Employment and Crime - A Survey of Brooklyn Arrested Persons

• NCJ Number: 102179
• Author(s): J W Thompson; J M Cataldo; G F Loewenstein
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 208 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-IJ-CX-0024
• Sponsoring Agency: Ford Foundation; National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: Vera Institute of Justice
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data from a sample of 902 males aged 16 and over arrested in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the summer of 1979 formed the basis of an analysis of the relationship between crime, employment, and other factors.

Abstract

Although employment and schooling were related to involvement in the criminal justice system, age and ethnicity were more powerful predictors. The older persons in the sample showed a stronger relationship between labor market participation and arrest rates than did the younger persons. Similarly, blacks and Hispanics with more positive labor market participation had lower arrest rates, whereas white persons showed weak or no associations between the labor market and the arrest measures. Models that consider only economic variables are thus inadequate. Analysis of the relationship between employment and crime must consider individual decisionmaking, the social contexts that affect decisionmaking, and the broader structure of economic opportunities. Footnotes, data tables, and 56 references.