ILLINOIS–Cook County Sheriff Dart, Chicago FOP President Donahue: Preschool Cuts Future Violent Crime

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Sally Puleo, spuleo@fightcrime.org
Phone: 630-677-8673

Chicago (Nov. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue visited a Chicago state-funded preschool classroom today, citing evidence that preschool is effective in reducing future violent crime.

Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie joined Dart and Donahue to discuss law enforcements support for expanding the availability of preschool.

From a law enforcement perspective, the preschool years are a golden opportunity, Dart said. This is the time when children develop the ability to listen, relate to their peers, follow instructions, cooperate, and solve problems constructively. These are the skills that will keep kids in the classroom, and will keep them out of jail in the future.

The group read to preschool children at the Chicago Child Care Society, which partners with Chicago Public Schools to provide state-funded preschool to three- and four-year-olds.

Over the past eight years, Illinois has expanded the availability of preschool for families. With the Preschool for All program, Chicago preschools serve 25,000 three- and four- year-olds in state-funded preschool. However, there are still almost 30,000 Chicago children from families who cannot afford to pay for quality preschool on their own.

“Crime is expensive, but we wont need to pay to clean up after more crime if we invest in kids now, Donahue said. After many years as a law enforcement professional I can tell you that this chance, to avoid immeasurable pain and suffering in our communities caused by youth violence, is invaluable.”

Law enforcements experience and rigorous research supports the value of preschool. A study of the Perry Preschool in Michigan tracked at-risk children who attended the program and similar children that did not attend. At age 27, adult non-participants were five times more likely to have been arrested for drug felonies and twice as likely to have been arrested for violent crimes. Another study of the publicly funded Child-Parent Centers in Chicago found that kids left out of the program were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested by age 18 than those who participated.

Dart and Donahue are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois. At the news conference, the organization acknowledged Curries long-time dedication to early childhood education with the Champion for Children Award. In 1985, Currie was a sponsor of legislation that created the states at-risk preschool program, and she again co-sponsored legislation that created the Preschool for All program in 2006.

Majority Leader Currie has done a fantastic job raising awareness about early childhood development, Dart said.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois has over 300 members, and is the state office of a national, non-profit, bipartisan, anti-crime organization of more than 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, leaders of law enforcement organizations, and victims of crime.

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