Drawing on labeling and routine activities perspectives, this study investigates whether within-individual change in the school dropout status is associated with the risk of subsequent offending and arrest among serious adolescent offenders.

Longitudinal panel data and a modified version of conventional random-effects models are used as a potential outcome model of causality to directly compare the outcomes before and after the change in the school dropout status.

School dropout significantly increases the likelihood of rearrest, but there is no statistically discernable impact of dropping out of school on self-reported reoffending.

The current study adds insights into the school dropout literature by exploring the role of school dropout as one of the contingencies of "differential social reaction" or "secondary sanctioning" processes in which arrest leads to a greater risk of subsequent arrest.