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How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom?

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  • Alicia Sasser Modestino

Abstract

Cities across the U.S. have turned to summer youth employment programs (SYEPs) to improve the behavioral, economic, and academic outcomes of inner‐city youth. This paper evaluates the impact of the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program using both experimental and non‐experimental variation. Similar to previous studies of summer jobs programs in other cities, I make use of an embedded randomized controlled trial and find that the program reduces violent crime by 35 percent, as measured by the number of arraignments from administrative records during the 17 months after participation. In contrast to prior work, I also find a similar reduction in arraignments for property crimes (−29 percent). This study also provides exploratory evidence on the mechanisms driving these reductions in crime using self‐reported responses of participants from a pre‐/post‐program survey. The results provide suggestive evidence that the beneficial impacts on violent and property crime are largely driven by improved conflict resolution skills versus other factors that would increase the opportunity cost of crime. These findings give researchers some insights into the behavioral changes that occur during the program while also providing a look inside the “black box” as to how SYEPs affect youth outcomes in the long run.

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  • Alicia Sasser Modestino, 2019. "How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(3), pages 600-628, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:38:y:2019:i:3:p:600-628
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22138
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    Cited by:

    1. Amy Ellen Schwartz & Jacob Leos‐Urbel & Joel McMurry & Matthew Wiswall, 2021. "Making summer matter: The impact of youth employment on academic performance," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(2), pages 477-504, May.
    2. Lavecchia, Adam & Oreopoulos, Philip & Spencer, Noah, 2024. "The impact of comprehensive student support on crime," CLEF Working Paper Series 65, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    3. Adam M. Lavecchia & Philip Oreopoulos & Noah Spencer, 2024. "The Impact of Comprehensive Student Support on Crime: Evidence from the Pathways to Education Program," NBER Working Papers 32045, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Mark A. Cohen & David P. Farrington, 2021. "Appropriate Measurement And Use Of “Costs Of Crime” In Policy Analysis: Benefit‐Cost Analysis Of Criminal Justice Policies Has Come Of Age," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 284-293, January.
    5. Barham, Tania & Cadena, Brian C. & Turner, Patrick S, 2023. "Taking a Chance on Workers: Evidence on the Effects and Mechanisms of Subsidized Employment from an RCT," IZA Discussion Papers 16221, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Eduardo Ferraz & Rodrigo Soares & Juan Vargas, 2022. "Unbundling the relationship between economic shocks and crime," Chapters, in: Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin & Juan Vargas (ed.), A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime, chapter 8, pages 184-204, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Daniel Muir & Becci Newton & Cristiana Orlando, 2023. "PROTOCOL: Impact of summer programmes on the outcomes of disadvantaged or at risk young people: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), September.
    8. Jonathan M.V. Davis & Sara B. Heller, 2020. "Rethinking the Benefits of Youth Employment Programs: The Heterogeneous Effects of Summer Jobs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 664-677, October.
    9. Judd B. Kessler & Sarah Tahamont & Alexander Gelber & Adam Isen, 2022. "The Effects of Youth Employment on Crime: Evidence from New York City Lotteries," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 710-730, June.
    10. Daniel Muir & Cristiana Orlando & Becci Newton, 2024. "Impact of summer programmes on the outcomes of disadvantaged or ‘at risk’ young people: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), June.
    11. Heller, Sara B., 2022. "When scale and replication work: Learning from summer youth employment experiments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    12. Atwell, Meghan Salas & Jeon, Jeesoo & Cho, Youngmin & Coulton, Claudia & Lewis, Eric & Sorensen, Alena, 2023. "Using integrated data to examine the effects of summer youth employment program completion on educational and criminal justice system outcomes: Evidence from Cuyahoga County, Ohio," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

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