Abstract:
Juvenile delinquency is a serious problem affecting not only individual but also a society as the effect of externality. Thus, the awareness of juvenile delinquency in different perspectives is very essential. This study investigates juvenile delinquency in economic point of view. The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between juvenile delinquency rate and the determinants relating to juvenile delinquency. The economics of crime, by the supply of offense model, is applied. The supply of offense function models the juvenile delinquency rate as dependent variable, and crime deterrence factors including other factors as independent variables. Crime deterrence factors are the probability of arrest, the probability of conviction, the probability of imprisonment. These factors reflect law enforcement which is a significant cost of delinquency. Moreover, other independent variables consist of O-NET score, average household income, the divorce-marriage ratio, unemployment rate, head count index, population density, the proportion of male youth, a number of industrial factories, and a number of tourists. The study analyzes data at provincial level covering all 77 provinces in Thailand during 2011 - 2015. Fixed effects and random effects regression analyses are employed. The results indicate law measures are not likely to reduce juvenile delinquency rate. Meanwhile, a good academic achievement and family income security would lead to a decrease in juvenile delinquency rate. The achievement would increase costs of juvenile delinquency. On the other hand, the determinants leading to an increase of juvenile delinquency rate are a number of tourists and population density, because the provinces with more tourists or more population density are at risk for delinquency.