This study tested whether summer jobs, which shift focus from remediation to prevention, can reduce crime.
Every day, acts of violence injure more than 6,000 people in the United States. Despite decades of social science arguing that joblessness among disadvantaged youth is a key cause of violent offending, programs to remedy youth unemployment do not consistently reduce delinquency. In a randomized controlled trial among 1,634 disadvantaged high school youth in Chicago, the current study found that assignment to a summer jobs program decreased violence by 43 percent over 16 months (3.95 fewer violent-crime arrests per 100 youth). The decline occurred largely after the 8-week intervention ended. The results suggest the promise of using low-cost, well-targeted programs to generate meaningful behavioral change, even with a problem as complex as youth violence. (Publisher abstract modified)