The growing up fast diversion program: An example of juvenile justice program development for outcome evaluation

Current levels of juvenile crime and a review of juvenile justice programming outcomes reveal the need for prevention-oriented, family-based juvenile crime reduction programming. This article presents the Growing Up FAST: Families and Adolescents Surviving and Thriving Diversion Program as an illustration of a logic-model–based approach to the development, implementation, and eventual outcome evaluation of a juvenile crime prevention program. It describes the development of a program logic model that has both intermediate outcomes (reduced risky behavior and increased family functioning) and initial outcomes (awareness of goals associated with successful adulthood and identification of the resources that will help achieve these goals) that are linked to the longer-term outcome of reduced recidivism. Program outputs that contribute to initial outcomes are presented in a detailed description of five interrelated programming levels. Descriptive data on youth and families who have been referred to this program also are provided, as well as descriptions of the outcome measures being utilized with these families. With such logically derived initial and intermediate outcomes, Growing Up FAST is thought to exemplify a crime-prevention program that is family-based and can be reliably evaluated for outcomes early in its implementation.