By keeping low-risk youth offenders in their own community, we keep them in school. Youth that go to detention centers tend to have poorer school performance than those who do not.
Research by the
U.S. Department of Education found that 43 percent of detained youth offenders receiving education in detention centers did not return to school after release and 16 percent of those who did return dropped out after only five months. In addition, the research showed that high school dropouts are more than three times more likely to be arrested than youth offenders who graduate.
Providing alternatives to detention helps prevent youth from re-offending and helps them become more successful adults. Re-offense rates among communities that use the Initiative have lowered since the beginning of the program. Cook County, Illinois, which includes the City of Chicago, experienced a 37 percent drop in the average number of youth held in detention per day accompanied by a 54 percent fall in the youth violent arrest rate between 1993 and 2000.