We Kid You Not Childfree Forums

I guess I am aging myself because when I was in high school, I only knew two people that didn't graduate on time and only a handful of drop-outs. I also had friends and relatives that attended other high schools in the same city as well as in different states, provinces and cities and it was pretty much the same stats for them.

I mean, these are minors committing these crimes and racking up these expenses for the state.

Times have changed I guess....and another reason I am so glad I do not have a child. I do not think I would deal with a super-rebellious, law-breaking, trouble-making teen very well.


Juvenile Crime

ARTICLE:
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.

Argh! Causality, causality, causality. They think that keeping kids in school will keep them from being criminals, but how about this possibility... the kids are already criminals but once they become successful at it they start going to school less and eventually drop out when they see that they get paid better for the crime than for being in school. I'm not saying that this is the case, but either option seems plausible to me.

(09-24-2009 11:07 PM)Ziggy Wrote: [ -> ]Argh! Causality, causality, causality. They think that keeping kids in school will keep them from being criminals, but how about this possibility... the kids are already criminals but once they become successful at it they start going to school less and eventually drop out when they see that they get paid better for the crime than for being in school. I'm not saying that this is the case, but either option seems plausible to me.

Haha! So where are all the great parents in these cases? See, this, to me, is just another reason why not everyone should be breeding. Not all innocent babies grow up to be good citizens.....although there are a lot of people that would never want to hear this.

Where do these kids learn these bad behaviors? I would bet the vast majority learned how to break rules and laws in the comfort of their own home.

I agree. If people would stop breeding - or those who didn't want to really discipline their kid and enforce rules - things would get better. How about THAT for intervention?

Why, don't you know? - in California, all the criminals are immigrants! See, if we just tighten the borders, we'll never have bad kids costing the gubmint so much money!

Read a great article this morning on what's wrong with California. Must find it and post it here.

Three teenagers were just arrested locally for killing a college kid - robbery gone wrong, apparently. Nowadays many of these kids have no supervision at all in their homes. I've had teachers tell me that the kids don't even have anyone who cares if they eat dinner or not and there's no food in their houses. They have to fend for themselves starting at a very young age.

It's really, really sad. Abortion and b/c should be 100% free and handed out like candy. MAYBE then some of these people who really don't appear to want kids wouldn't reproduce.

These parents should have to refund every tax credit or welfare handout they have receive.