What Drives the Relationship Between Early Criminal Involvement and School Dropout?

Abstract

Objective We examine the relationship between early criminal involvement and school dropout, and analyze which factors underlie this relationship, making use of administrative data from the Netherlands. Methods We start by determining the unconditional correlation between early criminal involvement and school dropout, using a basic ordinary least squares model. As this association is likely to be driven by different factors, we proceed by including an extensive set of observable family and individual characteristics into the estimation model. We further proceed to models that account for the influence of unobservable heterogeneity by estimating school, class, sibling and twin fixed effects. Results Criminal involvement is associated with an 11 percentage point higher probability of school dropout. The magnitude of this relationship decreases gradually when we account for larger shares of observed and unobserved heterogeneity. The coefficient in the samegender twin fixed effects model indicates a 3 percentage point higher probability of school dropout, which is statistically significant at a 10 % level. We also find that the association between criminal involvement and school dropout is stronger if juveniles are involved in severe criminal activities. Conclusions We conclude that the observable and unobservable factors for which we account explain around 73 % of the unconditional correlation between criminal involvement and school dropout. The remaining variation likely reflects individual-specific characteristics that are different between same-gender twins. A true treatment effect, if existing, is likely to be relatively small. At the same time, serious criminal behavior appears to causally affect school dropout.

Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving*

“…Arrest first occurs at older ages and is less common. Nonetheless, youthful interactions with the justice system are far from harmless, with several recent studies demonstrating that arrest for delinquent behaviour leads to early school leaving, adversely impacting on both high school completion and college attendance (Hjalmarsson, 2008; Webbink et al ., 2013; Aizer and Doyle, 2015; Rud et al ., 2018). 1 These findings have important policy implications given the central role of education in lifetime economic well‐being, as well as the increased likelihood of future arrest and imprisonment that results from early school leaving (Becker, 1962; Lochner and Moretti, 2004; Oreopoulos and Salvanes, 2011; Merlo and Wolpin, 2015; Buonanno and Leonida, 2009; Machin, Marie and Vujić, 2011, 2012).…”

Factores de riesgo en personas privadas de libertad en cárceles peruanas por delitos patrimoniales

“…Estos datos coinciden con lo encontrado por Bäckman (2017), al describir que tasas generales de condenas son mayores entre los que abandonaron la escuela que entre los que no lo hicieron, tanto para mujeres como para hombres. No es claro si los arrestos, la delincuencia o la deserción es primero, lo claro es la relación existente entre abandono escolar y delincuencia, y que estos también pueden estar mediados por factores como las características familiares, individuales, la escuela, entre otros (Rud et al, 2018). También Maynard et al (2015) encuentra un fuerte patrón de asociaciones entre el comportamiento delictivo y el abandono de la escuela.…”

Specifičnosti U Procesu Obrazovanja Maloletnih Delinkvenata

“…Značajan broj istraživanja u Srbiji i svetu ukazuje na povezanost između problema u školovanju s jedne strane, i razvoja delinkventnog ponašanja kod dece i mladih s druge strane (Aizer & Doyle, 2013;Gottfredson, 2000;Ilić, 2019;Kranželić Tavra & Bašić, 2005;Kubek, Tindall-Biggins, Reed, Carre & Fenning, 2020;Nastić-Stojanović, Sicurella, Roglić & Soćanin, 2017;Rud et. al., 2018;Silberberg & Silberberg, 1971;Sweeten, Bushway & Paternoster, 2009;O'Donnell, Hawkins, Catalano, Abbott & Day, 1995;Farrington, 1979;Najaka, Gottfredson & Wilson, 2001).…”

“…Najveći broj autora smatra da veza koja postoji nije jednostavna i jednosmerna, već multifaktorska i recipročna (Kubek et. al., 2020;Popović-Ćitić, 2008;Rud et. al., 2018), što znači da napuštanje školovanja povećava rizik za delinkvenciju i povratno.…”