UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Does growing up in a high crime neighborhood affect youth criminal behavior?

Damm, AP; Dustmann, C; (2014) Does growing up in a high crime neighborhood affect youth criminal behavior? American Economic Review , 104 (6) pp. 1806-1832. 10.1257/aer.104.6.1806. Green open access

[thumbnail of Damm_Growing_up_high_crime_neighborhood.pdf]
Preview
Text
Damm_Growing_up_high_crime_neighborhood.pdf - Published Version

Download (622kB) | Preview

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.

Type: Article
Title: Does growing up in a high crime neighborhood affect youth criminal behavior?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.6.1806
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.104.6.1806
Language: English
Additional information: This is the published version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Economics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10038985
Downloads since deposit
1,369Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item