Quality Pre-Kindergarten: The Key to Crime Prevention and School Success

• NCJ Number: 204267
• Author(s): Arthur J. Reynolds Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 16 pages
• Corporate Author: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
• Sale Source: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis; Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded February 18, 2004.

Annotation

After reviewing research on the impact of quality pre-kindergarten programs on future offending and academic achievement, this paper argues for increased funding to expand the outreach of such programs for low-income families.

Abstract

Long-term research on quality pre-kindergarten programs shows that they reduce subsequent crime rates for participants compared with nonparticipants. For the Michigan High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, children who were not in the program were five times more likely than participants to become chronic offenders as adults. Research on Chicago's federally funded Child-Parent Centers shows that children who did not attend the program were 70 percent more likely than participants to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18. These programs were also found to produce extraordinary academic and economic benefits for their participants. The cost of quality pre-kindergarten programs, however, is out of the reach of low-income families, whose children are at high risk for delinquency and academic failure. The federally funded Head Start program for children in poverty is so underfunded that it can serve only 6 out of 10 eligible children, and those who are served are covered for only part of the time parents are working. The federally funded Child Care and Development Block Grant, which helps low-income parents pay for early education, can serve only one out of seven eligible children, and the funding is not sufficient for parents to purchase quality care. No State comes close to meeting the needs of low-income and moderate-income working families for quality pre-kindergarten programs. Law enforcement leaders and researchers are united in their conviction that pre-kindergarten programs prevent future crime by participants and help develop responsible citizens. Given the cost of crime and the benefits produced by productive citizens, investment in quality pre-kindergarten programs by Federal and State governments is surely cost-effective. 3 figures and 13 notes