This dissertation evaluates the relationship between fear of victimization and school enrollment outcomes of females in rural Pakistan, impact of economic insecurity in exacerbating hate crimes, and the impact of in-prison exposure to gang affiliated offenders on recidivism of non-affiliated offenders. The data sets used for this dissertation include publicly available data from the government agencies of Pakistan and the U.S., and administrative records from a large state department of corrections of U.S. The empirical methods comprise of instrument variable approach, regression discontinuity design, and a fixed effects model. In the first chapter of dissertation, I show that father’s fear related to his children's security when they commute to school negatively effects the school enrollment outcomes of the daughter. In the second chapter, I show that following the September 11 attacks, the discontinuity in average daily hate crimes is higher in counties with higher unemployment compared to those with lower unemployment levels. These findings emphasize that economic insecurity, measured as unemployment, exacerbates hate crimes. In the third chapter, I find that exposure to gang-affiliated peers increases the probability of getting re-incarcerated. I propose that exposure to gang members increases the probability of reincarceration because gang members are generally more violent, are criminally more skillful, and expand their outreach in prison.