NCJ Number
251852
Journal
Quarterly Journal of Economics Volume: 132 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2017 Pages: 1-54
Date Published
February 2017
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This article presents the results of three large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in Chicago, testing interventions to reduce crime and dropout by changing the decisionmaking of economically disadvantaged youth.
Abstract
The project studied a program called Becoming a Man (BAM), developed by the nonprofit Youth Guidance organization. Two RCTs were implemented in 2009-2010 and 2013-2015. In the two studies, participation in the program reduced total arrests during the intervention period by 28-35 percent, reduced violent-crime arrests by 45-50 percent and improved school engagement; and in the first study with follow-up data, graduation rates increased 12-19 percent. The third RCT tested a program with partially overlapping components implemented in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), which reduced readmission rates to the facility by 21 percent. These large behavioral responses combined with modest program costs imply benefit-cost ratios for these interventions from 5-to-1 up to 30-to-1 or more. The data on mechanisms were not ideal; however, the project found no positive evidence that these effects were due to changes in emotional intelligence or social skills, self-control or "grit," or a generic mentoring effect. There was suggestive support for the hypothesis that the programs work by helping youth slow down and reflect on whether their automatic thoughts and behaviors are well suited to the situation they are in, or whether the situation could be construed differently. (Publisher abstract modified)