JUVENILE VIOLENCE
Juvenile violence refers to criminal acts performed by minors. A juvenile crime offender can be placed in a detention centre designed for minors depending on the crime committed. For minor offenses the juvenile might also be released to the custody of a parent or a legal guardian.
Ways to prevent juvenile violence:
 Early intervention; the first line of defense against youth violence is the establishment of comprehensive services and programs. Success in school and life requires that children be prepared when schooling begins, the services and programs should be designed to reach out and respond to the youth from infancy to adulthood. Programs that build self esteem through achievement of goals and offers an alternative to violence and criminal activities are critical to the successful reduction of crime, violence and gang activities in our neighborhoods.
 Involve the community; the surrounding community must be engaged in violence prevention activities that support the school based efforts. In addition parents and care givers should reinforce the learning that goes on inside the classroom.
 Provide education, employment and training opportunities to youths in high-crime areas, this will help them get busy and they won’t think of engaging in such criminal activities.
 There should be heavy penalties for those who encourage underage drinking, illegally sell or transfer firearms or engage in drug trafficking or gang violence at or near a child care or school site, park or other areas where children and youth congregate.
 Ensure that youths who have committed crimes should be accountable for their actions and guarantee that they develop the competencies necessary to become responsible and productive members of their communities.
 Prevention of substance abuse, and ensuring that state-of-the-art treatment programs are available to those youth who have become chemically dependent or have a significant drug abuse problem
 Involve the youth in counseling, peer support, conflict resolution skills and also mentoring which are helpful.
 Special programs designed by the government to respond to youth involvement in gangs and illegal drug activities and other forms of violent crimes should be harmonized with the appropriate state agencies.
All in all the most important way of preventing juvenile violence is from the parents and school because they all start there and so they should be molded in the right way and they will never deviate from it.
References;
Mc. Cord, Spats Widom, C & Crowell, N.A (Eds) (2001) Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice. Washington DC.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.154.2287&rep=rep1&type=pdf.