Employment, Crime, and the Life Course

Abstract

This chapter focuses on life-course studies of employment and crime. It draws predominantly on quantitative results, but evidence from qualitative life-course studies are discussed as well. The purpose here is to provide an informed assessment of state-of-the-art scholarship. This chapter reviews studies that examine the capacity of employment (job entries) to curb criminal involvement. There are strong theoretical reasons to expect transitions to stable employment to contribute to the desistance process. Hence, the chapter explores the life-course studies of unemployment effects on criminal behavior (job exits). It concludes with a summary of the evidence and discusses implications for the next generation of studies on employment and crime.