New York Law Enforcement: Dropout Rates Fueling Violent Crime
Sep 3rd 2008
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Law enforcement leaders from FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS NY met on the steps of the State Department of Education today to push for increased high school graduation rates to help cut crime.
The group of sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors and crime survivors released a report showing that by increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points, 180 murders and 9,100 aggravated assaults will be prevented in New York every year. The new report entitled “School or the Streets: Crime and New York’s Dropout Crisis” includes research showing that high quality preschool programs are the best deterrent against the state’s high dropout rates.
A 40-year study of the Perry Preschool Program in Ypsilanti, Michigan, showed that children left out of the program were five times more likely to become chronic offenders by age 27 than those who participated. Similarly, studies of the Chicago Child Parent Center early education program showed that kids left out of the program were 70% more likely to have been arrested for a violent crime by age 18 than those who participated.
“Far too often, today’s dropouts are tomorrow’s criminals,” said Monroe County District Attorney Michael Greene. “We want kids earning diplomas instead of rap sheets. We know that high quality preschool is an investment that can help us achieve this goal.”
Nearly 70% of all inmates in our nation’s prisons failed to earn a high school diploma. Research shows that high school dropouts are three-and-a-half times more likely than graduates to be arrested and eight times more likely to be incarcerated. In New York, 31 percent of students fail to graduate on schedule.
“It just isn’t acceptable that 31% of our students fail to graduate each year,” said state director Meredith Wiley. “But that is the state average. In many of our cities, it is actually much worse. All over the state kids are failing. In Buffalo it’s 54%, in Rochester—52%, in New York City—48% are failing, in Syracuse—49%. And here in Albany, 33% of our kids are failing to get their high school diplomas.”
New York’s dropout crisis not only threatens public safety, it also damages New York’s economy. Dropouts earn less pay, pay fewer taxes, and are more likely to be on welfare. A study done by economists on the Perry Preschool program showed that it saved $16 for every $1 invested. If New York could increase male high school graduation rates by 10 percent, it would produce $573 million in annual crime related savings and an additional $340 million in earnings for a total benefit of approximately $913 million.
“To those who say, ‘We can’t afford to do this,’ I say we can’t afford not to do it,” said Michael Amato, Montgomery County Sheriff and president of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association. “Preschool helps put our kids on the path to a productive life as citizens and taxpayers. It is past time to make high quality early childhood education available to every New York Child.”
The law enforcement leaders expressed appreciation to the Governor and legislature for the recent progress that has increased funding for the state’s Universal Pre-K Program to bring the total number of children served from 93,000 in FY 2007-2009 to 120,000 this school year. But they pointed that we have a long way to go.
Of particular concern is the number of school districts that have not used their allocated money, due to a variety of concerns. And they called on the Governor, the legislature, the State Department of Education and local school boards to work together to make preschool available for every child for which there is currently funding.
Another concern is the issue of quality. High quality is essential to achieving the crime prevention benefits of early childhood care and education. The law enforcement leaders called for the adoption of a quality initiative that would establish statewide standards, provide incentives for early child care and education providers to upgrade their programs, and create a star rating system to assist parents in finding a program suitable for their child.
“Our jails and prisons are filled with people who didn’t get a good start in life,” said Rensselaer County District Attorney Richard McNally. The key to reducing dropouts and preventing crime is increasing funding for high quality Universal Pre-K, Head Start and child care for all high risk kids. If we don’t we risk consigning a lot of today’s young children to a life of crime.
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS NY is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization led by more than 250 New York sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors and crime survivors. Nationally there are more than 4,000 members.
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To view the report: http://www.fightcrime.org/reports/fcik-dropout-ny.pdf
