Does Combat Exposure Make You a More Violent or Criminal Person?: Evidence from the Vietnam Draft

Rohlfs, Chris

doi:10.1353/jhr.2010.0010

Cited by 52 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In column 7, I add the combat intensity proxy (x), interacted with v. Other recent studies have used similar proxies for combat intensity (Costa & Kahn, 2008;Rohlfs, 2010). This variable is not statistically significant, but the estimate is imprecise.…”

Section: The Review Of Economics and Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employment Effects of Army Service and Veterans' Compensation: Evidence from the Australian Vietnam-Era Conscription Lotteries

Siminski¹

2013

Review of Economics and Statistics

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Exploiting Australia's National Service lotteries of 1965 to 1972, I estimate the effect of army service on employment outcomes. Population data from military personnel records, tax returns, veterans' compensation records, and the Census facilitate a rich and precise analysis, identified by 53,000 complying conscripts. The estimated employment effect is -12 percentage points (95% CI: -13, -11) overall, -37 for those who served in Vietnam and 0 for those who served only in Australia. It emerged in the 1990s, mirrored by veterans' disability pension effects. These results contrast with those for the United States, possibly reflecting employment disincentives associated with Australia's veterans' compensation system.

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Section: The Review Of Economics and Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employment Effects of Army Service and Veterans' Compensation: Evidence from the Australian Vietnam-Era Conscription Lotteries

Siminski¹

2013

Review of Economics and Statistics

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“…Men who did not qualify for a deferment and whose draft number was below the threshold were inducted into the military. The Vietnam-era draft lottery has been exploited by a number of analysts to estimate the effect of military service on such outcomes as mortality (Hearst et al 1986), earnings (Angrist 1990), and arrest (Rohlfs 2010). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, war experiences stimulated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that in turn was related to antisocial behavior following military service (see also Wilson and Zigelbaum 1983). The study of Rohlfs (2010) revealed that combat exposure increased the number of violent acts committed for black men, and found suggestive evidence for a similar relationship for white men and for certain types of crimes. Wright et al (2005) found that extensive drug abuse was a crime-stimulating factor for many enlistees during the Vietnam War.…”

Section: Military Service and The Development Of Criminal Offendingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of military service on criminal offending over the life course: evidence from a Dutch conviction cohort

2012

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Objectives Examination of the relationship between military service and criminal conviction, and evaluation of its sensitivity through the use of two distinct study designs. Methods Data were collected on the conviction histories of a cohort of men convicted of a crime in 1977 in the Netherlands (n0678). The men were born between 1940 and 1964, and reached the age of military eligibility during an era when service was compulsory, although they could be classified as ineligible or exempt for a variety of reasons. Information on criminal conviction was collected from age 12 (the age of criminal responsibility) to calendar year 2003. The first study design-a quasiexperiment-uses panel methods and control variables to compare the risk of conviction among men who served in the military to all other men in the sample who did not serve in the military, irrespective of their reason for not serving. The second study design-a natural experiment-compares men who served in the military to men who, as a result of policies of the Dutch government, were exempt from service but otherwise would have served. For example, at various times, the Dutch government exempted an entire birth cohort from service, or exempted men through use of a lottery. Results In the quasi-experiment, military service reduced the odds of criminal conviction by 22% in each year of the post-service period (odds ratio00.78; p<.01). In the natural experiment, on the other hand, there was no relationship between military service and long-term conviction risk (odds ratio00.98). Follow-up analyses indicated that the results from the two study designs did not differ by crime type, nor were they age graded. There was suggestive evidence that military service actually worsened conviction risk among men who performed the worst on tests of military fitness (e.g., intelligence, language and mathematical skills). Conclusions Two study designs yield two different conclusions concerning the impact of military service on long-term conviction risk. However, the authors view the results from the natural experiment as authoritative, due to the success of this design in achieving superior balance between men who served in the military and men who did not serve. Therefore, the authors conclude that military service had no causal impact on criminal conviction in a sample of high-risk Dutch men. Qualifications of the study findings include the use of conviction data from official sources, the use of a sample of men who were all convicted of a crime at some point in their lives, and the study of military service which was compulsory rather than voluntary. Attention should also be paid to the different cultural and military context of the Netherlands compared to the United States.J Exp Criminol (2012) 8:135-164 DOI 10.1007/s11292-012-9140-

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“…Lindo and Stoecker (2014) demonstrate that "military service increases the probability of incarceration for a violent crime" although it does seem to have an opposite effect for the probability of incarceration for a nonviolent crime. Violent acts also increased for combat-exposed Vietnam veterans, particularly for blacks (Rohlfs 2010). 5 It is therefore conceivable that military personnel could have an impact on the level of crime observed around the base's surroundings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local determinants of crime

Paloyo¹,

Vance²,

Vorell³

2014

DemRes

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Does Combat Exposure Make You a More Violent or Criminal Person?: Evidence from the Vietnam Draft

Cited by 52 publications

References 22 publications

Employment Effects of Army Service and Veterans' Compensation: Evidence from the Australian Vietnam-Era Conscription Lotteries

Employment Effects of Army Service and Veterans' Compensation: Evidence from the Australian Vietnam-Era Conscription Lotteries

The impact of military service on criminal offending over the life course: evidence from a Dutch conviction cohort

Local determinants of crime

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