Role education play in reducing first-time criminal offenses

What role does education play in reducing first-time criminal offenses and recidivism?
This topic may seem very specific, but it is designed to be broad enough to allow students to personalize the paper. We will work on specifying and personalizing the topic over the first couple weeks.
As mentioned above, we will be working on this paper throughout the course. The final draft will be submitted at the end of the semester and will include all required sections.