ERIC Number: ED593178
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Aug
Pages: 64
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2042-2695
EISSN: N/A
Why Does Education Reduce Crime? CEP Discussion Paper No. 1566
Bell, Brian; Costa, Rui; Machin, Stephen
Centre for Economic Performance
Prior research shows reduced criminality to be a beneficial consequence of education policies that raise the school leaving age. This paper studies how crime reductions occurred in a sequence of state-level dropout age reforms enacted between 1980 and 2010 in the United States. These reforms changed the shape of crime-age profiles, reflecting both a temporary incapacitation effect and a more sustained, longer run crime reducing effect. In contrast to the previous research looking at earlier US education reforms, crime reduction does not arise solely as a result of education improvements, and so the observed longer run effect is interpreted as dynamic incapacitation. Additional evidence based on longitudinal data combined with an education reform from a different setting in Australia corroborates the finding of dynamic incapacitation underpinning education policy-induced crime reduction.
Descriptors: Crime, Crime Prevention, Foreign Countries, Educational Change, Dropout Prevention, Age Differences, Educational Improvement, Laws, Program Effectiveness, Gender Differences
Centre for Economic Performance. London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK. Tel: +44-20-7955-7673; Fax: +44-20-7404-0612; e-mail: cep.info@lse.ac.uk; Web site: http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP)
Identifiers - Location: Australia; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A