Does Juvenile Delinquency Reduce Educational Attainment?

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 incomegenerating 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.

Assessment of an Academic Skills Development Program for Youths in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

“…Antisocial behavior involves the repeated violation of social norms in various contexts, which can entail physical or emotional hostility towards others, disrespect for authority and unlawful conduct (Bartol & Bartol, 2015;Maruschi, Estevão, & Bazon, 2014;Murray, Cerqueira, & Kahn, 2013;Souza & Resende, 2016;Ward & Williams, 2014). Brazilian legislation holds juveniles responsible for delinquency by way of socioeducational (correctional) measures in Juvenile Court (Law no.…”

The relationship between youth crime and education

“…The author further suggests that the mechanism of this effect can be explained by the impact of stigma's that arise from interactions with juvenile justice. Ward and Williams (2014) study the relationship between self-reported delinquency and educational outcomes. They find that delinquency by age 16 appears to reduce the likelihood of graduating from high school by up to 10…”

“…We also perform similar approach and let  vary between 0 and 0.25 (with 0.05 intervals) for primary education and let  vary from 0 to -0.25 (with 0.05 intervals) for higher education. The range of  commonly used in the literature varies from 0 to 0.5 or to -0.5 (Altonji et al, 2005;Hjalmarsson, 2008;Ward and Williams, 2014). The negative  -values for higher education indicate that the correlation between criminal involvement of parents and higher education is negative.…”

“…More recent studies (see Chapter 2) apply different econometric techniques to address the problem of endogeneity in the relationship between criminal behavior and educational outcomes (see e.g. Hjalmarsson, 2008;Webbink et al, 2013;Aizer and Doyle, 2013;Ward and Williams, 2014).…”

“…Criminal involvement and interactions with the justice system disrupt individuals from educational (and learning) processes, which can eventually lead to lower educational performance, and in turn to school dropout (Sweeten, 2006;Hjalmarsson, 2008;Lochner, 2011). Accumulation of 'criminal capital' can replace the need to invest in education and can reduce the effort put to the learning process (Grogger, 1998;Lochner, 2004;Ward and Williams, 2014). Furthermore, stigma as a result of criminal involvement can negatively affect educational outcomes (Sweeten, 2006;Hjalmarsson, 2008;Webbink et al, 2013).…”