Mica Sviatschi, Princeton University

Paper: Breaking the Gang: A Preventive Approach to Reduce Recruitment in Schools

Abstract: We study an alternative approach to curb the growth of criminal organizations by preventing gang recruitment at schools, where these groups commonly target children. We analyze the staggered implementation of a program in El Salvador that employed police patrols at school, and show how such a program reduces gang recruitment at an early age. This produces positive long-term effects on children’s human capital and potentially trims gang size and revenues. Using novel administrative data, we find that immediately after the program began, dropout declined in treated schools, gang recruitment fell by 50 percent, and children were less likely to enter juvenile detention centers due to gang-related crimes. This decline in recruitment interrupted a cycle of crime within organized networks: affected children were also less likely to be incarcerated for gang-related crimes in adulthood. Moreover the shortage in labor supply appears to have long-run effects on the gangs’ main business, extortion. Overall, we provide evidence that reducing recruitment can limit gang expansion and decrease revenue streams, as criminal organizations have fewer workers to perform their activities.