Post-9/11 War Deployments Increased Crime among Veterans

Resul Cesur (), Joseph J. Sabia () and Erdal Tekin
Additional contact information
Resul Cesur: University of Connecticut
Joseph J. Sabia: San Diego State University

No 13304, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Several high-profile news stories have linked post-September 11 (9/11) combat service to violent crime among veterans. Nevertheless, there is scant causal evidence for this claim. We exploit the administrative procedures by which U.S. Armed Forces senior commanders conditionally randomly assign active duty servicemen to overseas deployments to estimate the causal impact of modern warfare on crime. Using data from two national surveys and a unified framework, we find consistent evidence that post-9/11 combat service substantially increased the probability of crime commission among veterans. Combat increases the likelihood of property and violent crime, arrest, gang membership, trouble with police, and punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that post-9/11 combat exposure generated approximately $26.7 billion in additional crime costs. Finally, we document descriptive evidence that Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may be important mechanisms to explain post-9/11 combat-induced increases in crime.

Keywords: war; military deployments; post-9/11 combat service; crime; arrests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H56 K14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2020-05
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published - published in: Journal of Law and Economics, 2022, 65 (2), 279–310

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp13304.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Post-9/11 War Deployments Increased Crime among Veterans (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13304

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Fallak ().