Abstract Several states initiated school finance reforms during the post-1990s, commonly named the “adequacy” era, with the primary purpose of providing adequate funding for low-income school districts. This article uses the space–time variation in court-ordered reforms in this period as shocks to school spending and investigates its effects on juvenile arrest rates and risky behaviors. Using a 2SLS-DDD approach and a wide range of data sets, I find that exposure to reform reduces the juvenile arrest rates, increases the likelihood of high school graduation, increases the time spent on educational activities, and reduces risky behaviors at schools. A 10$\%$ rise in real per-pupil spending is associated with 7.4 fewer arrests per 1,000 in the population aged 15–19. This rise is equivalent to a reduction of roughly 90,806 arrests annually. It also implies a minimum of 20$\%$ return in school spending due to the avoided costs of deterred crimes.

中文翻译：

---

学校财政改革与少年犯罪

摘要 几个州在 1990 年代后（通常称为“充足”时代）启动了学校财政改革，主要目的是为低收入学区提供充足的资金。本文使用这一时期法院命令改革的时空变化作为对学校支出的冲击，并调查其对青少年逮捕率和危险行为的影响。使用 2SLS-DDD 方法和广泛的数据集，我发现改革降低了青少年逮捕率，增加了高中毕业的可能性，增加了在教育活动上花费的时间，并减少了学校的危险行为。每名学生的实际支出每增加 10 美元，15-19 岁人口中每 1,000 人的逮捕人数减少 7.4 人。这种上升相当于减少了大约 90，每年有 806 人被捕。由于避免了阻止犯罪的成本，这还意味着学校支出至少有 20$\%$ 的回报。