Penobscot County Sheriff Ross and Old Town Police Captain Smart Say Head Start Cuts Crime

Jun 6th 2007

OLD TOWN, July 6 - Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross Old Town Police Captain Kyle Smart visited the Old Town Head Start, read to the kids and said that Head Start is one of the most effective ways of cutting later crime. They pledged the support of Maine's law enforcement leaders to Head Start and the campaign to raise awareness of the crime prevention benefits of the program.

Sheriff Ross and Captain Smart are members of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE, a bipartisan anti-crime organization of more than 90 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. It is part of a national organization of more than 3,000 law enforcement members. Kim Gore, state director of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE, joined Sheriff Ross and Captain Smart in the visit.

FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE estimates that by providing high-quality Head Start to all eligible at-risk Maine children, as many as 150 children could be prevented from committing crimes when they grow up.

"My professional experience and the research tells me that Head Start is one of the most powerful weapons we have in the fight against crime," said Smart. "Head Start gives at-risk pre-schoolers the right start in life today and that translates into preventing hundreds of Maine youngsters, and well as potential victims, from the anguish of crime tomorrow."

The 2006 Uniform Crime Report statistics released last month reveal a troubling upward trend in violent crime in Maine. Overall, serious crime increased 4.6 percent. At the same time, 7,740 Maine kids were arrested for criminal behavior. Research analyzed by FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS MAINE shows that at-risk kids who attend Head Start or other quality preschool programs are dramatically less likely to commit future crime. One national survey of Head Start graduates found that adults who attended Head Start as children were nearly 10 percent less likely to be arrested or charged with a crime than their siblings who did not attend Head Start.

Yet, the crime prevention benefits of Head Start do not reach all Maine children. Sixty-eight percent-or 8,500 children-of Maine's at-risk kids who are eligible for Head Start and Early Head Start are shut out of classrooms and programs.

"Law enforcement leaders know that early education equals lower crime," Ross said. "Quality early education programs like Head Start provide children with the tools they need to succeed in school and life."

The Old Town Head Start classroom includes twenty-seven 3- to 5-year olds and is part of the Penquis CAP Child Development Center, a multi-age, multi-room childcare and Head Start center. The Old Town center serves children ranging in age from six weeks to 5 years, providing care for infants, toddlers, and a Head Start program. Thirty-seven children and their families participate in programs at the Old Town Center.

Two landmark studies prove the crime prevention successes of Head Start. The High/Scope Perry Preschool program randomly assigned at-risk kids to attend a high-quality preschool program similar to Head Start. By the age of 40, the grown-up children who did not attend the preschool were four times more likely to have been arrested for drug felonies and nearly twice as likely to be arrested for multiple violent crimes. Chicago's government-funded Child-Parent Centers found that at-risk kids left out of the program were 70 percent more likely to have been arrested for a violent crime before their 18th birthday compared to similar kids who participated in the program. Furthermore, the Chicago Child-Parent centers cut the abuse and neglect of children in the program in half compared to similar children not in the program. Researchers project that this program will have prevented 33,000 crimes by the time the participants reach adulthood.

"The research is clear - Head Start reduces crime and improved educational performance," said Gore. "Head Start is a wise investment on many fronts and it's one of the best crime prevention strategies we have. Maine's law enforcement leaders appreciate Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Congressman Michael Michaud's support of Head Start and encourages them to continue to support the increase of federal dollars so more of Maine's eligible kids can participate."

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