Muskingum County Sheriff Stephenson Says Pre-Kindergarten Cuts Crime

Oct 3rd 2006

Muskingum County Sheriff Robert J. Stephenson visited the Zanesville Day Nursery pre-kindergarten class, toured the program, read to the kids and said that pre-kindergarten is one of the most effective ways of cutting later crime. Ohio law enforcement leaders kicked off a statewide tour of Ohio Early Childhood Education Program centers to raise awareness of the crime prevention benefits of the program.

Sheriff Stephenson is a member of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS OHIO, a bipartisan anti-crime organization of more than 240 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. Sheriff Stephenson is also President of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association. Cyndy Rees, state director of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS OHIO, joined Sheriff Stephenson in the visit.

“Quality early education programs provide children with the tools they need to succeed in school and life, which research shows will prevent them from getting involved in crime.” said Stephenson.

Over 39,000 violent crimes are committed and more than 48,000 kids are arrested each year in Ohio. Research analyzed by FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS OHIO shows that at-risk kids who attend early childhood education or other quality pre-kindergarten programs are dramatically less likely to commit future crime. Landmark studies of two programs in Ohio’s neighboring states provide the crime prevention evidence.

Michigan’s High/Scope Perry Preschool program randomly assigned at-risk kids to attend a high-quality preschool program. 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 publicly-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. This program will have prevented 33,000 crimes by the time the participants reach adulthood

Yet, the crime prevention benefits of pre-kindergarten do not reach all Ohio children. Nationally, one-third of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds are unable to access pre-kindergarten due to a lack of funding. Only 112,000 of Ohio’s 450,000 three-to-five year olds are served by Early Childhood Education and Head Start programs. Early Childhood Education and the Early Learning Initiative combined only serve 3 percent of Ohio’s three-to-five year olds.

Sheriff Stephenson also noted that in many places in Ohio, the cost of high-quality pre-kindergarten programs almost equal the cost of a year of tuition at Ohio State University ($6,651). The high cost of quality pre-kindergarten forces many families to place their children in low-quality, poorly supervised care, which reduces school readiness and creates long-term remediation, special education, and criminal justice costs for the state.

He said that research has found children who attend high-quality pre-kindergarten are more likely to graduate from high school and get better jobs. Compared to children who did not attend the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, 50 percent more children who attended the program graduated from high school and earned 50 percent in their later jobs.

“Pre-kindergarten gives kids a fair chance to succeed in school.” said Rees. “Ohio’s law enforcement leaders urge our state law makers to increase funding for Ohio Pre-kindergarten to reach all eligible kids in the Buckeye state.”