Work and Crime: An Exploration Using Panel Data

Abstract

In this paper we explore the relationship between crime and work using data for a cohort sample of young men. We find that working and going to school significantly decrease the probability of committing criminal acts and by virtually identical amounts. Parochial school education and higher IQ are also significantly associated with lower criminal proclivities, but a high school degree has no significant effect. These findings. in conjunction with other research, suggest that participation in legitimate activities (employment or school) per se has a greater effect on criminal behavior than does the higher income associated with employment or educational attainment.

Violence and Economic Development in Colombian Cities: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

“…Gottfredson (), Farrington et al . (), and Witte and Tauchen () explored the link between time spent in school and contemporaneous crime, concluding that time spent in school significantly reduces criminal activity over time. In the context of violence in Indonesia, Zulfan and Mansoob () found that an emphasis on human development in the early phase of development has a strong violence‐reducing impact.…”

Non-Production Benefits of Education: Crime, Health, and Good Citizenship

“…Early studies of the relationship between education and crime focused on their correlation conditional on measured individual and family characteristics using standard regression methods. 14 For example, Witte and Tauchen (1994) find no significant relationship between educational attainment and crime after controlling for a number of individual characteristics. Grogger (1998) estimates a significant negative effect of wages on crime, but he finds no relationship between years of completed schooling and crime after controlling for individual wage rates.…”

Understanding the determinants of crime

“…According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1979, 71% of all state prisoners were employed prior to their conviction. 15 Studies by Grogger (1998) and Witte and Tauchen (1994) that use other data sets provide further evidence in support of this finding. Next, we turn our attention to the composition of the criminal population by age and educational attainment.…”