In the Path of Crime: Schools, Neighborhoods, and Firms

Abstract

Crime is often discussed through its most visible forms: shootings, explosions, drug markets, and the expansion of criminal networks. Yet both its origins and its consequences reach far beyond these expressions. This dissertation examines crime as a social phenomenon, shaped by the environments in which people grow up, the institutions that respond to harm, and the opportunities available later in life. It studies how criminal behavior can spread through family and peer networks, including pathways into organized crime, how imprisonment affects not only those who are sentenced but also the families and communities around them, and how violence influences firms’ hiring decisions and local economic opportunities. Crime is thus not only a matter of individual choice or public safety, but also something shaped by social relationships, institutional structures, and inequality.