Full Citation
Title: The Effects of School Desegregation on Crime
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2009
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Abstract: One of the most striking features of crime in America is its disproportionate concentration in disadvantaged,racially segregated communities. In this paper we estimate the effects of court-ordered school desegregationon crime by exploiting plausibly random variation in the timing of when these orders go into effectacross the set of large urban school districts ever subject to such orders. For black youth, we find thathomicide victimization declines by around 25 percent when court orders are implemented and homicidearrests also decline significantly, which seem to be due at least in part to increased schooling attainment.We also find positive spillover effects to other groups, with beneficial changes in homicide involvementfor black adults and perhaps whites as well. Our estimates imply that imposition of these court ordersin the nations largest school districts lowered the homicide rate to black teens and young adults nationwideby around 13 percent, and might account for around one-quarter of the convergence in black-whitehomicide rates over the period from 1970 to 1980.
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Authors: Weiner, David A.; Ludwig, Jens; Lutz, Byron F.
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Publication Number: 15380
Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research
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Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA
Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Crime and Deviance, Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity
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