Impact Evaluation of Youth Crime Watch Programs in Three Florida School Districts, 1997-2007

The purpose of this study was to assess both the school-level effects and the participant-level effects of Youth Crime Watch (YCW) programs. Abt Associates conducted a four-year impact evaluation of Youth Crime Watch (YCW) programs in three Florida school districts (Broward, Hillsborough, and Pinellas Counties). School-based YCW programs implement one or more of a variety of crime prevention activities, including youth patrol, in which YCW participants patrol their school campus and report misconduct and crime. The evaluation collected both School-Level Data (Part 1) and Student-Level Data (Part 2). The School-Level Data (Part 1) contain 9 years of data on 172 schools in the Broward, Hillsborough, and Pinellas school districts, beginning in the 1997-1998 school year and continuing through the 2005-2006 school year. A total of 103 middle schools and 69 high schools were included, yielding a total of 1,548 observations. These data provide panel data on reported incidents of crime and violence, major disciplinary actions, and school climate data across schools and over time. The Student-Level Data (Part 2) were collected between 2004 and 2007 and are comprised of two major components: (1) self-reported youth attitude and school activities survey data that were administered to a sample of students in middle schools in the Broward, Hillsborough, and Pinellas School Districts as part of a participant impact analysis, and (2) self-reported youth attitude and school activities survey data that were administered to a sample of YCW continuing middle school students and YCW high school students in the same three school districts as part of a process analysis. For Part 2, a total of 3,386 completed surveys were collected by the project staff including 1,319 "new YCW" student surveys, 1,581 "non-YCW" student surveys, and 486 "Pro" or "Process" student surveys. The 138 variables in the School-Level Data (Part 1) include Youth Crime Watch (YCW) program data, measures of crime and the level of school safety in a school, and other school characteristics. The 99 variables in the Student-Level Data (Part 2) include two groups of questions for assessing participant impact: (1) how the respondents felt about themselves, and (2) whether the respondent would report certain types of problems or crimes that they observed at the school. Part 2 also includes administrative variables and demographic/background information. Other variables in Part 2 pertain to the respondent's involvement in school-based extracurricular activities, involvement in community activities, attitudes toward school, attitudes about home environment, future education plans, attitudes toward the YCW advisor, attitudes about effects of YCW, participation in YCW, reasons for joining YCW, and reasons for remaining in YCW.

本研究旨在评估青少年犯罪监督（Youth Crime Watch, YCW）项目的学校层面效应与参与者层面效应。Abt Associates针对佛罗里达州布劳沃德、希尔斯伯勒和皮涅拉斯三个学区的YCW项目开展了为期四年的影响评估。该类以学校为依托的YCW项目会开展一项或多项犯罪预防活动，其中包括青少年巡逻机制：即YCW参与者巡逻校园并举报不当行为与犯罪事件。本次评估共收集两类数据集：学校层面数据（第一部分）与学生层面数据（第二部分）。学校层面数据（第一部分）涵盖1997-1998学年至2005-2006学年共9年间，上述三个学区172所学校的相关统计信息，其中包含103所初中与69所高中，总计生成1548条观测样本。该数据集为面板数据，包含各学校跨时段的犯罪与暴力事件上报记录、主要惩戒措施统计以及学校氛围相关多维度数据。学生层面数据（第二部分）收集于2004年至2007年间，包含两大核心模块：（1）针对上述三学区初中学生样本开展的自我报告式青少年态度与学校活动调查数据，用于参与者影响分析；（2）针对同一三学区内参与YCW的在读初中生与高中生样本开展的自我报告式青少年态度与学校活动调查数据，用于流程评估分析。第二部分共回收有效问卷3386份，其中包括1319份“新YCW学生”问卷、1581份“非YCW学生”问卷以及486份“项目支持/流程”问卷。学校层面数据（第一部分）共包含138个变量，涵盖YCW项目相关数据、学校犯罪与安全水平测度指标以及其他学校特征变量。学生层面数据（第二部分）共包含99个变量，其中包含两组用于评估参与者影响的问题维度：（1）受访者的自我认知情况；（2）受访者是否会举报在校园内观察到的特定类型问题或犯罪行为。第二部分数据还包含管理变量与人口统计/背景信息，其余变量则涉及受访者参与学校课外社团活动、社区活动的情况，对学校的态度、家庭环境认知、未来教育规划、对YCW指导教师的态度、对YCW项目效果的认知、YCW参与情况、加入YCW的动机以及持续参与该项目的原因。