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Labor Markets, Employment and Crime

NCJ Number
173613
Journal
Alternatives to Incarceration Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 1998 Pages: 18-19-21
Author(s)
R Crutchfield
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which was designed to study the work experiences of young adults ages 14-24.
Abstract
Analysis of the NLSY crime data on 18- to 24-year-olds from 1979 and 1980 (the only years for which crime variables were collected) found that people employed in secondary-sector jobs spent more time out of the labor market than those employed in primary-sector jobs. Time out of the labor force and expected job duration were modest but significant predictors of criminal involvement. Youth in this age group who were currently students were significantly less likely to be involved in crime. Members of the military were no less likely and, under some circumstances, somewhat more likely to engage in crime. A tendency toward criminal activity could be predicted by an individual's time in the labor force when coupled with the percentage of the adult population in the person's home county. Long-term data on 14- to 17-year-old youths show that a good predictor of juvenile crime was school performance, reflected by measurements such as grade point average. Youths who worked while in school were more likely to commit crimes than those who did not. Youths who neither attended school nor worked were the most likely to commit crimes. A "county effect" existed with the younger age group as well; children had higher rates of crime in counties with substantial unemployment levels.