Does Peacetime Military Service Affect Crime?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does Peacetime Military Service Affect Crime?

AU - Albæk, Karsten

AU - Leth-Petersen, Søren

AU - le Maire, Daniel

AU - Tranæs, Torben

PY - 2017/7/1

Y1 - 2017/7/1

N2 - Draft lottery data combined with Danish longitudinal administrative records show that military service can reduce criminal activity for youth offenders. For this group, property crime is reduced, and our results indicate that the effect is unlikely to be the result of incapacitation only. We find no effect of military service on violent crime, on educational attainment, or on employment and earnings, either in the short run or in the long run. These results suggest that military service does not upgrade productive human capital directly, but rather affects criminal activity through other channels (e.g., by changing attitudes to criminal activity).

AB - Draft lottery data combined with Danish longitudinal administrative records show that military service can reduce criminal activity for youth offenders. For this group, property crime is reduced, and our results indicate that the effect is unlikely to be the result of incapacitation only. We find no effect of military service on violent crime, on educational attainment, or on employment and earnings, either in the short run or in the long run. These results suggest that military service does not upgrade productive human capital directly, but rather affects criminal activity through other channels (e.g., by changing attitudes to criminal activity).

KW - Draft lottery

KW - empirical analysis

KW - H56

KW - J24

KW - K42

KW - youth offenders

U2 - 10.1111/sjoe.12181

DO - 10.1111/sjoe.12181

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85021319246

SN - 0347-0520

VL - 119

SP - 512

EP - 540

JO - Scandinavian Journal of Economics

JF - Scandinavian Journal of Economics

IS - 3

ER -