The issue of after-school delinquency is rather burning nowadays when the rates of youth violence are on a sharp increase. According to the reports issued by the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, “the peak hour for juvenile crime is from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., the first hour that most students are dismissed from school” (After School Programs Fact Sheet, 2009). Therefore, it is rather important to protect the youth from violence and direct it to get new knowledge and acquire additional skills during the after-school hours. One of the most effective means of preventing juvenile delinquency is the use of after-school delinquency prevention programs.
Accordingly, it is necessary to outline the basic notions that need to be taken into consideration while developing an after-school delinquency prevention program in a school. First of all, the program is to be structured and have its target audience and major means of being carried out before it’s implementation (Harris and Welsh, 2009, Ch. 4). Further on, the program should have a clear focus on the main issues it is designed to overcome, be appealing to the target population, and be directed at actually correctable issues. Finally, all the points of the program should be adopted, supported, and promoted by the highest-ranking officials of every particular school.
However, the first step in designing an effective after-school delinquency prevention program is the structuring thereof with specifying the functions that every participant of the program is to fulfill, the time they should fulfill their functions, and the way in which they should do it (Harris and Welsh, 2009, Ch. 4). In other words, if a teacher is responsible for the after-school lesson of socially acceptable behavior, this teacher should be aware of the methods that are the most acceptable for work with the specific age group and should be provided with both resources for retrieving the necessary information and the opportunities to communicate with other teachers to exchange experience (Harris and Welsh, 2009, Ch. 4).
What is also important is to ensure the comprehensive carrying out of the program (After School Programs Fact Sheet, 2009). For example, the National Institute of Justice stresses the significance of the overall support of the program by all the parties involved in it and the inclusion of the very program into the regular school curriculum:
Activities are integrated into the regular school program. Implementing the program is a formal part of the implementer’s job. Activities are a regular part of the school program, do not depend on volunteers, and are conducted during the school day (not after school or on weekends) (National Institute of Justice, 2009).
Based on this, the programs of delinquency prevention become integral parts of school curricula and are easier to adjust to by children (National Institute of Justice, 2009). At the same time, such a comprehensive approach provides the programs with support from schools’ principals.
Thus, the implementation of an after-school delinquency prevention program can be considered as one of the most effective means of preventing juvenile delinquency. Schools work on designing their programs and try to include all the important aspects of work with children including the approaches to children’s psychology and the integration of the after-school delinquency prevention programs into the regular school curricula.
References
After School Programs Fact Sheet. (2009). National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. Web.
Harris, P.W., & Welsh, W. N. (2009). Criminal Justice: Policy and Planning. 3rd Edition. LexisNexis Group, Newark, N.J.
National Institute of Justice. (2009). Delinquency Prevention Program. U. S. Department of Justice. Web.