; Henggeler and others, 1996). Looking at program reviews and meta-analysis, positive effects have been evident primarily with certain types of programs—most typically those derived from cognitive-behavioral principles (Guerra, Boxer, and Kim, forthcoming; Wilson, Lipsey, and Derzon, 2003). On the other hand, some reviews of program outcomes and attempts to