Can crime influence the future of new generations? An investigation of Italian male and female NEETs

Crime can deteriorate economic and social contexts, reducing opportunities for those most at risk. We investigated whether crime could affect the level of inactivity of young people, contributing to the epidemic NEET (not in education, employment or training) issue. We analyse the effect of crimes against property (theft) and against people (homicides) on men’s and women’s NEET status in Italy (in light of the gender gap in fear of crime), controlling for the prevalent causes of the phenomenon. We employ micro and provincial data in a probit model and find that violent crime increases the risk of being NEET, and the effect is greater for females. Property crimes may also play a role when controlling for endogeneity. Such a result suggests the potential effects of widespread fear in society. We also found that women are more likely to become NEET due to family and social commitments; however, they benefit more from education to remain fully active.