Digital Library

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development provides a registry of evidence-based positive youth development programs designed to promote the health and well-being of children and teens. The database, run by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at Boulder, reviewed more than 1,400 programs and designated 5% as model and promising, following a strict selection process. 

Crime Solutions is a central resource of justice-related programs and practices with evidence of effectiveness, run by the US National Institute of Justice.  Their purpose is to assist in decision-making and program implementation by gathering information on specific justice-related programs and practices and reviewing the existing evaluation and meta-analysis research against standardized criteria.

The National Crime Prevention Strategy - NCPS is based on the premise that well-designed interventions can have a positive influence on behaviours; crimes can be reduced or prevented by addressing risk factors that can lead to offending. Successful interventions have been shown to reduce not only victimization, but also the social and economic costs that result from criminal activities and the costs related to processing cases in the criminal justice system.

A wide range of after-school programs have become available to students in grades K-12 over the past 15 years. Programs are generally grouped within those meeting needs related to academic performance (such as improved school attendance, grades, and achievement scores), social/emotional development, and prevention/behavioral outcomes.

Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime has generated significant controversy and research, such that there now exists a large knowledge base regarding the importance of self-control in regulating antisocial behavior over the life course. Reviews of this literature indicate that self-control is an important correlate of antisocial activity.