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  4. June 2014
  5. Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?

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

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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.

Citation

Damm, Anna Piil, and Christian Dustmann. 2014. "Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?" American Economic Review, 104 (6): 1806-32. DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.6.1806

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
  • K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
  • Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification