February 10, 2012 10:15AM 

# School Choice Lowers Crime 

By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

[New research by Harvard professor David J. Deming ](http://educationnext.org/does-school-choice-reduce-crime/)studied the crime rates of young adults who participated in a random lottery at the middle or high school level. The lotteries decided whether students were able to attend a school of their choice or whether they were forced to attend their assigned public school. Students who won the lottery committed significantly fewer crimes as young adults than those who lost it. So here is another in [the long list of educational outcomes improved by market freedoms and incentives](https://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/coulson_comparing_public_private_market_schools_jsc.pdf).

Send this to a friend who is still on the fence about the merits of educational freedom.

![Media Name: 268944208_e294a51935_z.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/268944208_e294a51935_z.jpg?itok=Sn3nVKrJ) 

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).