Arbeitspapier

Does Peacetime Military Service Affect Crime?

Draft lottery data combined with Danish longitudinal administrative records show that military service can reduce criminal activity for youth offenders who enter service at ages 19-22. For this group property crime is reduced for up to five years from the beginning of service, and the effect is therefore not only a result of incapacitation while enrolled. We find no effect of service on violent crimes. We also find no effect of military service on educational attainment and unemployment, but we find negative effects of service on earnings. These results suggest that military service does not upgrade productive human capital directly, but rather impacts criminal activity through other channels, for example by changing the attitudes to criminal activity for this group.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 7528

Classification
Wirtschaft
National Security and War
Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Subject
crime
military service
activation

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Albæk, Karsten
Leth-Petersen, Søren
Le Maire, Daniel
Tranæs, Torben
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2013

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Albæk, Karsten
  • Leth-Petersen, Søren
  • Le Maire, Daniel
  • Tranæs, Torben
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2013

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