Testimony from government officials and administrators and participants in various job programs for youth generally assumes a direct relationship between unemployment and dispositions toward crime. Job training programs are viewed as means by which youth can develop self-confidence, interact with positive role models, and acquire skills that will permit the development of a satisfying and rewarding life through legitimate work. Witnesses focusing on empirical evidence of linkages between unemployment, economic status, and crime report weak evidence of a direct relationship between economic influences and crime but offer evidence and suggestions of complex, indirect, multiple, and varying effects of economic influences on criminal behavior. Recommendations by the witnesses pertaining to policy and programs generally suggest a narrowing of focus upon those particular populations which analysis has shown to benefit most from employment and economic help. It is generally suggested, therefore, that future research identify those particular circumstances and background variables that have the most powerful influence upon forging a link between unemployment, economic status, and crime, so that policy may seek to counter these factors and help the populations affected. For related documents, see NCJ 89822-28.