Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?

Arbeitspapier

This paper investigates the effect of early exposure to neighborhood crime on subsequent criminal behavior of youth exploiting a unique natural experiment between 1986 and 1998 when refugee immigrants to Denmark were assigned to neighborhoods quasi-randomly. We find strong evidence that the share of young people convicted for crimes, in particular violent crimes, in the neighborhood increases convictions of male assignees later in life. No such effects are found for other measures of neighborhood crime including the rate of committed crimes. Our findings suggest social interaction as a key channel through which neighborhood crime is linked to individual criminal behavior.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CReAM Discussion Paper Series ; No. 29/13

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
• Subject: Neighborhood effects ; criminal convictions ; social interactions ; random allocation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Damm, Anna Piil ; Dustmann, Christian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Centre for Research & Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London
• (where): London
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET