Predicting and Preventing Shootings among At-Risk Youth

Dana Chandler; Steven D. Levitt; John A. List

doi:10.1257/aer.101.3.288

American Economic Review Vol. 101 No. 3 2011

Predicting and Preventing Shootings among At-Risk Youth

Dana Chandler¹; Steven D. Levitt²; John A. List²

¹ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. · ² University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

Abstract

Each year, more than 250 students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are shot. The authors of this paper worked with the leadership of CPS to build a predictive model of shootings that helped determine which students would be included in a highly targeted and resource intensive mentorship program. This paper describes our predictive model and offers a preliminary evaluation of the mentoring intervention performed by Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP). We find little evidence that the intervention reduces school misconducts or improves educational outcomes. The scale of intervention was too small to generate meaningful findings on shootings.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.3.288
Volume: 101
Issue: 3
Pages: 288-292
Language: en
Sources: bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Predicting and Preventing Shootings among At-Risk Youth

Abstract

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