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Juvenile Crime and the Four-Day School Week

Author

Listed:
  • Stefanie Fischer

    (Department of Economics, California Polytechnic State University)

  • Daniel Argyle

    (FiscalNote)

Abstract

Little is known regarding the extent to which school changes youth criminal behavior in the short-term, if at all, and even less in known on this issue in rural areas. We leverage a unique policy, the adoption of the four-day school week across rural counties and years in Colorado, a school schedule that is becoming more common nationwide especially in rural areas, to examine the causal link between school and youth crime. Those affected by the policy spend the same number of hours in school each week as students on a typical fiveday week, however treated students have Friday off. This policy allows us to learn about two aspects of the school-crime relationship that have previously been unstudied; one, the effects of a more frequent and long lasting schedule change on short-term crime, and two, the impact that school has on youth crime in rural areas. Our difference-in-difference estimates indicate that switching all students in a county from a five-day week to a four-day week increases juvenile arrests for property crimes, in particular larceny, by about 73%. We show that larceny and property crimes increase on all days of the week and are not driven by crime shifting from one day to another, i.e. Wednesday to Friday.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefanie Fischer & Daniel Argyle, 2016. "Juvenile Crime and the Four-Day School Week," Working Papers 1606, California Polytechnic State University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpl:wpaper:1606
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Noghanibehambari, Hamid & Tavassoli, Nahid, 2022. "An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure: The effects of college expansions on crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Valerie Bostwick & Stefanie Fischer & Matthew Lang, 2022. "Semesters or Quarters? The Effect of the Academic Calendar on Postsecondary Student Outcomes," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 40-80, February.
    3. Leonardo Rosa & Raphael Bruce & Natália Sarellas, 2022. "Effects of school day time on homicides: The case of the full-day high school program in Pernambuco, Brazil," Working Papers 16, Instituto de Estudos para Políticas de Saúde.
    4. Thompson, Paul N., 2019. "Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on Student Achievement: Evidence from Oregon," IZA Discussion Papers 12204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Thompson, Paul N. & Ward, Jason, 2022. "Only a matter of time? The role of time in school on four-day school week achievement impacts," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Kozhaya, Mireille & Martínez Flores, Fernanda, 2022. "School attendance and child labor: Evidence from Mexico’s Full-Time School program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Thompson, Paul N., 2021. "Is four less than five? Effects of four-day school weeks on student achievement in Oregon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Thompson, Paul N., 2019. "Does a Day Lost Equal Dollars Saved? The Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on School District Expenditures," IZA Discussion Papers 12698, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Inequality; Rural Public Policy; Education Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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