Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

This 1985 report describes results from a survey of a sample (n=901) of Brooklyn males sixteen and older who were arrested in the summer of 1979. The survey covered the sample's employment experiences in detail over a two-year retrospective time span, and it included a few items of educational and personal background. Interviews were conducted in pre-arraignment holding pens. The follow-up included self-reports of crime participation and perceptions of the risks associated with crime, thereby permitting some exploration of the nature of the crime decision-making process and of the influence of social and personal background on that process. This research was part of the larger efforts of Vera's Employment and Crime Project.