Drawn into Violence: Evidence on 'What Makes a Criminal' from the Vietnam Draft Lotteries

Jason Lindo and Charles Stoecker

No 5172, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Draft lottery number assignment during the Vietnam era provides a natural experiment to examine the effects of military service on crime. Using exact dates of birth for inmates in state and federal prisons in 1979, 1986, and 1991, we find robust evidence of effects on violent crimes among whites. In particular, we find that draft eligibility increases incarceration rates for violent crimes by 14 to 19 percent. Based on Angrist and Chen's (2008) estimate of the effect of draft eligibility on veteran status, these estimates imply that military service increases the probability of incarceration for a violent crime by 0.27 percentage points. Results for nonwhites are not robust. We conduct two falsification tests, one that applies each of the three binding lotteries to unaffected cohorts and another that considers the effects of lotteries that were not used to draft servicemen.

Keywords: military; violence; crime; Vietnam War; two-sample IV (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H56 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2010-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published - published in: Economic Inquiry, 2014, 52 (1), 239-258

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Related works:
Journal Article: DRAWN INTO VIOLENCE: EVIDENCE ON “WHAT MAKES A CRIMINAL” FROM THE VIETNAM DRAFT LOTTERIES (2014)
Working Paper: Drawn into Violence: Evidence on 'What Makes a Criminal' from the Vietnam Draft Lotteries (2012)
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