Schools and Delinquency

Book excerpt: Schools and Delinquency, first published in 2001, provides a comprehensive review and critique of the current research about the causes of delinquency, substance use, drop-out, and truancy, and the role of the school in preventing these behavior patterns. Examining school-based prevention programs and practices for grades K-12, Denise Gottfredson identifies a broad array of effective strategies improving the school environment, as well as some that specifically target youths at risk of developing problem behaviors. She also explains why several popular school-based prevention strategies are ineffective and should be abandoned. Gottfredson analyzes, within the larger context of the community, the special challenges to effective prevention programming that arise in disorganized settings, identifying ways to overcome these obstacles and to make the most troubled schools safer and more productive environments.