Juvenile Crime and the Four-Day School Week ☆ Stefanie

This study leverages the adoption of a four-day school week across schools within the jurisdiction of rural law enforcement agencies in Colorado to examine the causal link between school attendance and youth crime. Those affected by the policy attend school for the same number of hours each week as students on a typical five-day week; however, treated students do not attend school on Friday.

According to the study, their estimates show that following policy adoption, agencies containing students on a four-day week experience about a 20% increase in juvenile criminal offenses, where the strongest effect is observed for property crime.