The Importance of Family Background and Neighborhood Effects as Determinants of Crime

50 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2014

See all articles by Karin Hederos Eriksson

Karin Hederos Eriksson

Stockholm School of Economics

Randi Hjalmarsson

University of Gothenburg

Matthew J. Lindquist

Stockholm University - Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)

Date Written: March 2014

Abstract

We quantify the importance of family background and neighborhood effects as determinants of criminal convictions and incarceration by estimating sibling and neighborhood correlations. At the extensive margin, factors common to siblings account for 24 percent of the variation in criminal convictions and 39 percent of the variation in incarceration. At the intensive margin, these factors typically account for slightly less than half of the variation in prison sentence length and between one-third and one-half of the variation in criminal convictions, depending on crime type and gender. Neighborhood correlations, on the other hand, are quite small. We, therefore, conclude that these large sibling correlations are most likely generated by family influences and not by neighborhood influences. Further analysis shows that parental criminality and family structure contribute more to sibling similarities in crime than parental income and education or neighborhood characteristics. The lions’ share of the sibling crime correlations, however, are unexplained by these factors. Finally, sibling spacing also matters – more closely spaced siblings are more similar in their criminal behavior.

Keywords: crime, family background, incarceration, neighborhood correlation, neighborhood effects, sibling correlation

JEL Classification: J13, J62, K42

Suggested Citation

Hederos Eriksson, Karin and Hjalmarsson, Randi and Lindquist, Matthew J., The Importance of Family Background and Neighborhood Effects as Determinants of Crime (March 2014). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9911, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2444854

Karin Hederos Eriksson (Contact Author)

Stockholm School of Economics

Randi Hjalmarsson

University of Gothenburg ( email )

Box 640
Vasagatan 1, E-building, floor 5 & 6
Göteborg, 40530
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://economics.handels.gu.se/english/staff/professors/randi-hjalmarsson

Matthew J. Lindquist

Stockholm University - Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) ( email )

Kyrkgatan 43B
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
0
Abstract Views
804
PlumX Metrics