Has Roe v. Wade Reduced U.S. Crime Rates?: Examining the Link between Mothers' Pregnancy Intentions and Children's Later Involvement in Law-Violating Behavior

Autor/inn/en	Hay, Carter; Evans, Michelle M.
Titel	Has Roe v. Wade Reduced U.S. Crime Rates?: Examining the Link between Mothers' Pregnancy Intentions and Children's Later Involvement in Law-Violating Behavior
Quelle	In: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43 (2006) 1, S.36-66 (31 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-4278
DOI	10.1177/0022427805275187
Schlagwörter	Delinquency; Pregnancy; Court Litigation; Crime; Correlation; Intention; Mothers; Child Development; Adolescents; At Risk Persons; Antisocial Behavior; Young Adults; Socioeconomic Influences; Individual Characteristics; Family Characteristics; Longitudinal Studies + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kriminalität; Schwangerschaft; Rechtsstreit; Crimes; Delict; Delicts; Delikt; Korrelation; Mother; Mutter; Kindesentwicklung; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Risikogruppe; Young adult; Junger Erwachsener; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung
Abstract	Rates of serious crime in the United States dropped greatly throughout the 1990s for virtually all offenses. John Donohue and Steven Levitt have argued that this reduction relates strongly to the 1973 "Roe v. Wade" decision that legalized the abortion of unwanted pregnancies. If such pregnancies result in children with higher lifetime risks of criminality, then the greater ability to terminate these pregnancies after 1973 should reduce crime rates. The purpose of this article is to empirically assess Donohue and Levitt's basic premise that unwanted pregnancies result in children with significantly higher risk for law-violating behavior. This analysis addresses two questions. First, do children born of an unwanted pregnancy become more highly involved in juvenile delinquency during adolescence and criminal behavior during early adulthood? Second, do the consequences of unwanted pregnancies depend upon the social and demographic characteristics of the child and family? The authors address these two questions with panel data gathered from a national sample of children born prior to "Roe v. Wade". (Contains 9 notes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10