Military Enlists Convicted Felons
April 21st, 2008 (8:08 pm) by CJ-Really?
There’s been a lot of talk by those who detest this administration and are clinging to anything they can that “supports” their notion of an unjust war. One of the reasons they site for why we shouldn’t be at war in Iraq is that the military has had to resort to “lowering our standards” with more moral waivers than ever before. The fact is that moral waivers have been increasing since prior to the war in Iraq.
Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex crime convictions.
Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.
Those numbers represent a fraction of the more than 180,000 recruits brought in by the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns both within the military and on Capitol Hill.
I have another perspective I’d like to share.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistic’s ”Indicators of School Crime and Safety” report that came out two years ago - the latest report available:
71% of public schools experiences one or more violent incidents and 36% of public school reported violent incidents to the police. 20% of public schools experienced one or more serious violent incidents, and 15% reported serious violent incidents to the police.
According to FBI statistics in 2006 (the latest available), the number of juveniles arrested for assault (ie, schoolyard fights, but not including aggravated assault) rose 5.0% in the past decade. The number of robberies by juveniles rose 34.4%. Violent crimes involving arson by juveniles rose 7.6%. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter by juveniles rose 17.8%. Vandalism among juveniles rose 10.4%. Weapons offenses by juveniles rose 30.9%.
In 2006, 414,822 juveniles committed the offenses that the article highlights being waivered in to the military. The military recruited 680 of those juveniles - a mere 0.16%! Those individuals made up less than one half percent of the total enlistment contracts signed. With all these increases in crime by juveniles - the government’s constant drive to make everything illegal! - it’s only natural that the military would have fewer individuals to pool from.
I don’t think the military is lowering its standards. I think American society is!! It’s time the American media used a little context instead of making our jobs harder than they need to be.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I think there are several factors that go into the increased number of juveniles with records these days. “Zero tolerance” rules/laws that don’t allow for an application of common sense (like the story a number of years ago about the honors student who had a cooking knife in her car being in violation of a “no weapons on campus” decree). Another factor, I think, is the glorification in the media (movies, music) of the “gansta” lifestyle, and even suburban youth wanting to emulate that kind of behavior. The military seems to be having to make some adjustments to the changing demographics of society as a whole. That is a sad statement about society moreso than a mark against the military…
April 21st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I enlisted in 1958 at age 18.,with a juvenile waiver ..non felony..served 23 years E-1 to E-7..to Warrent Officer..served two combat tours in Vietnam. Received a Bronze Star Tet 68…held secret clearance..worked with nukes…attended collage while on active duty,…retired and become a NC Police Officer ..attended the Charlotte NC Police Academy. I Received a Police Purple heart . For a.on duty gunshot. Disibility retired for this injury.
Without the chance to serve my country, which ws given to me by a waiver of my crimes as a youth, I feel by life would not have been anywhere near rewarding as it has been.
In a all volunteer military I feel there should be a place for those who have offered to serve and if selected should be treated no different then any other soldier.
I thank my country for the chance to prove myself. Think very hard before you close the door on military service to those with a minor crininal record. That waiver was the most important document in my life.
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 am
The military is an excellent place for people who came from a rough background or made some mistakes as teenagers to get straightened out. The comradery embedded into the military psyche may be what many of these young men seek when they join gangs. I have worked with many “jail or sail” type people, and they all performed with excellence. Obviously, there should be some restrictions and all felons should be on a case-by-case basis with their recruiter, but ultimately this will benefit society.
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:28 am
First of all, thank you, CJ, for posting about this. I was going to research it further myself because it stank of another witch hunt on our military under the heading of defeatist politiking. I am so tired of this nonsense!
I should have known you’d be right on this.
I personally know of 2 young men who were headed for jail time before they entered the Army, mostly because their parents didn’t give two good hoots about raising them up right. So they got into trouble a lot. One is now working toward becoming a SGT and the other just made Ranger with high marks and will be deploying soon. Both had waivers. (These were, as LT Nixon advises, done on a case by case basis. The recruiters don’t want to put anyone in the military that will endanger others’ lives.)
They are very grateful to be in the military instead of a prison. And they are now proud of themselves. Plus, they have a family, which is something neither really had their whole lives.
I’ve known a lot of “lost” children. Some used to sleep on my livingroom floor as I didn’t want them on the streets. They were the kids of folks making at least $100,000/ yr, too busy to make a lot of money and raise their kids at the same time, I guess.
So, yes, I agree ~ it isn’t the military standards that have fallen. I’d say society is sinking lower and losing it’s kids. Thank god some find the military.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
[…] CJ has his own thoughts on it. Go here. […]
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
[…] matter how much the writer wants to spin this it does NOT mean were in a recruiting emergency. CJ puts it into perspective: According to FBI statistics in 2006 (the latest available), the number of […]
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am
Great post CJ.
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
I don’t believe that society or the military really need to worry about the so called “lower standards” being applied to applicants and recruiters. Most of the problem stems from the socialist approach of trying to define and control all aspects of our wonderful multi-cultural American society. With all of the emphasis on using the law and statutes to direct and classify everything we do in our lives as either good or bad with the addition of making some of these actions felonies without any real damaged party or property. It is too easy now-a-days for someone to be classified as a criminal without ever really harming anyone else. Freedom has been sacrificed for definitions of what should or should not be done without seeing if you had intentionally caused someone else harm. Criminal Intent has been lost from our legal lexicon and replaced with whether you conformed to the well intentioned statutes of the State. I remember several members of my squadron who were discharged from the Navy for possession of a plant. These men were good workers who showed up on time for work and did a good job when there. Unfortunately, they were expunged for early 20th century efforts to control minorities by outlawing the things their culture happened to enjoy and partake in. The political response made the mere possession of a plant or plant product a crime and so that the lesson was driven home, a minor amount of the substance was classified as a felony. It is easy to make bad political decisions that the public has to endure and the media do nothing to investigate and simply reinforce the bad decision made with propaganda based on new and always changing “reasons” for its outlawry. Since the political system made so many criminals out of non-criminal activiities, it is only logical that more criminals are now in society.
Ayn Rand made the following observation in the 1950s: “There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt.”
Grocho Marx made the following observation about the same time: “Politics is (1) the art of looking for trouble, (2) finding it everywhere, (3) diagnosing it incorrectly and (4) applying the wrong remedy.”
The military has always been an alternative method for judges who believe that the person brought before him for legal judgment may have potential positive contributions to society by telling him he has the option of enlisting in the military or serving a jail term. Most seemed to choose the military. As pointed out above, many persons got their life together while in the service and did improve the world thereby.
We are now in the middle of a great socialist experiment wherein we are all told what “society” expects of us and then punishes us for not conforming. So much for the freedom this country is supposed to represent and stand for. We now have more people in jail than any other country in the world as a percentage of the population shows. Is there some kind of a disconnect here? After all I did enter the military to defend the freedoms of our country and now find that if I were still in it, I would be defending a large group of politicos that are doing all they can to undermine those freedoms.
The German people of the 1930s thought that the Nazis would protect their freedoms, but they undermined them by scapegoating the Jews and other undesireables as the causes of the country’s problems. Were they really the cause of the problems or were the politicos the problem?
Stalin and the Bolshevics were eager to bring “freedom” to the Russian people and ended up enslaving them. Their country is still trying to get out from under the heel of the State. Even most of what the communists worked with in their society was already in existence under the Czar; i.e. secret police to spy on and deter any resistance to government edicts (NKVD).
“The state spends much time and effort persuading the public that it is not really what it is and that the consequences of its actions are positive rather than negative.”
Hans-Hermann Hoppe
We still have much to learn about freedom and until we see that true criminal acts harm other persons or their property, we will never have a free society. Tolerance is a necessary component of that freedom and the rules of the common law set down the principles for liberty to flourish.
I conclude by stating that society is neither worse nor better than before, but only different and continuing to change. Beware of politicians with agendas that don’t recognize individual liberty and try to place us all in little boxes for them to rule. Democracy is not a general curative panacea and anyone in the minority is subject to outlawry by sophistry because a 51% majority can control anybody for anything. That is why Ben Franklin stated after the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that “We have given you a Republic if you can keep it.” The rule of law is much used by our leaders today, but they mean to call their rules and statutes “law” and the reality is that most of their statutes are not law but political manipulation.
April 24th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I enetered the Army in 1971. We had quite a few of the “serve the army or serve your term” in basic training. Some should not have been there and others fit in well.
In my 33 years plus service, it boils down to the individual. Based on my observations, my recommendation would be to limit the waivers to certain infractions, and to have special periodic performance evaluations (a probation period) over the first 3-4 years to verify which ones should not be retained.
I would also initially restrict the MOS’s available to them during this probationary period.
But the story makes good copy for the newspapers and politicians.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
To me the military should should be looked upon as the “lower standard.” In society we look at someone who kills with fear and feel they should be put to death or incarcerated for life. Meanwhile, men who drive tanks, drop bombs, and shoot m-16’s a people are honored. So I guess its okay to be a “killer,” as long as its for the United States and not for yourself.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Mike,
You’re right! Fear us! FEAR US!! Run for your life because we’re liable to snap. Boogety boogety! Run, hide, save yourself before it’s too late. Lock your doors, bar up your windows. Fear the Soldiers. FEAR THE SOLDIERS!!!
May 12th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Mike:
“To me the military should should be looked upon as the “lower standard.””
It’s dolts like you that fail to recognize the fact that it’s the military that gives you the right to show your ass with statements like this. A nation without a strong military is destined to be ruled by others. Perhaps that’s what you want; a Government that will wipe your nose, feed you, and tuck you in at night.
It’s going to be O.K. The mental disorder you have is known as Socialism. Our soldiers are here to protect you from yourself.
June 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I was convicted of a felony in 2001, while in the USAF. I was 20 years old at the time of the offenses. I am now 29,married with three children, and am trying to get back in the service. I feel horrible about my drug conviction, and in truth it was only because I was young and ignorant. For some to think that my convictions, and mistakes make me somehow less a patriot, really bothers me, I know if given an oppurtunity to serve my country I would be successful. I want to fight terrorism! I want redemption, and I don’t know if I will ever get a chance at it in the military, because of youthful ignorance.