Does higher educational attainment imply less crime? Evidence from the Indian states

Abstract

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of educational attainment on crime rates across 33 Indian states over the period 2001 to 2013. This paper also examines the role of various macroeconomic, socio-economic and demographic factors in determining the variation of crimes in India.Design/methodology/approachFirst, this paper provides a representative theoretical model and discusses the possible relationship between crime and education. Second, the paper applies a dynamic panel data (DPD) model to extract more precise, unbiased and reliable estimates of the effect of education in abating different crime rates. The main advantage of using the dynamic panel model is to address the problem of endogeneity in some regressors and capture the time persistent effect of education on crime.FindingsEmpirical findings reveal that a 1% increase in gross enrolment ratio leads to the reduction of total crime by 8%. However, a unique finding identifies a positive association between tertiary education and economic crime. This finding further goes against the general belief that criminals tend to be less educated than non-criminals.Practical implicationsThis paper recommends that instead of punishment and mandatory law enforcement for offenders, increase in government expenditure and different educational attainment ratios can go a long way to combat crime in India, which has posed a serious threat to the stability of society. Furthermore, utilizing the information on offenders' educational attainment in examining the crime rates can be a future research agenda for policymakers.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the empirical debate of ‘crime-education nexus’ by examining the role of education on crime in India. This study is the first of its kind that focuses on the aspects of crime and education more recently and investigates the relationship between crime and education due to the recent changes in educational attainment ratios and crime rate.

Profiling Crime in Pakistan: An Aggregated and Disaggregated Socioeconomic Analysis

“…However, like unemployment rate, impact of education on crime is ambiguous. The results shows (as depicted in Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4) a negative relation of Secondary enrolment has strong negative impact on crime in long run (as depicted in table 2, Table 3 and Table 4) as well as in short run ((as shown in Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7) that more time spent in educational institutes enhance the discipline and future consciousness (Devi, 2020;Khan et al, 2015;Lance, 2011;Lochner, 1999Lochner, , 2020McMillen, Sarmiento-Barbieri, and Singh, 2019;Rakshit and Neog, 2020;Syed and Ahmed, 2013;Usher, 1997;Wassie, Melese, and Eyasu, 2020). Level of education serve as a proxy of opportunity cost of crime.…”

Features of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and antisocial behaviour in a general population‐based sample of adults

“…Although it was not possible in our cross‐sectional study to test the extent to which features of ADHD preceded antisocial behaviours and might thus be construed as a risk factor for them, our findings add weight to this suggestion. In particular, ADHD has previously been strongly associated with other risk factors for antisocial behaviour and delinquency (Blumen & Rattner, 2002; Dubois et al., 2015; Piff et al., 2012; Rakshit & Neog, 2020), but we were able to show that the ADHD–antisocial behaviour correlations were robust even after controlling for socio‐demographic risk factors for antisocial behaviour, including age, gender, urban living, place of birth, education and income status, being married or having children and religiosity. In our sample too, age and gender were found to be related to antisocial behaviour, although neither urban living nor place of birth were; so our sample had important similarities with those in other studies.…”

“…Urban living : Studies have shown that living in urban areas is more likely to be associated with delinquent behaviour than living in rural areas (Rakshit & Neog, 2020), but there is variation in this according to the country, city, neighbourhood and type of delinquency examined (Blumen & Rattner, 2002; De Nadai et al., 2020; Malik, 2016; van Dijk et al., 2021).…”

“…Social status : Two prominent factors in predicting criminality are low education and low income (Goldstein et al., 2017; Young & Cocallis, 2021), but when examining non‐criminal antisocial behaviour, the picture becomes more complex (Korndörfer et al., 2015). Some of the studies found that high social status predicts increased unethical behaviour and such antisocial behaviour as deception (Dubois et al., 2015; Ford & Schroeder, 2010; Piff et al., 2012; Rakshit & Neog, 2020).…”

Is Education a Tool for a Good Life? A Phenomenological Analysis of Views of University Students in Tanzania

“…In addition, education is a means of transmitting social norms and values which are essential for promoting social solidarity, peace, and national identity (Adnan & Smith, 2001). Furthermore, education is associated with healthier lifestyles and good health (Gil-Lacruz et al, 2020), low crime rates (Åslund et al, 2018;Rakshit & Neog, 2020), economic wealth, political stability, and self-reliance (Adams, 2002). It is needless to highlight that through the various roles it plays in human life education becomes one of the essential means of attaining a good life.…”