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Larrikin youth: new evidence on crime and schooling

Author

Listed:
  • Tony Beatton
  • Michael P. Kidd
  • Stephen Machin
  • Dipa Sarkar

Abstract

This paper reports new evidence on the causal link between education and male youth crime using individual level state-wide administrative data for Queensland, Australia. Enactment of the Earning or Learning education reform of 2006, with a mandatory increase in minimum school leaving age, is used to identify a causal impact of schooling on male youth crime. The richness of the matched (across agency) individual level panel data enables the analysis to shed significant light on the extent to which the causal impact reflects incapacitation, or whether more schooling acts to reduce crime after youths have left compulsory schooling. The empirical analysis uncovers a significant incapacitation effect, as remaining in school for longer reduces crime whilst in school, but also a sizeable crime reducing impact of education for young men in their late teens and early twenties. We also carry out analysis by major crime type and differentiate between single and multiple offending behaviour. Crime reduction effects are concentrated in property crime and single crime incidence, rather than altering the behaviour of the recalcitrant persistent offender.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony Beatton & Michael P. Kidd & Stephen Machin & Dipa Sarkar, 2016. "Larrikin youth: new evidence on crime and schooling," CEP Discussion Papers dp1456, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1456
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Larrikin youth: new evidence on crime and schooling
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2017-02-05 18:23:23

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    Cited by:

    1. Huttunen, Kristiina & Pekkarinen, Tuomas & Uusitalo, Roope & Virtanen, Hanna, 2018. "Lost Boys: Access to Secondary Education and Crime," Working Papers 114, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Brian Bell & Rui Costa & Stephen Machin, 2022. "Why Does Education Reduce Crime?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(3), pages 732-765.
    3. Nishijima, Marislei & Pal, Sarmistha, 2020. "Do Compulsory Schooling Laws Always Work? A Study of Youth Crime in Brazilian Municipalities," IZA Discussion Papers 13097, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    youth crime; schooling;

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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