Voice of The Southern: Spend a little, save even more
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That’s the way it is in fighting crime, too. Crime prevention is far more cost effective than paying for the police, prosecutors, public defenders, court staff, expert witnesses, judges and prisons that are pressed into duty because of crime. We can pay a little now or pay a lot later.
That was the pitch Union County State’s Attorney Tyler Edmonds and other crime fighters involved in “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois” made to state lawmakers during March. The assembled prosecutors, police chiefs and sheriffs expressed concern over continued cuts in early childhood education programs.
As we reported in Tuesday’s newspaper, the money spent early on children may be even more cost effective than speedy repairs and preventative maintenance. Edmonds referred to a preschool study conducted in Michigan that indicated children who didn’t participate in preschool programs were five times more likely to be arrested later in life for drug-related felony crimes and twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes.