Federal Resources

This brief provides child caretakers and educators with a definition of bullying and strategies for how to address and prevent it.

Site providing information and technical assistance on provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The G.R.E.A.T. Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. With prevention as its primary objective, the program is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.

An OJDDP report on the growth of youth gang problems in the United States between 1970-1998.

A report by the U.S. Department of Commerce: Children and young adults have embraced new information technologies in large numbers. More than any other age group, these younger age groups use computers and the Internet widely for many of their daily activities.

This site includes a report, created by the Department of Commerce, which contains 11 stories about people who are working hard to ensure technology will enhance the lives of children.

The ICAC Program can help State and local law enforcement agencies to develop an effective response to online enticement and child pornography cases.

Volunteer.gov is America's Natural and Cultural Resources Volunteer Portal built and maintained by the Federal Interagency Team on Volunteerism (FITV) that is comprised of volunteer program coordinators from three Cabinet level departments. Since its initial deployment in 2002, the Portal has grown into a strategic alliance of governmental partners from all levels - local, State, and Federal Government dedicated to serving the volunteer community by populating this e-Government site with volunteer positions and events for citizens interested in volunteer service benefitting our Nation's resources.

This site describes looking to the future, The Bureau of Land Management's youth initiatives. These initiatives feature a variety of programs that engage, educate, and inspire and focus on youth from early childhood through young adulthood. The aim of the youth programs is to build on the spark of childhood wonder about the natural world, sustain interest through hands-on education and volunteer experiences during the school-age years, and develop into long-term engagement and stewardship, as well as pursuit of natural resource careers.

Citizen Corps was created to help coordinate volunteer activities that will make our communities safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to any emergency situation. It provides opportunities for people to participate in a range of measures to make their families, homes, and communities safer from the threats of crime, terrorism, and disasters of all kinds. Search for your local Citizen Corps Councils, Community Emergency Response Teams, Medical Reserve Corps, Fire Corps and Neighborhood Watch programs here.

Volunteers play an integral role in supporting the environmental stewardship conducted every day by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Across the United states and its coastal waters, opportunities exist for volunteers to take part in research, observation and educational roles that benefit science, our citizens and our planet.

Preserve America Stewards is a designation program that recognizes organizations and agencies for volunteer programs that help care for our historic heritage. Preserve America Stewards run programs that 1) provide volunteers with opportunities to contribute in direct and tangible ways to the preservation of historic properties; 2) address an otherwise unfilled need in heritage preservation through the use of volunteers; and 3) are innovative in areas such as youth involvement, volunteer training, public education, and public/private partnerships.

The Teen CERT training program teaches youth readiness and response skills. Hands-on practice and realistic exercises prepare youth for the unexpected in their community. Newly learned leadership skills will empower youth to safely respond to an emergency and assist victims without endangering themselves or others.

The theme of 2015 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Engaging Communities, Empowering Victims.” The 2015 NCVRW theme video highlights the importance of building partnerships throughout communities to better address all victims’ needs. 

The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation has created a pamphlet, which is designed to help parents, teachers, and providers begin to understand the complexities of on-line child exploitation.

Commissioned as part of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Defending Childhood initiative, this report from the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence provides recommendations to address the impact of violence on tribal youth (PDF, 258 pages) through trauma-informed and culturally appropriate programs and services. 

This resource provides technical assistance to practitioners in state, local, and tribal justice systems.

This report describes a longitudinal study of 1,162 high school students that examined the impact of family abuse and conflict, self-reported delinquency, and peer delinquency on the development of bullying perpetration, sexual harassment perpetration, and teen dating violence perpetration. 

The Comprehensive Gang Model developed by the OJJDP focuses on community prevention and intervention in balance with law enforcement suppression activities. The model involves five strategies for responding to gang-involved youth and their families. These include community mobilization, opportunities provision, social intervention, suppression, organizational change and development. This brief discusses best practices for implementing the model.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.

This report from the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlines what types of violence children report and what professionals are aware of the reported violence. The report shows that 46 percent of victimized children were known to school, police, or medical authorities. 

This bulletin, from the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, presents findings from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence about the relationship between delinquency and victimization among children and youth. The bulletin highlights the implications of these findings for practitioners in the adolescent development and intervention fields. 

The DoD and DOJ’s OVC collaborated to produce the Advanced Military Sexual Assault Advocate Training curriculum. This 20-hour online course builds on the skills learned during initial certification. This course provides sexual assault advocacy skills training through role-playing scenarios that require course participation and interactivity. The development and implementation of this advanced training is part of DoD’s ongoing efforts to educate response professionals and add to the quality of support that sexual assault victims receive.

Attorney General Eric Holder launched the Defending Childhood initiative, which strives to harness resources from across the Department of Justice to prevent children's exposure to violence; mitigate the negative impact of children's exposure to violence when it does occur, and; develop knowledge and spread awareness about children's exposure to violence.

This resource page from the OJJDP provides a comprehensive summary about girls and delinquency and their involvement in the juvenile justice system. It also covers more in-depth information about how girls develop differently than boys, how this affects their experiences with the juvenile justice system, and why services need to be tailored to their needs. Evaluation of gender-specific programming has shown encouraging results in substance abuse and gang prevention programs for girls.