Youth crime is, both nationally and internationally, a dilemma affecting the social environment of a country. On the one hand, community factors contribute to the occurrence of youth offending and, on the other, the community is responsible for taking corrective action against those youth who commit crimes. The purpose of this article is to present findings from a South African study on this dual role of the community. Although much information exists on juvenile crime, there is still a limited amount of information available on the effectiveness of community-based intervention programs, specifically in the South African context. Not only is the discussion directed at contributing factors to youth crime originating in the community, but the complexities of community-based diversion programs in the South African context are explored.

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