RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Conscription and Military Service: Do They Result in Future Violent and Non-Violent Incarcerations and Recidivism?
JF Journal of Human Resources
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0418-9449R2
DO 10.3368/jhr.58.1.0418-9449R2
A1 Xintong Wang
A1 Alfonso Flores-Lagunes
YR 2020
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/12/03/jhr.58.1.0418-9449R2.abstract
AB Employing nonparametric bounds, we examine the effect of military service on incarceration outcomes using the Vietnam draft lotteries as a possibly invalid instrumental variable for military service. The draft is allowed to have a direct effect on the outcomes independently of military service, disposing of the exclusion restriction. We find: (i) suggestive but not strong statistical evidence that the direct effect of the draft increases the incarceration rate for violent offenses for a particular cohort of draft avoiders, and (ii) military service increases the incarceration rate for violent and nonviolent crimes of white volunteers and veterans in certain birth cohorts.