Education and Violence: How Does Public K-12 Education Affect County-Level Homicide Rates?

• In Event: Communities and Place: Community Perceptions, Education, Violence, and a Public Safety Collaborative

Abstract

This paper examines how the relationship between education and violence unfolds in counties. Specifically, I examine the effects of education on homicides using three mechanisms: school enrollment, education attainment, and public education spending. Theoretically, hypothesized effects could operate through increasing levels of engagement across the population with conventional activities (Hirschi, 1969), increases employment prospects (Becker, 1962; Lochner, 2004), or a higher governmental emphasis to expanding resources for material success (Messner & Rosenfeld, 1994). By testing the relationship between violence and enrollment, attainment, and spending amongst counties, I determine if the lifting effects from education can be applied to violence and how such effects materialize. To test these ideas, I use restricted homicide data from the Center for Disease Control in large urban counties in the United States between 2017-2019. I estimate negative binomial regression models. Racial demographics, local GDP levels, and disadvantage are also included to account for the larger contextual conditions. Additionally, the paper tests potential mediation mechanisms between K-12 spending and homicide. Besides from advancing our understanding on how education may affect homicide, this paper provides opportunities to trace enrollment disparities back to demographic and structural factors.

Author

• Tianyi Zhang, University of Missouri-St. Louis