Juvenile violence increased dramatically between 1985 and 1994. Although statistics from 1995 to 1997 indicate a reversal of this disturbing upward trend in 1995 (Snyder, 1998), juvenile violent crime arrest rates are still well above the 1985 level. Of particular concern is that juvenile violence has become more lethal, demonstrated by the doubling of the juvenile arrest rate for murder and for weapons law violations between 1987 and 1993 (Snyder, 1997). Although today's violent youth commit the same number of violent acts as their predecessors of 15 years ago, a greater proportion of juveniles are committing violent acts (Snyder, 1997).

In the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Drug Use Forecasting study, arrestees were interviewed regarding gun acquisition and use (National Institute of Justice, 1996). The juvenile males studied reflected juveniles entering the justice system nationwide. They were disproportionately black or Hispanic, and most were age 15 or older. The proportion of juveniles who admitted to current membership in a gang ranged from 2 to 41 percent. The proportion of respondents who were charged with a weapons offense ranged from 1 to 12 percent. Among the juvenile males interviewed, however, 20 percent said they carried a gun all or most of the time. Two-thirds of the juvenile respondents said they carried a gun for protection or self-defense. Among drug sellers and gang members, the proportion was higher (4in 10) than among other arrestees (3in 10). When asked if using a gun was appropriate, 18 percent of juvenile offenders agreed that "it is okay to shoot someone who disrespected you." For drug sellers, 21 percent agreed to this, as did 34 percent of gang members.

Trends in Juvenile Drug Crimes

Delinquent youth use drugs at a higher rate and at an earlier age than do their nonoffending counterparts (Catalano et al., 1988; Dembo et al., 1991; Haggerty et al., 1989). Findings from NIJ's Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program (NIJ's replacement for the Drug Use Forecasting study), which evaluated drug use among juvenile arrestees in 12 sites, showed that the proportion of juvenile arrestees testing positive for marijuana ranged from 47 to 64 percent and the proportion testing positive for cocaine ranged from 4 to 15 percent (National Institute of Justice, 1999). Other studies have also shown that delinquents who use drugs are responsible for disproportionately higher rates of offending and elevated levels of violent offenses and face a greater risk of future offending compared with delinquents who do not use drugs (Catalano et al., 1989; Hawkins et al., 1988; Baird, Storrs, and Connelly, 1984).

The link between drug addiction and criminal behavior (Ball et al., 1981) suggests a need for effective drug treatment. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of drug treatment for juvenile offenders. The broader drug treatment literature suggests that treatment program length, treatment modality, type of admission, and level of program implementation influence the level of success of clients receiving treatment.

For any jurisdiction considering the development of appropriate responses to drug addiction, it is essential to know that length of treatment has been found to affect treatment outcome more than any other variable. Simpson, Savage, and Lloyd (1979) suggest that at least 3 months of treatment for any type of drug abuse is necessary, while Hubbard and colleagues (1989) indicate that 6 to 12 months is necessary. Longer retention in treatment programs and completion of treatment programs have also been found to reduce future drug use and criminality and to increase employment (Anglin and Hser, 1990; Catalano et al., 1988; Charuvastra et al., 1992; Simpson and Sells, 1982). Although treatment setting (e.g., correctional institution, group home, hospital) may be important in program success, more critical are the modalities used within the setting. Garrett (1985) concluded that treatment involving cognitive-behavioral techniques (e.g., development of the individual's skills for controlling behavior and solving problems) appeared to be most successful. Evidence for the effectiveness of other types of therapy (e.g., psychodynamic, individual, and group) and of academic and outdoor challenge programs is not as consistently positive (Mulvey, Arthur, and Reppucci, 1993; Lipsey, 1992; Gordon and Arbuthnot, 1987; Greenwood, 1986).

It also has been shown that court-ordered treatment is not significantly less effective than voluntary treatment. In fact, Aron and Daily (1976) found that residential treatment is most effective for legally coerced clients who have been using relatively moderate amounts of drugs for shorter periods of time. Individuals for whom treatment is legally mandated stay in treatment longer and are more successful after treatment than are those admitted voluntarily, despite the generally held belief that treatment is ineffective without personal motivation (Allison and Hubbard, 1985; DeLeon, 1985; Siddall and Conway, 1988).

Although residential drug treatment programs show promise in reducing other forms of reoffending, drug use relapse rates are high. Findings suggest that nearly two-thirds of all individuals completing treatment relapse (Hunt and Bespalec, 1974), with the greatest risk occurring in the first 6 months after treatment (Hoffman and Miller, 1993). The relatively high rate of drug abuse among juvenile offenders compared with nonarrestees and these relapse rates indicate a need for aftercare treatment services to reinforce skills and behaviors learned during treatment (Altschuler and Armstrong, 1991).

Trends in Gang-Related Juvenile Crime

Research has demonstrated that adolescents who join street gangs are more involved in delinquent acts than are adolescents who do not join such gangs. This is especially true of serious and violent delinquency (Howell, 1998). Moreover, the association between gang membership and delinquency has been observed from the earliest to the most contemporary gang research (Thornberry and Burch, 1997). Gangs and crime committed by gang members are pervasive in many American cities, presenting a challenge to law enforcement.

In a 1995 survey, more than 80 percent of prosecutors acknowledged that gangs were a problem in their jurisdictions and said they were vigorously pursuing prosecution of gang crimes. Ultimately, prosecutors believed that early intervention with youth and more effective services designed to strengthen families were necessary to prevent gang violence and crime (Johnson, Webster, and Connors, 1995).

The 1997 National Youth Gang Survey, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's National Youth Gang Center, collected data from nearly 3,000 law enforcement agencies. The results show that the gang problem in the United States is substantial and impacts communities of all sizes with nearly 75 percent of large cities and approximately 25 percent of rural communities reporting gang activity. The results suggest that 816,000 gang members were active in 30,500 gangs (Moore and Terrett, 1999).