Does Child Abuse Cause Crime?

1 IZA DP No. 2063 does Child Abuse Cause Crime? Janet CurrieErdal TekinDISCUSSION PAPER SERIESF orschungsinstitutzur Zukunft der ArbeitInstitute for the Studyof LaborApril 2006 does Child Abuse Cause crime ? Janet Currie Columbia University, UCLA, NBER and IZA Bonn Erdal Tekin Georgia State University, NBER and IZA Bonn Discussion Paper No. 2063 April 2006 IZA Box 7240 53072 Bonn Germany Phone: +49-228-3894-0 Fax: +49-228-3894-180 Email: Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute.

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4 2063 April 2006 ABSTRACT does Child Abuse Cause crime ?* Child maltreatment, which includes both Child Abuse and Child neglect, is a major social problem. This paper focuses on measuring the effects of Child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because the proposed mechanisms linking maltreatment and crime are relatively well elucidated in the literature.

5 Our work addresses many limitations of the existing literature on Child maltreatment. First, we use a large national sample, and investigate different types of Abuse in a similar framework. Second, we pay careful attention to identifying the causal impact of Abuse , by using a variety of statistical methods that make differing assumptions. These methods include: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), propensity score matching estimators, and twin fixed effects.

6 Finally, we examine the extent to which the effects of maltreatment vary with socio-economic status (SES), gender, and the severity of the maltreatment. We find that maltreatment approximately doubles the probability of engaging in many types of crime . Low SES children are both more likely to be mistreated and suffer more damaging effects. Boys are at greater risk than girls, at least in terms of increased propensity to commit crime . Sexual Abuse appears to have the largest negative effects, perhaps justifying the emphasis on this type of Abuse in the literature.

7 Finally, the probability of engaging in crime increases with the experience of multiple forms of maltreatment as well as the experience of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation. JEL Classification: I1, K4 Keywords: maltreatment, Child Abuse , crime Corresponding author: Erdal Tekin Department of Economics Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University Box 3992 Atlanta, GA 30302-3992 USA Email: * We would like to thank Neil Guterman, Christina Paxson, Chris Ruhm, Joyce Tabor, Volkan Topalli, and participants in seminars at the City University of New York, Columbia s School Social Work, Columbia s Teachers College, 2005 Population Association of America Meetings, 2005 IZA/SOLE Meetings, 2005 SEA Meetings, Georgia State University, MDRC, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Koc University for helpful comments.

8 Roy Wada provided excellent research assistance. 1. Introduction Child maltreatment, which includes both Child Abuse and Child neglect, is a major social problem. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (1996), over a million children are victims of maltreatment annually. Over half a million children suffer serious injuries, and about 1,500 children die, making Child maltreatment the leading Cause of deaths from injuries in children over a year old (Institute of Medicine, 1999). In addition to this appalling immediate toll, Child Abuse is thought to have many harmful long-term consequences.

9 This paper focuses on the effect of Child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because the proposed mechanisms linking maltreatment and crime are relatively well elucidated in the literature. The link between Child maltreatment and crime is a staple of the news media. For example, the media noted that John Muhammad, the Washington sniper, was regularly and severely beaten as a Child by several relatives, including an uncle who beat another Child to (CNN, February 10, 2004).

10 Child neglect is also often implicated. Neighbors of a nine-year-old who stabbed her best friend to death were reported to have angrily blamed the young attacker s absent, alcoholic mother yesterday for the Memorial Day tragedy (The New York Post, June 1, 2005). Yet there is little hard evidence available about the effects of Child maltreatment on crime , and there is criticism of the extent to which a cycle of violence has been substantiated in the literature ( Widom, 1989a). Our work addresses many limitations of the existing literature on Child maltreatment.