Chapter 7will end up with poor or no qualifications. Similarly in the
United States, data in the CNLSY show whether or not the
person was a high school dropout. Again bad behavior at 10
predicts a greater chance of dropping out.
The Effects of Crime
Of course our ultimate reason for studying crime is because
of its effects on human well- being. These include effects on
the individual criminal and effects on everybody else. Let us
consider them in turn.
Effects on the Criminal
We have already discussed the effect on the criminal in
Chapter 1, and shown that a one standard deviation differ-
ence in the number of times arrested by age 34 is associated
with a 0.06 standard deviation difference in life- satisfaction
at age 34— or 0.12 points of life- satisfaction on the scale 0–
10.^8 We do not suggest that this is a directly causal state-
ment. It shows essentially how people who get involved in
crime become more isolated or worse treated, and thus be-
come more miserable.
Effects on Others
Crime also affects other people. This brings in a new per-
spective on well- being, for much well- being research fo-
cuses solely on how each individual is affected by his or her
own experience, and not at all on how each person affects