Washington Co. Law Enforcement Back Early Learning To Cut Crime
Contact:
Martha Brooks
Cell: (503) 577-4715 Office: (503) 649-2068
mbrooks@fightcrime.org
HILLSBORO, ORE. — As the state legislature considers a budget that would significantly reduce the number of children served by the state’s pre-kindergarten program, Hillsboro Chief of Police Lila Ashenbrenner and Washington County District Attorney Bob Hermann signaled their support for early education in a visit to a local Head Start center.
Prior to reading to the Head Start students, Ashenbrenner and Hermann cited the educational benefits of pre-kindergarten, which boosts pre-literacy and learning skills and helps children adapt well to grade school. The law enforcement leaders also said that children who benefit from early education are much less likely to engage in crime as adults.
“This isn’t just a head start for learning, it’s a head start on fighting crime. These early years are fundamental to everything that comes after, because success follows success, and the opposite is true, too. Early education is a crime prevention strategy that we need,” Hermann said.
A long-term study of Michigan’s Perry Preschool Program, which has served as a model for subsequent early education programs, found that children who did not attend the high-quality program were five times more likely to be chronic offenders than children who did participate.
The children who did benefit from the early learning were 44 percent more likely to finish high school than their peers who missed out. By age 40, the children who attended were half as likely to be arrested for a violent crime.
They were also more likely to be employed and less likely to collect welfare payments. The Perry program saved the public $16 for every dollar invested through reductions in crime-related costs, welfare and other expenses.
“When kids miss out on early learning, they’re more likely to fall behind, drop out and find themselves out of options. That’s when they’re really at risk to make the wrong decisions and wind up criminals,” Ashenbrenner said. “With our public safety at stake, we shouldn’t gamble with the education of young children. Let’s not take any chances and make sure our kids get a great start.”
Oregon has in recent years made advances in providing early education to more at-risk children, said Martha Brooks, state director for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, but tight budgets have prompted officials to propose major cuts to Head Start. The cutbacks would translate to 4,000 fewer 3- and 4-year-olds served each year.
“This is a tough time for Oregon’s budget. We need to be judicious about which programs receive funding, but we should at least not cut Head Start,” Brooks said. “We only have one shot to get kids the right start so they can succeed in school and stay on the right side of the law. If the cuts go through, it will be a missed opportunity for thousands of young children, and taxpayers will foot the bill in years to come.”
Hermann and Ashenbrenner are members of FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS Oregon, an anti-crime group of over 170 chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and violence survivors statewide and 5,000 nationally.
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