The 8% Solution

Preventing Serious, Repeat Juvenile Crime

The public perception is that juvenile crime is out-of- hand and that no one can do anything about it. Research, however, shows that a mere 8% of juvenile offenders arrested and sent to juvenile court commit more than half of all repeat juvenile crimes, including violence. And, something is being done about it! The surprising fact is that this "8%" can be picked out at the time of their first arrest. This book represents seven years of research on 6,400 young people having their first brush with the law in Orange County, California. It provides an exemplary state-supported model now used in six other California counties to curb the rise in the arrest of kids.

A practical, commonsense guide, this book focuses on long-term solutions to the problem of serious repeat juvenile crime and offers a proven pathway for improvement. The 8% Solution informs students, policy makers, criminal justice professionals, juvenile courts, probation departments, and parents of how to mount a successful response. Written in narrative style with a liberal use of anecdotal incidents, this is an easy-to-read description of the characteristics of kids who repeatedly get in trouble with the law and more cost-effective ways to correct the problem.