Pennsylvania Fact Sheet

Quick two-page fact sheet

Preventing Crime with Pre-kindergarten: A Critical Investment in Pennsylvania's Safety

Early Education News

Pennsylvania's law enforcement leaders work everyday to put dangerous criminals behind bars. From years on the front line fighting crime, police chiefs, district attorneys, and sheriffs know that we can reduce crime with a commitment to investing in pre-kindergarten, Head Start and educational childcare that keep kids from ever becoming criminals. The evidence is clear. Quality pre-k readies kids to learn, involves parents, reinforces respect and responsibility for others, and reduces behavior problems that can spiral out of control. Long-term tracking of kids who participated in the High Scope/Perry Preschool program shows that at-risk children left out of this quality pre-kindergarten program were five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-kindergarten. Quality pre-kindergarten also saves up to $17 for every $1 invested.

A 2003 poll commissioned by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania shows that 80% of Pennsylvania's police chiefs, sheriffs, and district attorneys agreed that providing quality pre-kindergarten programs for four-year-old children of low- and moderate-income working parents will help children succeed in school and ultimately prevent crime and violence when the children grow up.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Pennsylvania reports on Pre-K, early education, child care and Head Start:

"The law enforcement community understands that making sure at-risk children have access to Head Start and other quality pre-kindergarten programs is one of the most important steps we can take to keep kids from becoming criminals, and to keep innocent Pennsylvanians from becoming crime victims. It's just common sense to invest more in these programs now."

-Steve Suknaic, Director of the Dauphin County Juvenile Probation Office

Membership Info >

• Head Start narrows the literary skills gap by nearly half between children in poverty and all U.S. children.
• Eight out of 10 kindergarten teachers polled say that poorly prepared kids that didn't attend pre-kindergarten negatively impact well-prepared kids.