Working Paper

The Impact of Juvenile Conviction on Human Capital and Labor Market Outcomes

Abstract: This article documents the long-term relationship among juvenile conviction, occupation choices, employment, wages, and recidivism. Using data from NLSY97, we document that youths who are convicted at or before age 17 have lower full-time employment rate and lower wage growth rate even after 10 years into the labor market. Merging the NSLY97 with occupational characteristics data from O*NET, we show that youths with a juvenile conviction are less likely to be employed in occupations that have a higher on-the-job (OTJ) training requirement and these high OTJ occupations have higher wage and wage growth. The accumulated occupation-specific work experience, general experience, and education are important to explain the gaps in wage and recidivism between youths with and without a juvenile conviction. Our results highlight the important role of occupation choices as a human capital investment vehicle through which juvenile crimes have a long-term impact on wages and recidivism.

Keywords: Human Capital; On-the-job training; Juvenile Conviction; Recidivism; occupational choice; Employment;

JEL Classification: J01; J24; J31;

https://doi.org/10.20955/wp.2021.011

Status: Published in Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Part of Series: Working Papers

Publication Date: 2021-10-21

Number: 2021-011

Note: Publisher DOI: https://doi.org/10.20955/r.104.41-69