Fighting Crime in the Cradle: The Effects of Early Childhood Access to Nutritional Assistance

Abstract

Using variation in the rollout of the Food Stamp Program (FSP), combined with criminal conviction data from North Carolina, we find that FSP availability in early childhood leads to large reductions in later criminal behavior. Each additional year of FSP availability in early childhood reduces the likelihood of a criminal conviction in young adulthood by 2.5 percent, with stronger effects for violent and felony convictions. These effects are substantially larger for non-whites, consistent with their higher levels of FSP participation. The discounted social benefits from the FSP’s later crime reduction exceed the costs of the program over this time period.