The rising prominence of adolescent violence among national concerns has prompted increasing
demands for efforts to curb this urgent problem. These demands have resulted in a torrent of
programs by schools, neighborhood organizations, police, courts, social services, and health
agencies. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these programs has seldom been tested. Most have been
local community responses, packaged curricula that can be “plugged into” ongoing classes, or
attempts to apply programs developed for other problems. Although often based on good intentions
and promising ideas, these programs have rarely been subjected to empirical evaluation of their
actual impact on adolescent violence. It is not uncommon to find groups claiming the effectiveness
of a program simply because it serves a large number of persons or has existed for a substantial
period of time, or because testimonials have been collected from clients and authority figures.
Although these may represent desirable features of interventions, they have been too often persuasive
in place of any demonstrated effects. This proliferation of programs without adequate empirical
evaluation begs the question: What actually works to reduce adolescent violence?