JUVENILE ARRESTS DOWN IN COUNTY

Vital: Study Targets Needs

Juvenile arrests for serious offenses in Oklahoma County are taking a dive,
according to the 2002 Vital Signs Community Indicators report. Serious
offenses include rape, murder, larceny and aggravated assault.

Following the national and statewide trend, juvenile arrests for serious or
violent offenses in the county dropped from about 4,200 in 1995 to half
that number in 2000.

"That's exactly the kind of slope we want to see," said Community Council
board president Craig Knutson.

Vital Signs, a compilation of statistics and a survey of 1,200 county
households, was released by the Community Council of Central Oklahoma last
week. The seventh annual report illustrates trends in five quality-of-life
areas: economic well-being, educational achievement, health, safety and
civic participation.

The research is used by community leaders and organizations in addressing
areas of need.

Youth advocates say the decline in juvenile crime should not make the
community lax about supporting and funding intervention and prevention
programs.

Ken Young, director of Youth Services of Oklahoma County Inc., said the
decline is encouraging to organizations like his that deal in intervention
and prevention programs for young people.

It likely is due to two major reasons -- economic well-being and community
involvement, Young said.

"When the country is at work, there is less crime. When there is plenty of
work and people have jobs, they don't have to resort to crime," he said.
"Families get along better when they are working."

Young said many local organizations work to keep young people off the
street and discourage juveniles who are arrested from being arrested again.

"There's a recognition in our country that we've got to take care of our
kids," he said.

Anne Roberts, executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child
Advocacy, agreed with Young that the good economic times the state and
country have experienced in recent years probably have lead to a decrease
in serious juvenile crime.

But Roberts worries that the high number of methamphetamine labs in the
state will lead to increased problems for young people in the future.
Oklahoma is ranked third in the nation for methamphetamine lab seizures,
with more than 1,000 last year.

Roberts said she fears that as children grow up in meth-producing homes
where parents neglect or abuse them, they will become abusive or
crime-prone themselves -- which could lead to a resurgence in juvenile crime.

"I'm getting concerned about this," she said. "Abuse is one of the
forerunners of later crimes."

Roberts said the key is for community organizations to remain involved and
continue providing prevention and intervention programs despite the
apparent success.

Funding from some prevention programs comes from grants offered by
organizations like the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.

Sam Bowman, a program officer for the foundation, said about $70,000 is
administered each year as part of the After School Options grant program.
The grants go to programs that keep youth involved in productive activities
when they are not in school.

"A lot of what we try to do with these grants is to leverage other money
for the programs," Bowman said.

He said the money from grants and other sources can help programs that rely
heavily on volunteers to become more consistent and expand services by
paying some employees.