The Boys are Back in Town: The Effects of Child’s Gender on Youth Crime

Abstract:

Using a research design based on the randomness of a child’s gender, we address the question whether an exogenous reduction in the criminal activity of one individual affects the criminal behavior of other young men who live in the immediate neighborhood. Focusing on very young fathers, who in the context we study constitute a high crime group, we first show that the child’s gender is arguably exogenous. We then show that, if the first child born to a young father is a son rather than a daughter, fathers are convicted of a significantly lower number of crimes in the first years after the child’s birth. We then illustrate that this event leads to significant reductions not only in criminal convictions among other young men, living in the father’s immediate neighborhood when the child is born, but also in a significant reduction in victimization rates for the first five years after the child’s birth.