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Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do About It?

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Richard B. Freeman

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Abstract

This paper shows that participation in crime and involvement with the criminal justice system has reached extraordinary levels among young men. With approximately 2 percent as many men incarcerated as in the labor force, the crime rate should have plummeted. It didn't. Evidence suggests that the depressed labor market for low skill American workers contributed to the continued high level of crime by less educated men, despite incapacitation and the deterrent effect of imprisonment. The costs of incarceration are such that even marginally effective prevention policies can be socially desirable.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 5451.

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Date of creation: Feb 1996
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5451

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Richard Freeman, 1987. "The relation of criminal activity to black youth employment," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 99-107, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Steven D. Levitt, 1995. "The Effect of Prison Population Size on Crime Rates: Evidence From Prison Overcrowding Litigation," NBER Working Papers 5119, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Topel, Robert, 1993. "What Have We Learned from Empirical Studies of Unemployment and Turnover?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 110-15, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Richard B. Freeman, 1991. "Crime and the Employment of Disadvantaged Youths," NBER Working Papers 3875, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Chinhui Juhn & Kevin M. Murphy & Robert H. Topel, 1991. "Why Has the Natural Rate of Unemployment Increased over Time?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 22(1991-2), pages 75-142. [Downloadable!]
  6. Blackburn-Mckinley, L. & Bloom, D.E. & Freeman, R.B., 1989. "The Declining Economic Position Of Less-Skilled American Males," Discussion Papers 1989_41, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
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