Search Results

Title: The Determinants of Juvenile Crime
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Levitt, Steven D.
Lochner, Lance John
The Determinants of Juvenile Crime
In: Risky Behavior Among Youths: An Economic Analysis. J. Gruber, ed. Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2001: pp. 327-373
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Gender Differences; Home Environment; Income; Poverty

Examines the issues of youth crime. The authors begin by laying out the basic facts and trends relevant to youth crime over the last 30 yrs. They then consider both the social costs of youth crime and the personal risks and costs borne by the criminals themselves. After reviewing the various hypotheses as to the determinants of crime identified in the previous literature, the authors present 3 new sets of estimates that shed light on the issue. The first set of regressions uses that National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore the correlates of crime at the individual level. The second analysis focuses on census-tract-level homicide data for the city of Chicago over 30 yrs. The final data set is a state-level panel covering 15 yrs. This analysis is ideal for examining the effect of the criminal-justice system and, to a lesser extent, economic factors. The authors found that such factors as gender, family environment, cognitive ability, income inequality, poverty, and the effectiveness of the criminal justice system influence criminal involvement (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved))
Bibliography Citation
Levitt, Steven D. and Lance John Lochner. "The Determinants of Juvenile Crime" In: Risky Behavior Among Youths: An Economic Analysis. J. Gruber, ed. Chicago IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2001: pp. 327-373