By Big Brothers Big Sisters

The Mentoring Effect on Crime: The Case for Mentoring Organizations

Mar 7, 2016 | 2:35 PM

Given the recent articles on youth crime and youth violence in schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters is utilizing the opportunity to focus on prevention and intervention services; specifically, mentoring organizations.

¹According to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan led the nation with 13,084 youth crimes per 100,000 persons in 2014, nearly double second place Manitoba. In combination with the ² increasing costs associated with dealing with crime by judicial system, ³ The Ministry of Public Safety has begun to research and actively implement alternative youth crime reduction strategies focused on prevention.

⁴Research conducted by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Canada consistently shows the positive effects of mentoring on a young person’s life. Specifically, mentoring has been recognized as a protective factor that mitigates life events such as poverty, mental illness, or the breakdown of one’s family.

⁵Experts in the fields of juvenile justice and mentoring have long pointed to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program as a model for working toward positive and achievable youth outcomes that reduce the likelihood of participating in deviant behavior. A strong positive correlation between mentorship programs and youth is illustrated below:

Girls with a mentor are 4 times less likely to develop negative conducts like fighting, lying, and cheating.

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Boys with a mentor are 2 times less likely to develop negative conducts like fighting, lying, and cheating.

For many participants, being paired with the right participant can be a transformative and empowering experience. Consider Elayna, a Big Brothers Big Sisters participant for the last 7 years.

“Erica gave me confidence to try new things and to be a better person in the community. With her being in my life and a good role model I made good choices. I graduated high school with ease, all thanks to her guiding hand” said Elayna.

Elayna’s story is not uncommon amongst Big Brother Big Sister participants. 4Statistics show that 70% of those who enter federal programs have not completed high school, indicating a strong correlation between mentoring and improved academic, social, and economic opportunities.

The impact of mentoring is not only keeping kids in school but also mitigating the effects of a variety of different social problems. The time is now for Saskatchewan to invest in prevention and intervention services in order to decrease the burden on the judicial, health, and educational systems.

Sources:

1Martin (2016). Saskatchewan leads the provinces in youth crime and there’s only one way to change it.

2Easton, Furness, & Brantingham (2014). Cost of Crime in Canada 2014 Report.

3Laliberté, Rosario, Léonard, Smith-Moncrieffe &Warner (2014). Results of Crime Prevention Programs for 12 to 17 Year Olds.

4Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) longitudinal study.

5Literature Review: Best Practices in Transitioning Youth Out of Care, Child Welfare Institute 2014.