Matching Educational and Criminal Records at the Individual Level in Trinidad and Tobago: Methodology and Implementation
Date issued
Dec 2016
Subject
Criminal Record;
Educational Attainment;
Criminal Activity;
School Attendance;
Primary and Secondary Education;
Educational Evaluation;
Arrest
JEL code
H4 - Publicly Provided Goods;
I2 - Education and Research Institutions
Country
Trinidad and Tobago
Category
Technical Notes
This technical note standardizes and merges, at the individual level, several cohorts of academic evaluations undertaken during primary and secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, it merges historical criminal records with educational databases. The resulting product is an individual-level panel dataset covering academic and criminal trajectories of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2015. This dataset is a powerful tool for evidence-based policymaking that is being used to investigate diverse issues in educational policy. This technical note describes the merging process of these databases, demonstrating the richness and practical usefulness of (sometimes underexploited) administrative records to shape policy decisions.