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

Anna Damm () and Christian Dustmann

No 1329, RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM)

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Neighborhood effects; criminal convictions; social interactions; random allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H43 J0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur, nep-exp, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior? (2014)
Working Paper: Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior? (2013)
Working Paper: Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:1329

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