National Juvenile Firesetter/Arson Control and Prevention Program

This publication helps to develop a comprehensive juvenile firesetter prevention training workshop for the various agency professionals who work with juvenile firesetters. Juveniles are responsible for a significant proportion of both the accidental and intentional fires that occur each year in the United States. Since the mid-1970's, national, state, and local officials have been turning more attention to the problem of juvenile firesetting and have experimented with various approaches to reducing it. Nonetheless, many experts believe that there are significant gaps in our knowledge and practice. In response to these concerns, in 1987 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) began a new research and development program intended to conceptualize, design, develop, and evaluate a variety of community-based approaches to prevent and control juvenile firesetting. The initiative was known as the National Juvenile Firesetter/Arson Control and Prevention Program (NJF/ACP). This Users' Guide is designed to accompany The Juvenile Firesetter/Arson Control and Prevention Program (JFACPP) Program Materials. The Users' Guide is intended to accomplish the following objectives: 1. To provide a summary of how to plan and implement a juvenile firesetter/arson control and prevention program. This is achieved by outlining critical decision points in building each component of the juvenile firesetter/arson program. The result is a cookbook format that guides the reader from the planning to the execution of an effective community program. 2. To highlight the key information contained in The JFACPP Guidelines for Implementation.