Policy Wanks

Arizona political leaders know the answers but can't seem to pass the violence-prevention test

A A A Comments By Edward Lebow Thursday, Nov 11 1999

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Juvenile crime trends have dipped in the past few years. But Cherie Townsend, supervisor of the Maricopa County Department of Juvenile Probation, says that trend is not likely to continue.

"What we're noticing about the growth of Maricopa County," she says, "is that a third of it has come from new births. That's important to us because that means if those people stay here, a few years down the road, those kids will potentially impact the dependency system or the delinquency system."

Paolo Vescia

State Senator Chris Cummiskey co-chairs the SAFE Commission, which is studying ways to heighten school safety.

Paolo Vescia

State Senator Tom Freestone says Arizona needs to invest more in prevention programs.

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She says that sometime around 2003 "we're going to hit another peak in the population of youth 8-to-17-years old. The 14-to-17-year age range is the peak one for juvenile crime. But what happens with children from birth to age 3 probably has the greatest impact on that rate of delinquency. They certainly impact the demand for resources in education and other support for families. So if we really want to invest in prevention, we should do it now."

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Contact Edward Lebow at his online address: elebow@newtimes.com

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