Post-Program Violence Reduction via Workplace Social-Emotional Learning
Youth are twice as likely as adults to commit and suffer from violent acts, which claim over 150 lives daily in the United States. Traditional youth crime interventions rely heavily on costly incarceration or expensive programming that fails to achieve cost-effective long-term behavioral changes.
Picture this
When youth participate in summer employment, they practice self-control, social information processing, and decision-making in real-time workplace settings, akin to practicing flight maneuvers in a flight simulator rather than reading a textbook. This emotional recalibration persists after the job ends, steering individuals away from high-risk interpersonal conflict during critical periods of elevated risk.
What the evidence says
Participation in One Summer Chicago Plus (OSC+) reduced violent crime arrests one year after random assignment by 6.4 arrests per 100 youth from a baseline of 18.3 arrests per 100 youth (a 35% reduction), with the bulk of the decline occurring after the program ended. OSC+ increased property crime arrests over two years by 5.8 per 100 youth from a baseline of 12.7 (a 45% increase). Estimated social benefits from violence reduction were nearly six times larger than program costs.
- Who
- 5,216 young men ages 16–22 in Chicago (2013 cohort) and disadvantaged youth in the 2012 cohort (over 90% received free or reduced-price lunch, nearly all Black, 20–47% previously arrested, residing in neighborhoods with ~20% unemployment and 33% household poverty).
- How
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) assigning applicants via lottery to treatment (part-time minimum-wage job with or without social-emotional learning curriculum) or control groups, matching administrative records across police, school, and labor databases.
What to do
Deploy subsidized minimum-wage summer employment programs for high-risk youth that incorporate workplace-based social-emotional skill practice to reduce post-program violent behavior.
From the source
"Across the 2012 and 2013 cohorts, participating in OSC+ reduced the number of violent crime arrests one year after random assignment by 6.4 arrests per 100 youth, from a baseline of 18.3 arrests per 100 youth (a 35 percent reduction). The bulk of this decline occurred after the program ended."
Stopping a Bullet with a Summer Job