BASIC FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT YOUTH INTERVENTION

What is youth intervention?

• Youth Intervention is a crime prevention approach that intervenes in youths’ lives precisely at the time when it become apparent that the youth is experiencing difficulty or after they have committed their first crime.  Youth intervention provides services and guidance to keep these children on the right path.
• Youth intervention services include counseling, mentoring, education, restitution, anger management, and conflict resolution.  These services are provided to youth and their families in their own community.

What types of kids need youth intervention?

• Youth intervention deals with kids who are truant, shoplift, vandalize property or commit other petty crimes.  While these crimes are misdemeanors, they often lead to more serious offenses.
• The children served by youth intervention programs are between the ages of 6-18 with the medium age of 14. The earlier a child commits a crime, the more likely the child will become a chronic violent offender.
• One in four shoplifters is a between the ages of 13-17. 

What effect does youth intervention have on the community?

• Youth Intervention Program grantees alone helped more than 20,000 kids last year.  80% of the kids helped did not commit another crime. 
• The cost of providing youth intervention programs is $205 per child per year.  The average cost of a child who enters the juvenile court system is $3,000 per case.
• Costs increase to $56,100 per year if a youth is placed in a group home, $75,300 per year if a youth is sent to a residential treatment facility and $40,200 per year if a youth is placed in a juvenile justice facility.
• A recent Rand Report states that for every $1 spent on youth intervention at least $3 are saved in future spending.