In Simple Words
If a program only works by keeping someone busy, bad choices return immediately when the supervisor leaves; but if the experience teaches internal emotional steering, the person continues making safer choices even after walking away from the structured environment.
Chicago youth who would take a summer job
- Without OSC+
- Estimated comparison outcome
- With OSC+
- 6.4 fewer violent arrests per 100 youth
OSC+ participation reduced violent-crime arrests by 6.4 per 100 youth within one year. Most of the reduction occurred after the summer program; this supports persistence but does not isolate a behavioral mechanism. One-year effect among youth who would participate, not all offered a slot. Most decline occurred after summer.
See source →Research question
Policy makers frequently assume that youth employment programs reduce crime purely through incapacitation—keeping youth occupied so they lack the hours to commit offenses. This assumption leads to interventions that fail to create lasting behavioral change once physical supervision ends.
Participants
OSC+ Chicago applicants (2012–2013 cohorts, N=5,216 male youth ages 16–22) and NYC SYEP applicants (2005–2008 cohorts, N>30,000/year).
Study Design
Longitudinal tracking of violent crime arrests, state prison records, and mortality registers across multi-year post-program windows following RCT lottery assignment.
Results
In OSC+, the bulk of the 35% violent crime arrest reduction occurred after the 7-week summer program concluded, persisting for a full year. In NYC SYEP, mortality reductions (18% drop) and incarceration reductions (10% drop) persisted across multiple post-program years.
Takeaway
Structure youth employment interventions around experiential skill formation rather than relying on physical monitoring to achieve durable crime reductions.
Source and citation
See source →Read alongside the research
Plain-English glossary
Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.
- Longitudinal study
A study that checks the same group of people at different times. This lets researchers examine how things change over time.
ExampleResearchers ask the same workers about their wellbeing at the start, after three months and after six months.
NICE · Longitudinal study ↗Read more about longitudinal study →- Randomized controlled trial
A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.
ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.
GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →