Dropouts costing California $1.1 billion annually in juvenile crime costs

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Study finds that cutting the dropout rate in half would save $550 million and prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes a year. Law enforcement urges more dropout-prevention programs.

By Seema Mehta, LA Times

High school dropouts, who are more likely to commit crimes than their peers with diplomas, cost the state $1.1 billion annually in law enforcement and victim costs while still minors, according to a study being released today.

The California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara found that cutting the dropout rate in half would prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes and save $550 million every year.

"This study demonstrates the immediate impact dropouts have on both public safety and the economy," said project Director Russell W. Rumberger. "If California could reduce the dropout rate, it could subsequently reduce the juvenile crime rate and its staggering impact on the state budget."

Drop-out statistics are notoriously difficult to pinpoint, but according to the state Department of Education, nearly 19% of students don't graduate from high school. In Los Angeles County, the figure is more than one in five, and at some L.A. schools, fewer than half of students graduate within four years.

The California Dropout Research Project previously studied the economic effect of not finishing high school and found that for each group of 20-year-olds who fail to complete high school (roughly 120,000 per year), the economic loss is $46.4 billion.

Lawmakers asked the group to study the immediate costs of dropping out, so they focused on juvenile crime.

Law enforcement applauded the research and urged more intervention programs to target students at risk of dropping out.

"The connection between dropping out of school and juvenile crime is very clear," said Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. "The simple fact is if kids aren't in school, they're much more likely to be on the streets causing trouble, engaging in criminal activities such as burglary, thefts, graffiti and arsons."

Dyer and others urged the governor to sign legislation, SB 651, which would require the state Department of Education to produce an annual report that accurately depicts the number of students not finishing school. The report would also identify early signs that a student might be on the path to dropping out, such as truancy. Such indicators would allow schools to target at-risk students.

"Dropout prevention is crime prevention," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, chairman of the board of the nonprofit Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a bipartisan effort by law enforcement officials and crime victims. "Schools need better tools for identifying potential dropouts so they can target interventions at the kids who need them most."

Rumberger said the savings from reduced crime could be used to fund drop-out prevention efforts.

"Interventions pay for themselves," he said, noting that the state will see $2 in savings for every $1 invested.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dr...story?track=rss

Edited September 24, 2009 by Col. 'Bat' Guano

[DEDixon 39]

Cut illegal immigration and we'll see better results.

[Heracles 417]

Cut illegal immigration and we'll see better results.

California would rather shut their schools down than not cater of illegals.

Check out each states ranking in terms of education:

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_bes_e...-educated-index

By the way, what is the minimum age you can drop out from school here? It was 16 in my state of Victoria.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

California sucks. It's full of illegals and homos. And Eric.

[SuperDuper! 230]

LA Unified School district is a basket case full of illegals, and a breeding ground for the next generation of prisoners in the big house. So tragic. Many parents will do anything to get their kids in a private school to save them!

[britty 1]

they probably aren't bright enough to finish school anyway....

[Ban Hammer 14,206]

they probably aren't bright enough to finish school anyway....

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

I love them thar pubic schools!

[Amby 490]

Cut illegal immigration and we'll see better results.

California would rather shut their schools down than not cater of illegals.

Check out each states ranking in terms of education:

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/edu_bes_e...-educated-index

By the way, what is the minimum age you can drop out from school here? It was 16 in my state of Victoria.

I think it's 16 here too

[SuperDuper! 230]

I love them thar pubic schools!

Me too. I will always need someone to change my oil and scoop up fries with my double double burger!

[Joseph & Ana 0]

They need to stop letting liberals run that state (including Arnold)

Maybe elect Meg Whitman this time round.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

CA's school problems aren't going to get any better now that the State has slashed budgets across the board due to their tanking economy.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Gene Hunt

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://temasekreview.com/?bVslaju3

During my visit to ITE, I was briefed alongside a visiting journalist from China, who told me that his country wants to learn from Singapore’s success in offering educational alternatives to low-achieving students.

“By the time you are 10, you are put on a stream,” says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and one of the country’s best-known intellectuals. “No brain is wasted in Singapore.”

Ninety percent of 18-year-old students finish either junior college, polytechnic institutes that focus on engineering or nursing, or vocational schools that train hair-styling professionals, cosmetologists and assistant nurses. Among those who go on to universities — NUS has 35,000 applications a year, for 6,000 openings — 50 percent pursue part of their studies in the United States, Europe or other foreign countries.

Maybe we need to learn from sinapore. A great deal of our problem is from out liberal welfare system. Acorn and uncle sam will take care of you. In China if you do not do well in school you can sweep the streets. Why can students from asian countries land here and ALL the children become sucessfull. Parents don't put up with any ####### and they make sure the child studies. It all starts in the home.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Of course its the welfare system - after all, there must always be a villain for people to shake their fists at

A larger problem of course might be chronic underfunding in the education system (going back decades). What incentive is there to be a teacher when you have to use your own money to buy classroom supplies.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Of course its the welfare system - after all, there must always be a villain for people to shake their fists at

A larger problem of course might be chronic underfunding in the education system (going back decades). What incentive is there to be a teacher when you have to use your own money to buy classroom supplies.

So your villain is people who aren't funding the school. I guess you have your villains to shake your fist at as well.