Georgia School Age Care Association

Georgia School Age
Care Association

Quality After School Programs, Our Most Powerful Weapon Against Crime

Quality youth development programs can cut crime dramatically by offering school-age kids a safe haven from negative influences & providing constructive activities that teach them the values and skills they need to succeed.
A study of an after-school recreation program in a public housing project compared juvenile arrests with those in another housing project providing only minimal recreational services. The number of juvenile arrest declined by 75% in the project served by the after-school program, but increased by 67% in the comparison project.
A Columbia University study of housing projects in which Boys and Girls Clubs had been established as a prt of the Justice Department's "Operation Weed and Seed" program showed that arrests of juveniles were 13% lower than in projects without a Club. Drug activity was 22% lower in projects with a Club.
A recent study of low-income children attending high-quality after-school programs showed that the children spend more time in academically enriching activities and less time watching television, got along better with others, and had better grades and school conduct that other children.
A Ventures study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters' carefully-designed mentoring program showed that young people assigned to receive a trained mentor were only about half as likely to begin illegal drug use or to hit someone as those randomly assigned to the control group.
Recent study at University of Wisconsin showed after-school programs had reduced vandalism and helped children become more cooperative, better at handling conflicts, more interested in reading, and better students.
Economist Steven Barnett found that the High/Scope Foundation's Perry Preschool study saved $150,000 per participant in crime costs alone. Even after subtracting the interest that could have been earned by investing the program's funding in financial markets, the project produced a net savings of $7.16 including more than six dollars in crime savings for every dollar invested.
Professor Mark Cohen of Vanderbilt University estimates that preventing one high-risk youth from becoming a criminal saves at least $1.5 million taxpayer dollars.

From Early Childhood Care and After School Program http://www.fightcrime.org