America's law enforcement leaders know from experience and the research that the hours from 2 to 6 PM on school days are the "prime time for juvenile crime." More than seven school-age children in every ten are in households where both parents or the only parent are in the workforce. On a regular basis, 14 million children and teens are left unsupervised by adults after the school day ends. Studies show that after school is the peak time for teens to commit crime, be a victim of crime, be in or cause a car crash and smoke, drink or use drugs. Quality, constructive and highly supervised programs can cut crime immediately and convert after school hours into safe learning time. One high-quality program found that boys left out of the program averaged six times more crimes than teens in the program. A study of Boys & Girls clubs showed that housing projects without the clubs had 50 percent more vandalism and 37 percent worse drug activity than projects with the clubs. Teens in one California after-school program were half as likely to be rearrested than teens not in the program.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids reports on after-school:

"Two teenage sisters wanted to become Explorers (a local after-school program). When you're 16 years old and your family disintegrates, that's pretty traumatic. Ironically, [one] girl wound [up] getting pregnant, dropping out of college and flushed her life down the toilet. The other one stuck with the Explorers, got herself through college on scholarships and ended up as an officer with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, and is still doing very well. It's amazing to me what some kids can do when they are put in an environment where they are encouraged and get some positive feedback."

-Gary Smith, Chief of Police, Northfield, Minnesota

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• The single hour most likely for a teen to commit a violent crime-homicide, rape, robbery, or assault-is between 3 PM and 4 PM.
• High school kids commit four out of five juvenile crimes in California.