This article studies whether conformism behavior affects individual outcomes in crime. We present a social network model of peer effects with ex ante heterogeneous agents and show how conformism and deterrence affect criminal activities. We then bring the model to the data by using a very detailed data set of adolescent friendship networks. A novel social network-based empirical strategy allows us to identify peer effects for different types of crimes. We find that conformity plays an important role for all crimes, especially for petty crimes. This suggests that, for juvenile crime, an effective policy should be measured not only by the possible crime reduction it implies but also by the group interactions it engenders. © 2009 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved.

Juvenile delinquency and conformism / Patacchini, Eleonora; Y., Zenou. - In: THE JOURNAL OF LAW ECONOMICS & ORGANIZATION. - ISSN 8756-6222. - 28:1(2012), pp. 1-31. [10.1093/jleo/ewp038]

Juvenile delinquency and conformism

PATACCHINI, Eleonora;
2012

Abstract

This article studies whether conformism behavior affects individual outcomes in crime. We present a social network model of peer effects with ex ante heterogeneous agents and show how conformism and deterrence affect criminal activities. We then bring the model to the data by using a very detailed data set of adolescent friendship networks. A novel social network-based empirical strategy allows us to identify peer effects for different types of crimes. We find that conformity plays an important role for all crimes, especially for petty crimes. This suggests that, for juvenile crime, an effective policy should be measured not only by the possible crime reduction it implies but also by the group interactions it engenders. © 2009 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved.
2012
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Juvenile delinquency and conformism / Patacchini, Eleonora; Y., Zenou. - In: THE JOURNAL OF LAW ECONOMICS & ORGANIZATION. - ISSN 8756-6222. - 28:1(2012), pp. 1-31. [10.1093/jleo/ewp038]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/127332
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