Preventing youth violence

ChicagoJune 2, 2012

Committed Criminals

Committed Criminals

U.S. incarceration rate, 1925-2008prisoners per 100,000 population

A different view of why people commit

crime

BLUE

Stop, Look & Listen in CPS 2009-10

“Becoming a Man” (Youth Guidance & World Sport Chicago)27 week, 1 hour / week, 10-15 students / groupAverage participant attends just 13 group sessions Example: “The Fist”

Our new Crime Lab research spokesperson

EMBED VIDEO CLIP OF MAYOR EMANUEL TALKING ABOUT BAM RESULTS AND $2 MILLION EXPANSION HERE

1.73

Which kids we work with

Which kids we work with

1.7335%

Let’s raise the bar

Stop, Look & Listen works w/ highest-risk kids too

10 minutes

Most violent offenders not bad kids; just made bad decision?Non-poor kids make bad decisions, too – but have safety nets Detention staff leader: “If I let you kids redo just 10 minutes of your lives, none of you would be here”

Program logic (rather than specifics) matter? Scalability

Potentially huge returns; every dollar spent on Stop, Look & Listen generates $2 to $30 in benefits to society

We may have (tragically) misdiagnosed this whole problem...

Violence goes down (a lot)

* p<.10, ** p<0.05, *** p<.01