Prevention and Strategies When Dealing with Today's Youth

Having prevention programs in place within the community is essential for youths. There are several different types of prevention which are corrective, punitive, and mechanical prevention.

Corrective prevention focuses on eliminating conditions that lead to or cause criminal behavior. Punitive prevention relies on the threat of punishment to forestall criminal acts. Mechanical prevention is making it impossible to commit a crime. Examples of mechanical preventions are things such as security alarms, locks on doors, or bars on windows (Hess & Drowns, 2004).

Primary prevention can be directed toward youth with no distinction between those who have committed a crime and those who have not (Hess & Drowns, 2004). It is considered to be elements of both corrective and mechanical prevention. An example of this type of program is a nation wide program called Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a mentoring program. It is believed that if youth develop positive relationships with adults, it will have a lasting impact on the child and by receiving guidance and care; it is a proactive approach to delinquency. The program is offered to any child ages 6-18 who is considered at-risk or one who had been mandated by the court to participate. They offer two different types of mentoring one is community based and the other is called site based (Big, n.d.).

Community based mentoring is when the mentor and youth will share activities out in their community. They may go for walks, talk, play board games or sports. Site mentoring is when mentors will go to participating schools or after school recreation and work with the children on their homework, read stories, or participate in other activities having to do with their education (Big, n.d.).