A life course perspective on the relationship between educational mobility, relative deprivation, and criminal offending

Rising inequalities in the United States have motivated scholars to consider whether intergenerational educational pathways (i.e., upward or downward mobility) matter for crime across the life course. For the upwardly mobile, college completion may symbolize entry into the middle class and may lead to decreases in criminal behavior. For the downwardly mobile, however, achieving less education than one’s parents may be perceived as a relative loss in status, and this sense of inequality may lead to criminal offending. This chapter begins with a theoretical overview of the relationship between educational pathways and criminal offending across the life course. It then outlines findings from existing research showing that (a) educational pathways are uniquely related to changes in criminal offending, and (b) these relationships are moderated by a range of individual and contextual factors, including gender, race, and neighborhood disadvantage. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings as well as directions for future research.