This study is aimed at identifying causes of delinquency and means of prevention to deterrnthe prevalence of youth delinquency. It mainly focused on both male and female delinquents whornare involved in delinquent behavior and under treatment and rehabilitation in the remand homernand center for rehabilitation. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative researchrnmethods. Random sampling technique was used to select 50 male and 10 female delinquents andrnother participants of the study. In addition to this two crime investigator police officers fromrnLideta sub-city police department were purposively selected to participate as key informants ofrnthe study. The primary data was mainly collected through in-depth interviews and administrationrnof the questionnaire, after which pre-coding, coding, categorizing and theme were developed forrnanalysis. The data from qualitative method was analyzed thematically by coding the inputs fromrnthe responses. The data from quantitative method was cleaned and organized in the table andrnthen analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentages, frequencies and presentation followedrnby illustrative explanation. The findings of this study was indicated that economic problem, peerrnpressure, environmental influence, parental alcoholism and overcrowding family, lack orrninadequate family support, breakdown of families as a result of divorce and death, lack of properrnchild development and care skills, the influence of medias (films, TV shows and video), illegalrnchild trafficking, street life and less involvement of social institutions in preventing delinquentrnbehavior are the major causing factors of delinquency. The finding also showed that workingrnwith the family, the school and involving social institutions, working on awareness creation onrnthe community at large, providing child care related trainings for parents, proper socializationrnof children by the family, school and religious institutions, establishment and expansion ofrncommunity-based correctional centers, strengthening the prevention work undertaken byrncommunity policing, enhancing economic development through hard work in both rural andrnurban areas, teaching about the effect of delinquency and crime in religions institutions andrnschools besides their formal teachings and improving the existing gap of the law used to treatrnchildren by the courts were among the major ways of preventing delinquency. The findings of thernstudy was also showed the role social institutions can play in preventing delinquent behaviorrnbefore it has occurred as well as it indicated the influence of youth delinquency to develop thernbehavior of criminality in the latter age. The study has implications for social work profession,rnfuture researchers, for juvenile justice/court system and for school of social work in dealing withrnthe problem of delinquencyrnKey Words: Delinquency, Cause, Means, Prevention