And addressing the problems of older children may present even greater difficulties than trying to help preschoolers. Effective prevention, then, must involve a balance of efforts spread across the age groups from birth to 18. To put it another way, we know we're spending a lot of money on juvenile crime prevention. Fourth, and perhaps most important, there has been no central state leadership that could coordinate and integrate and focus all the separate strands of this system and direct them toward one clearly defined and measurable goal. That's what I want my administration to provide.
Control belongs at the community level.
That's something the state can't do. This problem is so severe, its solution so critical to our future, that we have to make every dollar count. What I'm talking about is a unified, consolidated statewide plan, rather than a collection of individual agency and program efforts. This plan must clearly define roles and expected outcomes, to ensure accountability. And it must include strategies for integrating services across agency lines and for connecting state efforts with the work being done at the level.