The findings show that the increase in educational attainment among three cohorts of youth born between 1981 and 1983 was linked to reductions in conviction rates for most offenses (burglary, theft, criminal damage, and drug-related offenses), but not for violent crime. Reductions in poverty were associated with decreasing conviction rates for violent crime, criminal damage, and drug-related offenses; whereas increasing truancy was associated with higher conviction rates for theft. The selection of cohorts for the study was based on the availability of aggregate data on conviction rates, educational attainment, poverty, truancy, and school resources. Educational attainment was measured by performance on standardized tests recorded by the LEA for 1997, 1998, and 1999. Acceptable scores in these years were deemed to be evidence of educational attainment for the 1981, 1982, and 1983 cohorts. Poverty or deprivation was measured by the proportion of students eligible for free school meals in secondary schools, aggregated to the level of LEA. 1 figure, 3 tables, and 42 references