Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?

How does growing up in a residential area with many juvenile delinquents affect the risk of future juvenile delinquency? Does it increase the risk? In general, it is hard to measure the effects of growing up in a residential area with many juvenile delinquents. It may well be the case that families in which the children face a high risk of juvenile delinquency have a higher tendency to settle in such locally chosen areas. Yet, this 'selection issue' did not exist in the specific case of children of refugees who were granted asylum in Denmark over the period of 1986 to 1998. The reason is that they did not choose where to settle in Denmark, but were placed in housing by the Danish Refugee Council. The analysis in this book examines the children of refugees and the probability rate of being convicted of crime committed over the 15-21 age interval if they were, as children, assigned to housing in a Danish municipality in which a high share of youth had been convicted of crime. (Series: The Rockwool Foundation Research Unit - Study Paper - No. 63)