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New
Research Shows Pre-K Programs Increase High School Graduation
Rates by 10 Percentage Points, Cut Murders by 20 Percent
Law Enforcement Leaders
Call on Congress to Fully Fund Head Start to Cut Crime
CONTACT: Contact: Donna
De La Cruz, 202-464-7016
Cassie Harvey, 202-464-7015
FOR
RELEASE: June 21, 2007
June 21, 2007—As
children graduate from high school around the country, law enforcement
leaders today released a new report showing that providing early
education to all at-risk eligible children would result every
year in 50,000 additional high school graduates, 200 fewer murders
and 5,500 fewer assaults.
District Attorneys Lynne Abraham of Philadelphia and Charles “Joe”
Hynes of Brooklyn, N.Y., said investing in early education programs
would not only boost the graduation rate, it would help cut crime.
They discussed the report during a conference call with David
Kass, president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.
Abraham and Hynes are among the more than 3,000 law enforcement
leaders who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national,
anti-crime organization based in Washington, D.C.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that 30 percent
of students nationwide did not graduate from high school in 2004,
the latest figures available. U.S. Department of Justice statistics
show that 68 percent of state prison inmates did not receive a
high school diploma.
Abraham said research shows there is a strong link between high
school graduation and crime, and economists have determined that
increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points would cut
murders and assaults by 20 percent.
“Unfortunately only half of eligible poor preschoolers have
access to Head Start due to inadequate funding,” Abraham
said. “That amounts to a half million kids.”
Hynes said early education programs, like Head Start, help kids
succeed in school and help them avoid criminal behavior. He cited
years of research showing strong outcomes for kids who attended
Head Start programs, including identifying problem behavior early
enough to treat children before their actions get out of control.
“Law enforcement has one simple message for Congress: to
achieve Head Start’s maximum benefits in cutting crime,
Congress must provide enough money so that every eligible child
can get Head Start and have a better shot at graduating from high
school,” Hynes said.
Hynes added that Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is calling on Congress
to increase funding for Head Start by $750 million in 2008 to
restore services to kids to the 2002 levels, as a first step toward
the $6.87 billion increase above the current funding level needed
to provide Head Start to all eligible children.
“Congress needs to invest in our most vulnerable children
now so they don’t become our most wanted criminals later,”
Kass said.
State-by-state Head Start enrollment figures and high school graduation
rates are available at www.fightcrime.org/graduation.php. The
report and news release are also posted on the website.
Click here
to view the full report.
Click here
to view total Head Start enrollment by state. Nationally, Head
Start currently serves less than 50 percent of all eligible 3-and-4-year-olds
each year.
Click here
to view state-by-state high school graduation rate data.
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