Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do About It?

No 5451, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper shows that participation in crime and involvement with the criminal justice system has reached extraordinary levels among young men. With approximately 2 percent as many men incarcerated as in the labor force, the crime rate should have plummeted. It didn't. Evidence suggests that the depressed labor market for low skill American workers contributed to the continued high level of crime by less educated men, despite incapacitation and the deterrent effect of imprisonment. The costs of incarceration are such that even marginally effective prevention policies can be socially desirable.

Date: 1996-02
Note: LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (229)

Published as The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 10, no.1 (Winter 1996): 25-42.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w5451.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do about It? (1996)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:5451

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w5451

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().