“According to STATS CAN, in 2012-2013 there were a total of 41,049 adult offenders incarcerated in Canadian federal and provincial prisons on an average day”. Costs per day for Canadian Federal Prisons average about $260/day per offender. This equals about
$10,673,000 PER DAY or $4 BILLION PER YEAR
and this is only the cost of incarceration. It does not include societal costs for courts, police, probation, legal, victims, rehab programs, property ... Read More
“According to STATS CAN, in 2012-2013 there were a total of 41,049 adult offenders incarcerated in Canadian federal and provincial prisons on an average day”. Costs per day for Canadian Federal Prisons average about $260/day per offender. This equals about
$10,673,000 PER DAY or $4 BILLION PER YEAR
and this is only the cost of incarceration. It does not include societal costs for courts, police, probation, legal, victims, rehab programs, property damage, etc. This is costing Canadian taxpayers a lot of money. How can we change this? How many adult offenders were juvenile offenders? Is it safe to say —most were? What if we could reach these youth before they go down this path?
Mark A Cohen, Professor of Management and Law at Vanderbilt University says "We estimate the present value of saving a 14-year-old high risk juvenile from a life of crime to range from $2.6 to $5.3 million"
So what is happening with youth today? Did you know that bulling and conflict are two of the most important issues facing youth today and social media has just increased that exponentially. About 1/3 of Alberta households surveyed said that bullying has directly affected their family members.
While PMAST agrees that counselling and bullying awareness programs are important - they are not enough. To really create change for today and tomorrow, we need to be PRO-ACTIVE and teach our youth how to successfully deal with the conflict in their lives. We need to change the dynamics of these youth, their families and those around them for this and future generations. PMAST has developed relevant, research based programs to provide youth, schools and communities with critical skills to use in all areas of their lives.
We know we have excellent programs which have the power to change lives. We know they help youth, their families and communities when they need it the most. We know it helps youth to stay in school when an inability to deal with the conflict in their lives is too overwhelming. We know that building Peer Mediation Teams in the schools shifts the culture to a more peaceful, friendly and inclusive atmosphere. We know it empowers youth to be leaders - to be the best they can be, and helps them to build better relationships in all aspects of their lives. We know it has a ripple effect that reaches out to families and communities. The Peer Mediation Teams have taught us that "Youth Helping Youth" is far more impactful than adult intervention.
The U.S. National Institute of Justice estimates that every dollar spent on youth prevention and intervention programs results in a savings of between $10 and $22! That's a pretty good investment.
PMAST programs are not part of the school curriculum, but offered as a supplement. Unfortunately we always have more requests for our services than we have funds to fulfill. One of the principals in a school where we provide services says "In a perfect world, every school would have the PMAST/RAP Program."
We cannot afford to waste this opportunity - Please help us to help our youth!
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