REPORT FAULTS EFFORTS TO BAR YOUTH VIOLENCE

DARE, Other Programs Found To Be Ineffective

WASHINGTON - Most of the prevention programs targeting the nation's
"epidemic" of youth violence are either untested or don't work, and a few
actually increase the risk of youth violence, according to a report issued
yesterday by the U.S. Surgeon General.

Some of the nation's most popular prevention programs are among those cited
as ineffective, including Scared Straight and the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program, which is the most widely-implemented youth anti-drug
program in the United States.

"Overall, evidence on the effects of the traditional DARE curriculum, which
is implemented in grades 5 and 6, shows that children who participate are
as likely to use drugs as those who do not participate,'' says the report,
which was requested by President Clinton after the April, 1999, Columbine
High School killings.

The 176-page report contends that a few programs actually have increased
the risk of violence for participants. These include peer-counseling
programs and boot camps, "in which youths are exposed to other delinquent
youths, who can act as models and positively reinforce delinquent
behavior,'' the report says.

Also cited is the popular Midnight Basketball program, one of a number of
programs that try to "turn youth gangs into benign clubs. Instead, these
programs have had no effect or have actually increased gang-related
behavior,'' the report says.

In releasing the report at a news conference, Surgeon General David Satcher
stressed that there are some "highly effective'' anti-violence programs
being used in various parts of the country to prevent serious violent
behavior among teens or to eliminate some of the known risk factors.

Effective programs include those that work closely with at-risk individuals
to give them mentors and skills to take their lives in a different
direction, Dr. Satcher said. Parent training often is a part of successful
youth anti-violence programs. In addition, these programs attempt to
improve the social climate of schools.

"We can implement those [effective programs] on a national scale and know
that they will work,'' Dr. Satcher said. "But we need to redirect our
resources.... Most [youth violence prevention] strategies now being
employed either have not been rigorously evaluated for their effectiveness
or are not effective.''

The report issued by Dr. Satcher isn't based on new research, but instead
is a study of the most reliable data on youth violence. That data include
federal statistics and research studies, as well as confidential surveys of
teenagers.

In a related move, Mr. Clinton recently announced a new web site to help
Americans learn about youth violence prevention efforts. The address:
www.safeyouth.org.

Overall, "the nation's epidemic of youth violence is not over,'' Dr.
Satcher said, emphasizing that the problem "knows no bounds'' but affects
urban and rural areas, males and females, all races, and every financial
strata.

Dr. Satcher acknowledged that fewer teenagers are being arrested for murder
than in 1993, the peak year for U.S. youth violence, and that fewer are
carrying guns.

But he also noted that youth arrests for aggravated assaults remained 70
percent higher than 1983, when youth violence began to dramatically
increase to its 1993 peak. In addition, surveys of youths find that 10
percent to 15 percent of high school seniors report having committed an act
of serious violence in recent years.

The peak age for youths to begin committing violent acts is 16, the report
shows.

"The number of adolescents involved in violent behavior remains
disconcertingly high,'' Dr. Satcher said.

Still, he emphasized that the problem isn't intractable. "The window of
opportunity for effective intervention opens early and rarely, if ever,
closes,'' he said.

According to the report, factors that appear to increase a youth's
predisposition to violence include the use of drugs, gang membership,
"precocious'' sex, access to guns, and other, nonviolent criminal behavior.