Original Article
Does Juvenile Delinquency Reduce Educational Attainment?
Shannon Ward,
Jenny Williams,
Shannon Ward
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jenny Williams
Address correspondence to Jenny Williams, Department of Economics, FBE Building, University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia; email: [email protected].Search for more papers by this author
Shannon Ward,
Jenny Williams,
Shannon Ward
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jenny Williams
Address correspondence to Jenny Williams, Department of Economics, FBE Building, University of Melbourne, 3010 Victoria, Australia; email: [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorThe authors acknowledge the Faculty of Commerce and Business, University of Melbourne for supporting this research. They are grateful for useful feedback received from their discussant at the CELS 2014, and to the editor of JELS and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of this article.
Abstract
This article investigates the effect of delinquency in youth on subsequent educational attainment. To do so, we focus on delinquent acts committed by age 16 and examine their impact on two measures of educational attainment: high school graduation and college graduation. Using information on males from the extremely rich National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we find plausible evidence that delinquency by age 16 reduces the likelihood of graduating from high school and college. This effect is driven by early initiators, those who offend intensely, and by those whose delinquent activities involve income-generating acts. Importantly, the impact of delinquency on education is not confined to those who have interaction with the criminal justice system, or gang members. Further analysis suggests that a channel through which delinquency impacts education is expected returns to crime, as reflected by subjective beliefs about the probability of arrest for a property crime.
References
- Aizer, A., & J. J. Doyle Jr. (2015) “Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital, and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges,” 130(2) Q. J. of Economics 759.
- Akerlof, G. A., & R. E. Kranton (2002) “Identity and Schooling: Some Lessons for the Economics of Education,” 40(4) J. of Economic Literature 1167.
- Akerlof, G. A., & J. L. Yellen (1993) “Gang Behavior, Law Enforcement, and Community Values,” in H. J. Aaron, T. E. Mann, & T. Taylor, eds., Values and Public Policy, pp. 173–209. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
- Altonji, J. G., T. E. Elder, & C. R. Taber (2005) “Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools,” 113(1) J. of Political Economy 151.
- Altonji, J. G., T. E. Elder, & C. R. Taber (2008) “Using Selection on Observed Variables to Assess Bias from Unobservables When Evaluating Swan-Ganz Catheterization,” 98(2) American Economic Rev. 345.
- Anderson, D. A. (1999) “The Aggregate Burden of Crime,” 42(2) J. of Law & Economics 611.
- Anderson, D. M. (2014) “In School and Out of Trouble? The Minimum Dropout Age and Juvenile Crime,” 96(2) Rev. of Economics & Statistics 318.
- Becker, G. S. (1968) “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” 76(2) J. of Political Economy 169.
- Belfield, C. R., & H. M. Levin (2009) “High School Dropouts and the Economic Losses from Juvenile Crime in California,” California Dropout Research Project Report 1.
- Blumstein, A., J. Cohen, J. A. Roth, & C. A. Vischer (1986) Criminal Careers and Career Criminals, vol. 2. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
- Buonanno, P., & L. Leonida (2006) “Education and Crime: Evidence from Italian Regions,” 13(11) Applied Economics Letters 709.
- Cameron, S. V., & J. J. Heckman (1993) “The Nonequivalence of High School Equivalents,” 11(1) J. of Labor Economics 1.
- Carneiro, P., J. J. Heckman, & E. J. Vytlacil (2011) “Estimating Marginal Returns to Education,” 101(6) American Economic Rev. 2754.
- Carneiro, P., C. Meghir, & M. Parey (2013) “Maternal Education, Home Environments, and the Development of Children and Adolescents,” 11 J. of the European Economic Association 123.
- Chatterji, P., M. Alegria, & D. Takeuchi (2011) “Psychiatric Disorders and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication,” 30 J. of Health Economics 858.
- Corman, H., & N. Mocan (2005) “Carrots, Sticks, and Broken Windows,” 48(1) J. of Law & Economics 235.
- Cunha, F., J. J. Heckman, L. Lochner, & D. V. Masterov (2006) “Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation,” in E. Hanushek & F. Welch, eds., Handbook of the Economics of Education, vol. 1, pp. 697–812. Amsterdam, North-Holland: Elsevier.
- Elliott, D. S., & H. L. Voss (1974) Delinquency and Dropout. Lexington, MA: DC Heath.
- Farrington, D. P. (1973) “Self-Reports of Deviant Behavior: Predictive and Stable?” 64(1) J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 99.
- Farrington, D. P. (1986) “Age and Crime,” 7 Crime & Justice 189.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (2011) Crime in the United States 2010. Washington, DC: Uniform Crime Reports.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (2012). Crime in the United States 2012. Washington, DC: Uniform Crime Reports.
- Freeman, R. B. (1991) “Crime and the Employment of Disadvantaged Youths,” National Bureau of Economic Research 3875.
- Freeman, R. B. (1994) “Crime and the Job Market,” National Bureau of Economic Research 4910.
- Gottfredson, M., & T. Hirschi (1986) “The True Value of Lambda Would Appear to be Zero: An Essay on Career Criminals, Criminal Careers, Selective Incapacitation, Cohort Studies, and Related Topics,” 24(2) Criminology 213.
- Grogger, J. (1998) “Market Wages and Youth Crime,” 16(4) J. of Labor Economics 756.
- Hannon, L. (2003) “Poverty, Delinquency, and Educational Attainment: Cumulative Disadvantage or Disadvantage Saturation?” 73(4) Sociological Inquiry 575.
- Hansen, K. T., J. J. Heckman, & K. J. Mullen (2004) “The Effect of Schooling and Ability on Achievement Test Scores,” 121(1/2) J. of Econometrics 39.
- Harbaugh, W. T., N. Mocan, & M. S. Visser (2013) “Theft and Deterrence,” 34(4) J. of Labor Research 389.
- Harding, D. J. (2010) Living the Drama: Community, Conflict, and Culture Among Inner-City Boys. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press.
10.7208/chicago/9780226316666.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Heckman, J. J., & P. Carneiro (2002) “Human Capital Policy,” in J. J. Heckman, A. B. Krueger, & B. M. Friedman, eds., Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policies? pp. 77–239. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Heckman, J. J., & P. A. LaFontaine (2010) “The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels,” 92(2) Rev. of Economics & Statistics 244.
- Heckman, J. J., & D. V. Masterov (2007) “The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children,” 29(3) Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy 446.
- Heckman, J. J., J. Stixrud, & S. Urzua (2006) “The Effects of Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities on Labor Market Outcomes and Social Behavior,” 24(3) J. of Labor Economics 411.
- Heller, S., H. A. Pollack, R. Ander, & J. Ludwig (2013) “Preventing Youth Violence and Dropout: A Randomized Field Experiment,” National Bureau of Economic Research 19014.
- Hindelang, M. J., T. Hirschi, & J. G. Weis (1981) Measuring Delinquency. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
- Hjalmarsson, R. (2008) “Criminal Justice Involvement and High School Completion,” 63(2) J. of Urban Economics 613.
- Jacob, B. A., & L. Lefgren (2003) “Are Idle Hands the Devil's Workshop? Incapacitation, Concentration, and Juvenile Crime,” 93(5) American Economic Rev. 1560.
- Kirk, D. S., & R. J. Sampson (2013) “Juvenile Arrest and Collateral Educational Damage in the Transition to Adulthood,” 86(1) Sociology of Education 36.
- Kling, J. R., J. B. Liebman, & L. F. Katz (2007) “Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects,” 75(1) Econometrica 83.
- Kupchik, A. (2010) Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear. New York: New York Univ. Press.
- Lehrer, S. F., R. E. Tremblay, F. Vitaro, & B. Schaal (2004) “ Raging Hormones in Puberty: Do They Influence Adolescent Risky Behavior?” Working Paper, Queen's University.
- Levitt, S. D., & L. Lochner (2001) “The Determinants of Juvenile Crime,” in J. Gruber, ed., Risky Behavior Among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pp. 327–74. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press.
10.7208/chicago/9780226309972.003.0008 Google Scholar
- Lochner, L. (2004) “Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach,” 45(3) International Economic Rev. 811.
- Lochner, L. (2007) “Individual Perceptions of the Criminal Justice System,” 97(1) American Economic Rev. 444.
- Lochner, L., & E. Moretti (2004) “The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports,” 94(1) American Economic Rev. 155.
- Luallen, J. (2006) “School's Out … Forever: A Study of Juvenile Crime, At-Risk Youths and Teacher Strikes,” 59(1) J. of Urban Economics 75.
- Machin, S., O. Marie, & S. Vujić (2011) “The Crime Reducing Effect of Education,” 121(552) Economic J. 463.
- Machin, S., & C. Meghir (2004) “Crime and Economic Incentives,” 39(4) J. of Human Resources 958.
- MacLeod, J. (2009) Ain't No Makin’ It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- Markowitz, S., R. Kaestner, & M. Grossman (2005) “An Investigation of the Effects of Alcohol Consumption and Alcohol Policies on Youth Risky Sexual Behaviors,” 95(2) American Economic Rev. 263.
- Meghir, C., M. Palme, & M. Schnabel (2012) “The Effect of Education Policy on Crime: An Intergenerational Perspective,” National Bureau of Economic Research 18145.
- Merlo, A., & K. Wolpin (2008) “ The Transition from School to Jail: Youth Crime and High School Completion Among Black Males,” Working Paper, Penn Institute for Economic Research.
- Mocan, N., S. C. Billups, & J. Overland (2005) “A Dynamic Model of Differential Human Capital and Criminal Activity,” 72(288) Economica 655.
- Mocan, N., & D. I. Rees (2005) “Economic Conditions, Deterrence and Juvenile Crime: Evidence from Micro Data,” 7(2) American Law & Economics Rev. 319.
10.1093/aler/ahi011 Google Scholar
- Murnane, R. J. (2013) “US High School Graduation Rates: Patterns and Explanations,” 51(2) J. of Economic Literature 370.
- Mustard, D. B. (2010) “How Do Labor Markets Affect Crime? New Evidence on an Old Puzzle,” Discussion Paper series, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) 4856.
- Nottelmann, E. D., E. J. Susman, G. Inoff-Germain, G. B. Cutler, D. L. Loriaux, & G. P. Chrousos (1987) “Developmental Processes in Early Adolescence: Relationships Between Adolescent Adjustment Problems and Chronological Age, Pubertal Stage, and Puberty-Related Serum Hormone Levels,” 110 J. of Pediatrics 473.
- Oreopoulos, P., & K. G. Salvanes (2009) “How Large Are Returns to Schooling? Hint: Money Isn't Everything,” National Bureau of Economic Research 15339.
- Patacchini, E., & Y. Zenou (2012) “Juvenile Delinquency and Conformism,” 28(1) J. of Law, Economics, & Organization 1.
- Rashad, I., & R. Kaestner (2004) “Teenage Sex, Drugs and Alcohol Use: Problems Identifying the Cause of Risky Behaviors,” 23(3) J. of Health Economics 493.
- Sampson, R. J., & J. H. Laub (2005) “A Life-Course View of the Development of Crime,” 602(1) Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science 12.
- Tanner, J., S. Davies, & B. O'Grady (1999) “Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Rebels? Longitudinal Effects of Youth Delinquency on Education and Employment,” 46(2) Social Problems 250.
- Walker, J. R. (2001) Adolescents’ Expectations Regarding Birth Outcomes: A Comparison of the NLSY79 and NLSY97 Cohorts. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
- Webbink, H. D., P. Koning, S. Vujić, & N. G. Martin (2013) “Why Are Criminals Less Educated than Non-Criminals? Evidence from a Cohort of Young Australian Twins,” 29(1) J. of Law, Economics, & Organization 115.
- Welsh, B. C., R. Loeber, B. R. Stevens, M. Stouthamer-Loeber, M. A. Cohen, & D. P. Farrington (2008) “Costs of Juvenile Crime in Urban Areas,” 6(1) Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice 3.
- Williams, J., & R. C. Sickles (2002) “An Analysis of the Crime as Work Model: Evidence from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort Study,” 37(3) J. of Human Resources 479.
- Willis, P. E. (1983) Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. Hampshire, UK: Gower.
