After-School News

Michigan's law enforcement leaders know from experience and the research that the hours from 3 to 6 PM on school days are the "prime time for juvenile crime." Six school-age Michigan children in every ten are in households where both parents or the only parent are in the workforce. On a regular basis, 27 percent of Michigan children and teens are responsible for taking care of themselves. 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. Another study of one California after-school program showed that teens in the program were half as likely to be rearrested than teens not in the program.

The Michigan After-School Partnership is a statewide after-school resource network. The Partnership's goal is to ensure that every school-age child in Michigan has access to after-school programming. It was requested by the Legislature with support from the Governor and is co-chaired by five state agencies with funding by the state and private foundations. This is a perfect example of a public/private partnership that is working to help Michigan's children.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Michigan 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.