Funding collaborative juvenile crime prevention programs: does it make a difference?

Abstract

Panel data were analyzed to determine whether funding for collaborative juvenile crime prevention programs reduced arrests in California counties. Because the data were a population (i.e., all 58 counties in the state), regression results were summarized descriptively, and special attention was given to the direction and magnitude of key coefficients. Funding was associated with little to no overall reductions in arrests for felonies, misdemeanors, and status offenses. However, estimates of arrests prevented varied across each of the 14 counties that received funding.