Little research has examined the relationship between military service and criminal behavior, and what few studies exist have included a basic comparison of a group of men with military service and a group without service. This strategy fails to consider how the military experience may differ for different individuals. This study examines whether the relationship between military service and criminal behavior depends on sociodemographic characteristics. Results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth suggest that, during the first few years of the all-volunteer force, some groups do appear to become involved in more violent offending after entering the military. On the other hand, military service may reduce the risk of violence for some groups, such as African Americans. Thus, the influence of military service on later offending does appear to depend on individual characteristics. In addition, this was a unique time in military history, and results may vary by historical period.
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Author’s Note: I would like to thank Dr. Eli Flyer for his important insights into the moral waiver process and background screening of military recruits. I would also like to thank David Segal, John Laub, Raymond Paternoster, Doris MacKenzie, Robert Brame, and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft.
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50.
Additional variables included a broader measure of less serious violent offending and total self-reported offending (violent and property). Additionally, negative bi-nomial models were estimated for a dependent variable indicating the number of violent offenses. Results from these various modeling strategies were not substantially different from those reported here and are available upon request.
51.
James J. Heckman, “Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error,”Econometrica47 (1979): 153–161; Sampson and Laub, “Socioeconomic Achievement.”
52.
The two-stage modeling process requires that an instrumental variable that is not related to the final dependent variable (in this case, criminal behavior) be included in the first stage. Gender, race, education, class, prior delinquency, and AFQT scores (as a proxy for cognitive ability) are all theoretically and empirically related to criminal behavior. Therefore, an additional variable must function as the instrumental variable. Parental military service was selected, assuming that children would perceive their military parent as having more positive attitudes toward the military. Research does indicate that perceptions of parental attitudes are related to intentions to enlist and to actual enlistment. See Peter J. Legree, Paul A. Gade, Daniel E. Martin, M. A. Fischl, Michael J. Wilson, Veronica F.Nieva, Rod McCloy, and Janice Laurence, “Military Enlistment and Family Dynamics: Youth and Parental Perspectives,”Military Psychology12 (2000): 31–49. In the selection model, having a parent who served in the military does significantly increase the likelihood that an individual will also serve. These results are available upon request.
53.
In their study of delinquent and nondelinquent boys who were eligible to serve in the military during World War II and Korea, Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck were able to gather a wide variety of military selection information in conjunction with measures of criminal behavior. In their reanalyses of these data, Sampson and Laub included potentially important selection factors, such as method of entry (e.g., enlistment versus draft) and the reasons for deferment (e.g., psychiatric disabilities or moral unfitness). These are examples of the type of information necessary to adequately address the issue of selection. See Sampson and Laub, Crime in the Making; Sampson and Laub, “Socioeconomic Achievement.”
54.
Eli Flyer, personal communication, August 27, 2003; Trent, “Criminal Background Screening of Navy Recruits.”
55.
Bouffard, “Examining the Relationship between Military Service and Criminal Behavior.”
