Effects of Crime on After-School Youth Development Programs in the United States, 1993-1994 (ICPSR 6791)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

Faced with precipitously increasing rates of violence involving children and teens and other evidence of grim conditions detrimental to boys and girls, communities around the United States are seeking effective approaches for creating safer and more wholesome environments for youth. Youth organizations are attempting to provide constructive activities in neighborhoods where many children are at risk of becoming crime victims or offenders, and many police departments are encouraging their officers to collaborate with community organizations that implement innovative ways to prevent crimes involving school-age children. To support these efforts, many federal agencies and private foundations are sponsoring research to learn about the needs that must be met and how best to decrease the number of children and teens involved in criminal incidents while increasing the number involved in productive activities in wholesome environments. This study also sought to identify appropriate actions that could be taken by law enforcement agencies and youth-development organizations to create safer places for youth, especially approaches that involved teen participants or approaches that could be carried out in partnerships between youth-serving organizations and their local law enforcement agencies. This study was stimulated by and carried out in collaboration with seven national organizations that have long played a vital role in fostering the wholesome development of youth in the United States: Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, Girls Incorporated, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., National Association of Police Athletic Leagues, National 4-H Council and United States Department of Agriculture 4-H and Youth Development Service, and YMCA of the U.S.A. This research sought to answer two questions: (1) What are the dimensions of crime affecting organizations serving youth in the nonschool hours, and (2) What approaches can be taken to prevent such crimes?

Study Design View help for Study Design

The research involved a national survey of affiliates and charter members of the above seven national organizations. Respondents were asked to provide information about their programs for the 1993-1994 school year, including summer 1994 if applicable. A total of 1,234 questionnaires were mailed to the 658 youth-serving organizations in 376 cities in October 1994. Survey data were provided by 579 local affiliates that were collectively serving 21,000 children during nonschool hours on a typical weekday. Six hundred affiliates actually responded to the survey. However, responses from 21 organizations were eliminated from the study sample because the data they provided were relatively incomplete or contained numerous logical inconsistencies. Because the survey questionnaire inadvertently omitted a question about the respondent being a victim of threats or attacks with weapons, a followup survey was conducted and a short questionnaire was sent to all 34 respondents who previously reported any incidents involving weapons taking place in the program setting during the 1993-1994 program year. To compare the project data with data collected in surveys of school staff, the researchers included in the short questionnaire a question about injury to the respondent as an outcome of an incident involving the use of a weapon. The researchers also conducted followup interviews with a small sample of nonrespondents that indicated that turnover in staff directing youth programs was the primary reason questionnaires were not completed and returned. The decision was made to prepare the data for analysis without conducting an additional followup, since the returned questionnaires did not appear to be biased in terms of crime rates, and a relatively high rate of returns already had been achieved.

Sample View help for Sample

A stratified random sample of youth-serving organizations affiliated with the seven national organizations mentioned above

Universe View help for Universe

All professionally-staffed youth-serving organizations affiliated with Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, Girls Incorporated, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., National Association of Police Athletic Leagues, National 4-H Council and United States Department of Agriculture 4-H and Youth Development Service, and YMCA of the U.S.A.

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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Information was collected on the type of building where the organization was located, the months, days of the week, and hours of operation, number of adults on staff, number and sex of school-age participants, number of hours participants spent at the program location, other participants served by the program, and characteristics of the neighborhood where the program was located. Questions were also asked about the types of contacts the organization had with the local police department, types of crimes that occurred at the location in the school year, number of times each crime type occurred, number of times the respondent was a victim of each crime type, if the offender was a participant, other youth, adult with the program, adult from the neighborhood, or adult stranger, actions taken by the organization because crimes occurred, and crime prevention strategies recommended and adopted by the organization. Geographic information includes the organization's stratum and FBI region.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

A total of 600 questionnaires were returned, for a total response rate of 49 percent. Of the 658 organizations that were sent questionnaires, 364 responded, a response rate of 55 percent. Of the 364 cities in the sample, questionnaires were returned for 240 cities, a response rate of 64 percent. Completed questionnaires were significantly more likely to be returned by respondents in organizations with the primary mission of serving youth in the nonschool hours than by respondents in organizations with broader mandates. The interim response rate of respondents in the exclusively youth-serving organizations was 69 percent, and the interim response rate from respondents in organizations with broader mandates was 36 percent. Of the 34 original respondents who received the short questionnaire in the followup survey, 22 returned completed questionnaires, a response rate of 65 percent.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

None.

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Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

1998-10-15

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