This paper investigates the effect of delinquency in youth on subsequent educational attainment. To do so, we focus on delinquent acts committed by age 16 and examine their impact on two measures of educational attainment: high school graduation and college graduation. Our empirical approach follows Altonji et al. (2005). This method allows us to evaluate the plausibility and potential strength of a relationship running from delinquency to education in the absence of exclusion restrictions. Using information on males from the extremely rich National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we find plausible evidence that delinquency by age 16 reduces the likelihood of graduating from high school and college. This effect is driven by early initiators, those whose offend intensely, and by those whose delinquent activities involve income generating acts. Importantly, the impact of delinquency on education does not work solely through interaction with the criminal justice system, or gang membership. Further analysis suggests that a mechanism through which delinquency impacts on education is expected returns to crime, as reflected by subjective beliefs about the probability of arrest for a property crime. Joint with Shannon Ward.

Keywords: delinquency; education; youth