TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Merola, Emily
AU  - Phillips, David
AU  - Turner, Patrick S
        TI  - Reversing the School to Prison Pipeline: The Impact of an Adult High School Program
        PY  - 2025/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18168
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18168
        AB  - The criminal justice system primarily arrests and incarcerates people without high school diplomas. We estimate the causal effect of a high school diploma on criminal justice system contact for a set of people who previously exited high school but then attended The Excel Center (TEC), a network of high schools for adults. Compared to those who apply but do not enroll, students who enroll but exit without a diploma do not experience a decline in criminal charges. Criminal charges for students who complete a diploma, on the other hand, decline by 49% the year following application, an effect which largely persists for at least five years. These effects are sufficiently large to increase the cost-effectiveness of the program by 2-5 times. The pattern of effects also suggests that, beyond simple incapacitation, getting an adult high school diploma itself leads to lower contact with the criminal justice system.
        KW  - GED
KW  - high school diploma
KW  - returns to education
KW  - human capital
KW  - crime
        ER  -