Does It Take a School? Revisiting the Influence of First Arrest on Subsequent Delinquency and Educational Attainment in a Tolerant Educational Background

• Author: Jihoon Kim,Yeungjeom Lee
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427818801053
• Date: 01 March 2019
• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Does It Take a School?

Revisiting the

Influence of First

Arrest on Subsequent

Delinquency and Educational

Attainment in a Tolerant

Educational Background

Jihoon Kim

1

and Yeungjeom Lee

2

Abstract

Objectives: By drawing on cumulative influences of labeling in Western sam-

ples, this study examined the relationship between first-tim e arrest and

delinquency and educational attainment in South Korea, a unique cultural

context characterized by a heightened focus on education. Method: Propen-

sity score matching was employed to match arrested and nonarrested

juveniles. After the groups were balanced on 58 covariates, the matched

sample was used to assess the influence of arrest on delinquency and on

college enrollment with consideration of the mediating processes of the

labeling mechanism and educational characteristics. Results: For a short

period, arrest was significantly related to subsequent delinquency, although

1

Department of Criminology, Sociology & Geography, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro,

AR, USA

2

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

Corresponding Author:

Yeungjeom Lee, Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive,

Anchorage, AK 99508, USA.

Email: ylee.crim@gmail.com

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2019, Vol. 56(2) 254-302

ªThe Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0022427818801053

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this association did not persist into the consecutive year. Arrest did not

adversely influence college enrollment. The mediating models showed that

arrest had a negative influence on deviant self-identity and educational

characteristics; however, these associations did not extend to subsequent

delinquency and educational attainment. Conclusions: Formal sanction

experiences have a more imminent impact on amplifying deviance for

arrestees, but this influence does not seem to last long term. Results imply

that an education system with a tolerant atmosphere may serve as a buffer

against labeling effects and highlight the importance of school context in

shaping delinquent behavior.

Keywords

labeling theory, arrest, subsequent delinquency, educational attainment,

school

After the frequency of crime among juveniles increased sharply during the

early 1960s (Lipton, Martinson, and Wilks 1975), many policymakers

began to embrace the philosophy of “getting tough” on crime and advocated

for strong interventions within the criminal justice system (Howell, Feld,

and Mears 2012). Proponents of labeling theory, however, argue that offi-

cial sanctions negatively influence individuals’ behavior and can poten-

tially amplify one’s likelihood of engaging in criminal behavior (Asencio

and Burke 2011; Paternoster and Iovanni 1989). The potential increase in

crime as a function of experiencing formal sanctions is especially notable

for juveniles. First, delinquency levels tend to follow an aggregate age–

crime curve with early adolescent levels of deviant behavior increasing with

age and peaking in late adolescence. At this point, for most youths, delin-

quency begins to rapidly decline as the individual ages or matures (Farring-

ton 1986; Moffitt 1993). This pattern of decline and desistence has brought

about serious questioning regarding whether an official nonintervention on

youth offenders would be more effective in reducing future crime and

enhancing public safety (Lilly, Cullen, and Ball 2007). Second, the collat-

eral consequences of formal sanctions have been linked to juveniles’ dimin-

ished educational attainment (Kirk and Sampson 2013; Perry and Morris

2014). Strict regulations stemming from school safety concerns and a grow-

ing zero-tolerance ideology in the United States may be potentially driving

formal sanctions, which lead to the exclusion of certain juveniles from the

educational system. This is concerning, given that removal of youths from

Kim and Lee 255

education has been shown to adversely affect prosocial peer networks,

stable employment, and family formation (Bernburg and Krohn 2003; De

Li 1999; Sampson and Laub 1997). Limited conventional opportunities

ensnare youth with a “scarlet letter” in a web of crime (Moffitt 1993;

Sampson and Laub 1997).

There has been a great deal of empirical efforts to examine the relation-

ship between police arrest and subsequent behavior and life events. How-

ever, this body of work has generated inconsistent findings, leaving the

deviance amplification hypothesis embroiled in controversy. Further, only

a handful of studies have investigated long-term labeling effects on educa-

tional consequences (see Bernburg and Krohn 2003; Jennings et al. 2011;

Kirk and Sampson 2013). Relying on American samples, these studies have

showed some evidence of collateral educational damages resulting from

official sanctions such as police arrest.

However, it may be too early to jump to firm conclusions at this point.

Although previous studies have provided valuable information about label-

ing from the life-course perspective, such findings are limited to Western,

especially American, contexts. Piquero (2015) encouraged researchers to

“think about race/ethnicity in a culturally, nationally, and internationally

attuned context” (p. 22). To generalize theories developed in “one rather

small corner of the world” (Marsh 1967:6) and to ensure their applicability

in different contexts, it is necessary to test our current knowledge in differ-

ent places and cultures.

This study aims to assess the influence of first-time arrest on both

subsequent delinquency and educational attainment within a non-

Western sample of juveniles. South Korea serves as an apt counterpart

to an American sample, given that juvenile delinquency has emerged as an

important social problem in both countries. Yet, South Korea has a

remarkably different educational atmosphere from that of the United

States. A comparison of the two contexts allows us to investigate whether

official sanctioning differentially shapes youths’ life course under a dif-

ferent culture and educational system. Using a longitudinal sample of

South Korean adolescents, we match individuals based on several prearr-

est factors, including individual-, peer-, parental-, school-, and

neighborhood-related predictors. The resulting matched sample is used

to conduct a series of regression models, which estimate the relationship

between first-time arrest on subsequent delinquency and educational

attainment, as well as assess the mediating mechanisms of labeling and

educational characteristics.

256 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 56(2)