by
Greenwood, Peter, W.
Call Number
364.360973 21
Publication Date
1998
Summary
In combating crime in America, little attention has been paid to keeping children from becoming criminals. What benefit might be realized from such an approach, and at what cost? Working from limited data on program efficacy and on criminal careers, the authors of this report made rough estimates of the costs and benefits of four early interventions--prenatal home visits by child care professionals, followed by four years of day care; training for parents with young children who have shown aggressive behavior; incentives to induce disadvantaged high-school students to graduate; and monitoring and supervising young delinquents. All except the first appeared to be at least as cost-effective as a popular but very different approach to crime reduction--California's "three-strikes" law. The advantages of parent training and graduation incentives in particular are so large that some advantage is likely to be found even under assumptions differing substantially from those made here. This report updates information contained in MR-699-UCB/RC/IF, published in 1996.
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2194.5776
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by
Karoly, Lynn A., 1961-
Call Number
362.70973 21
Publication Date
1998
Summary
There is increasing evidence that the first few years after birth are particularly important in child development and present opportunities for enrichment but also vulnerabilities do to poverty and other social stressors. Elected officials have begun proposing potentially costly programs to intervene early in the lives of disadvantaged children. Have such interventions been demonstrated to yield substantial benefits? To what extent might they pay for themselves through lower welfare and criminal justice costs incurred by participating children as they grow into adults? This study synthesizes the results of a number of previous evaluations in an effort to answer those questions. Conclusions are that under carefully controlled conditions, early childhood interventions can yield substantial advantages to recipients in terms of emotional and cognitive development, education, economic well-being, and health. (The latter two benefits apply to the children's families as well.) If these interventions can be duplicated on a large scale, the costs of the programs could be exceeded by subsequent savings to the government. However, the more carefully the interventions are targeted to children most likely to benefit, the more likely it is that savings will exceed costs. Unfortunately, these conclusions rest on only a few methodologically sound studies. The authors argue for broader demonstrations accompanied by rigorous evaluations to resolve several important unknowns. These include the most efficient ways to design and target programs, the extent to which effectiveness is lost on scale-up, and the implications of welfare reform and other "safety net" changes.
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2194.4678
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