Model Citizens
One of the best ways to prevent crime is to increase the graduation rate. Seventy-five percent of prisoners are high school dropouts.1 By becoming a role model or otherwise encouraging a child to stay safe and stay in school, average citizens can encourage students to stay in school and stay out of prison. Considering the high costs of incarceration and the low costs of early intervention through programs such as these, the solutions below may be the most cost effective methods to increase graduation rates and reduce crime rates, making our nation smarter and safer.
These methods of prevention have been so dramatic that even many police officers, including some cities' Chiefs of Police, have recognized their capacity to dramatically decrease serious crime. A California study headed by LA County Sheriff Lee Baca concluded that a 10% increase in graduation rates would decrease homicide and assault rates by 20%, and would prevent over 500 murders and 20,000 aggravated assaults in California every year.2
Pay for Grades
Pay-for-grades programs, in which private donors or local governments agree to pay students to work for better grades, have proven to be an effective (though often controversial) method to increase grades and decrease drop-out rates. But did you know that these programs are also effective and efficient methods to prevent serious crime? According to numerous studies, giving graduation incentives to kids is among the most cost-effective methods of preventing serious crime.
Educating high-risk low-income children is less expensive and more effective than mass incarceration. In 1996, the RAND Corporation compared the effectiveness of "graduation incentives" (paying for grades) to a number of different programs, including Calfornia's "Three-Strikes" law, which mandated severely extended prison sentences for persons who had been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more occassions.3 According to the study, the pay-for-grades plan was the most effective of all plans considered even though it was four times cheaper than the Three Strikes incarceration program.
According to another study, the Quantum Opportunities Program, which implemented financial incentives for low-income ninth graders, caused graduation rates to increase and arrest rates to decrease.4 After two years, participating students were involved in 50% fewer arrests than those who did not participate. Additionally, graduation rates increased in every city in which the program was impemented.
After implementing a pay-for-grades program aimed at increasing Advanced Placement participation, the Dallas School District realized a 30 percent increase in the number of students scoring above 1100 on the SAT or above 24 on the ACT and an 8% increase in students enrolling in Texas universities.5 When a similar program was implemented in New York, students realized a significant increase in grades, including an increase of up to 40% in math and reading scores.6
Tragically, many politicians are uncomfortable with the idea of paying students for grades. Though California has the eighth highest incarceration rate in the country, its state's senate recently refused to vote on a bill that would have implemented the graduation incentives program examined by the RAND study.
Be A Mentor
According to the Department of Justice,7 the support of mentors is a tremendous benefit to children, especially to at-risk youths. The study, which compared the development and behavior of mentored children to those who did not have a mentor, showed that mentored children were less likely to initiate alcohol use, drug use, or violence against others, were more dedicated to their schoolwork, and experienced better relationships with theif parents and their peers.
Acoording to the study, mentored students were 27% less likely to begin using alcohol and 46% less likely to begin using drugs. This decrease was particularly significant amongst minority children, who were were 70% less likely to begin using drugs. Minority "Little Sisters" were about half as likely to start drinking. Mentored children were also significantly less violent; they were 33% less likely to hit another child compared to non-mentored children. Mentored children also showed more dedication to their schoolwork; they skipped school 50% less frequently, were more confident in their school work, and showed significant increases in their grade point averages.
