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Joan McCord’s follow-up study of the Cambridge–Somerville Youth Project showed that even well-intentioned, well-implemented prevention programs sometimes have harmful effects on participants. She reported that peer reinforcement of delinquent behaviors or bragging about delinquent behaviors that occurred during summer camp experiences provided as part of the project might explain the negative outcomes observed for treatment boys. We explored this “deviancy training” mechanism in the context of an evaluation of an after-school program. The study found that peer deviancy training does occur in the context of after-school programs, that it is more likely to occur during less structured activities, and that more violent behavior also occurs during these less structured times. Also, the amount of adult supervision that is afforded in after-school programs did not counteract the reinforcing effect of peers. Finally, we showed that while teaching a prevention curriculum that was part of the after-school program, the most effective group leaders provided positive reinforcement for students’ pro-deviancy expressions. A scale assessing beliefs that illegal, violent, and risky behaviors are common and acceptable in the peer group favored the control students in the programs in which group leaders were observed providing this positive reinforcement. Implications for prevention programming are discussed. J Exp Criminol (2010) 6:229–243 DOI 10.1007/s11292-010-9101-9 This work was supported in part through grant number R305F050069 from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences, to the University of Maryland. I wish to thank Amanda B. Cross, Denise M. Wilson, and Melissa Rorie, former or current graduate students in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, and Nadine Connell, Law and Justice Studies Department, Rowan University, whose work is summarized herein. I also thank Elise Andrews of the Baltimore County Local Management Board and Beahta Davis and the staff of the Baltimore County Dept. of Recreation and Parks for implementing and managing the after-school programs. Thanks also to Matthew Brigham, Stephanie DiPietro, Matt Gugino, Lynda Okeke, Freshta Rahimi, and Jaynie Trageser for research assistance, and to Gary Gottfredson for advice on an earlier draft. D. C. Gottfredson (*) Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, 2220D LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742-8235, USA e-mail: [email protected] Author's personal copy