Education and youth crime: a review of the empirical literature

Abstract

AbstractBy using Technologies of Skill Formation (Cunha & Heckman, 2007) as a theoretical framework, this article conducts a comprehensive literature evaluation on the connection among education and criminal activity in young people. Adult criminality is not the same as juvenile crime. We look at research that look at the impact of schooling on young people's criminal conduct, as well as studies that assess childhood and adolescent treatments. The first indicates that education andjuvenile criminality are linked. The latter demonstrates that education lowers the likelihood of criminal activity in adolescence and young adulthood, while early criminal participation is likely to have a detrimental effect on educational achievement. In general, the underlying mechanisms of these effects are unknown, and they may include a variety of factors such as incapacitation, skill development, and peer effects.

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